Today, I read Arthur Goldstein's excellent analysis in the Gotham Gazette concerning the use of trumped (excuse the word) up charges by principals to rid themselves of bothersome teachers. These teachers are apt to get a fine and be turned into ATRs for the rest of their careers. Mission accomplished for the irritated principal. What about the teachers who have done nothing to irritate the principal, are loved by students and are on top salary? Well many of them have found their way into rubber rooms awaiting trial on totally fabricated charges. Some of these principals see this as nessesary to balance their budget, as their school's population has exploded and they can rid themselves of three vets and get seven newbies in return. Now these principals are acting in what they feel is in the best interest of their schools. They feel they are pragmatic and have no choice in traveling this route - rationalizing it with the fact that the few may need to be sacrificed for the many. The many being children, their students. They may see their obligation to them as paramount and simply not care about protecting the beloved old fart, in Room 227 (that's the UFT's job), who will now either retire or be turned into an ATR until he/she quits or has a heart attack. Now some reading this may say this simply couldn't happen, but it is happening and nothing is being done to stop it. It's being done because of Fair Student Funding (an accounting scheme that gives each school 90% of their allocated individual budget to run each individual school), which the UFT agreed to and has done nothing to change all these abysmal years later. Why is that? Who does the UFT work for? I read in South Bronx's blog that Mulgrew in Yankee Stadium (of all places) said that the UFT has no control over how the DOE funded it's schools. (Infering no action on FSF) So why, when several years ago Ms. Hinds brought up a resolution to go back to unit funding, was it ignored? Why did Klein have to ask the UFT for permission to use Fair Student Funding and why did the UFT agree to it? These and many more questions should be asked as the UFT screams, 'The sky is falling, the sky is falling!'
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Stories herein containing unnamed or invented characters are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.