New York Teacher 12/09/04

DOE ISSUES SECRET GUIDE FOR DISCIPLINING TEACHERS

The Department of Education last month gave principals a confidential 61-page guide to help them exercise their authority over school staff in ways that they believe will skirt the grievance procedure (e.g., how to break the intent of the contract without violating its literal terms). It contains many specifics, including sample letters, that school administrators can use in disciplining teachers.

The guide urges principals not to mince words. For example, when charging a teacher with misconduct, the guide tells principals to make a “definitive conclusion of fact (e.g. ‘I conclude that on April 1, 2003 you hit Johnny in the face'). Do not use phrases like ‘it appears that' or ‘witnesses state that you;' make a decision about what happened.”

To fire a non-tenured educator, like a paraprofessional or a school aide, the guide tells principals such an employee can be terminated “for good and sufficient reason” after “due consideration.” It then defines “due consideration” as the principal having “conducted a fair investigation, giving the employee the opportunity to respond to the evidence prior to your making a decision.” And what is a “fair investigation?” The guide doesn't explain that.

After reviewing the entire guide, UFT President told the New York Post, “I've never seen a document that is so unbalanced, so focused on finding the worst in teachers and not even attempting to figure out how to help principals make their schools better.”

She told the civil service newspaper, The Chief, that the manual is “about as antithetical to professionalism as possible.”

She said teachers “ought to be promoted and supported,” not “disparaged and denigrated.” And she asked whether the manual included “anything that helps a principal create better school tone, better school climate, make his or her school better? The answer is no.”

The document, which the Department of Education calls a training manual and a technical assistance manual, claims to be confidential because it contains legal advice and is “protected from disclosure as attorney-client communication.” But the attorney-client privilege only prohibits attorneys from revealing what their clients tell them.

The DOE said the manual is issued annually with the last one having been issued in September 2003. But UFT officials said this is the first one that has ever come to the union's attention.

Jill Levy, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, told the Post that the manuals had never been issued annually and have never contained so much detail. She also said that they have not been confidential and added, “Why shouldn't teachers have a copy of this?”

“We're going to reprint it in its entirety,” Weingarten said. “We want everyone in the school system to know management's attitudes about their employees.”
According to UFT officials, the guide contains a number of inaccuracies. For example, at one point it says school secretaries have a seven hour and 40 minute workday, instead of the correct seven hour and 20 minute workday.

It tells principals that they can conduct 50-minute faculty conferences which they cannot, regardless of past school practice. Moreover, the guide fails to say that September and June faculty conferences are to be held on school time.

The guide also incorrectly tells principals they can require a doctor's note if a teacher is out for three consecutive days. The contract allows teachers to have up to 10 self-treated sick days per year.

There are a number of other similar errors.

The guide is supposed to help administrators interpret the contract. But what union officials find objectionable is the adversarial tone of the guide, telling principals how to discipline, punish and terminate educators, with no consideration for how to develop a collaborative school spirit which, they say, is the only way a school can be run effectively for the best interests of the students.

Michael Spielman