Teacher Layoffs Rescinded

Dear colleagues,

This morning, Mayor Bloomberg has rescinded the teacher layoff notices that were scheduled to go out at the end of this week. We are glad that the mayor has come to understand the gravity of the situation and the enormity of damage that teacher layoffs would have done to our city’s children and our city’s future.

The advocacy of the people in this union, along with our parent and community partners, successfully made the case that schools would be devastated by layoffs.
But let us be clear: Today’s developments do not change the fact that our schools are still facing catastrophic cuts to programs and services that our students depend on.
That’s why we must continue our advocacy on the local, state and federal levels to restore school funding. With the state and city budgets still unfinished and many other city workers and services facing cutbacks, our June 16 rally is as important as ever.

As to the mayor’s statement regarding teacher raises, it is important to note that there is no agreement whatsoever between the city and the UFT. The negotiating process is exactly where it was prior to today’s announcement and will continue onward.

Here is the statement that we just released to the press:
“The mayor has the power to unilaterally rescind the proposed layoffs, and I’m glad that he has made the right decision to avoid massive disruptions to our schools. He also has the power to take other steps to help deal with our schools’ budget problems, such as opting into the state’s early retirement incentive, which would potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars; and using more of the estimated $3.27 billion surplus that is being rolled into fiscal 2011 to replace reductions in state education funding.

But he does NOT have the power to unilaterally decide on the teachers’ contract, and we have reached NO agreement on his proposal to freeze teacher pay. If the mayor has concrete ideas on the next contract, he and his representatives should bring them to the bargaining table at the Public Employment Relations Board, where our contract is currently in mediation.

While we have reached no agreement on the next contract, the mayor and I have agreed to go together to Albany and Washington in the near future to lobby for new resources to prevent devastating budget cuts to our schools, our classrooms and the communities we serve.”

Sincerely,
Michael Mulgrew


United Federation of Teachers
A Union of Professionals
52 Broadway, New York, NY 10004 • 1-212-777-7500

Site on BP Oil Spill for Teachers

The National Wildlife Federation has developed a site on the BP oilspill for teachers.I t includes a section of questions and answers on what kids are askingabout the spill.

The URL is:http://webmail.ufttc.org/Redirect/www.nwf.org/Global-Warming/School-Solutions/Eco-Schools-USA/Become-an-Eco-School/Special-Report.aspx

Professional Development Schedule April 29, 2010 - End of the School Year

April 26 - April 30, May 3 - May 7, May 10 - 14: Meetings with your Professional Learning Community

May 17 - 21: Meetings in Teacher Center - working with groups on products and presentations for Brooklyn-Queens Day, individual topics, and materials

May 24 - 28: Meetings with your Professional Learning Communities

May 31 - June 4: Meetings in Teacher Center - working with groups on products and presentations for Brooklyn-Queens Day, individual topics, and materials

June 7 - June 11: NO FORMAL MEETINGS in Teacher Center/Meetings as needed on an individual or group basis - assorted topics, teacher questionaires to help planning the curriculum map and professional development for 2010 - 2011 school year

June 14 - June 18, June 21 - June 25: Collection of materials/Inventory

MY SCHEDULE

Thursday, April 29: Available Periods 4 & 7 (for materials)

Friday, April 30 - Tuesday, May 4: TEACHER CENTER CLOSED/out of the building scoring NYS ELA EXAM

Wednesday, May 5 -Thursday, May 6: NYS MATH EXAM/TEACHER CENTER CLOSED (room used as testing room)

Friday, May 7: TEACHER CENTER CLOSED/out of building scoring NYS ELA EXAM

Monday, May 10 - Wednesday, May 12: TEACHER CENTER CLOSED/out of the building scoring NYS ELA EXAM

Thursday, May 13: Available Periods 4 & 7 (for materials)

Friday, May 14: Available Periods 1 & 7 (for materials)

Professional Development at IS 145 - REMINDER

Hi Everyone...one NYS test down and several more to go!

This is just a reminder that during your scheduled PD periods for the next two weeks you should be meeting with your Professional Learning Community to look at student work in order to see the results of your inquiry project for this year.

The next time we will meet for PD will be the week of May 17th. The week of May 17th and May 24th I'll be available to help you look at your data and planning for your group's presentation of data for Brooklyn -Queens Day.

INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS AND ONLINE RESOURCES

This free UFT Course called "Interactive Whiteboards and Online Resources: Effective Instructional Uses in the 21st Century Classroom" meets for three sessions.

Place:
UFT Bronx

Date:
April 22, May 6, & May 20, 2010

Time:
4:30 - 7:00 PM

Register online: www.ufttc.org

Celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd

Check out the National Science Teachers' Association website for ideas:

http://www.nsta.org/?lid=exp

Earth Day Network is launching an Earth Day 40th Anniversary curriculum, highlighting the history of the modern environmental movement and featuring standards-based lessons and multimedia resources:
http://www.earthday.net/