MULGREW DROPS THE ATR BALL AGAIN!! VOTE NO ON THE CONTRACT!!

I did what I was supposed to do yesterday. I got home about 4:30 ignored my wife and son and went into the office to watch UFT & Friends on the computer.

I made sure that all three modes, Twitter, email, and the phone, were working so that I might share what was on my mind.

Yes, I truly thought of making some far out political statement, like "Give us a good contract or give us death," or something like that, but I thought the better. The ATR's needed what support and I anyone else can give and this was the time to ask hard questions.

Seriously though, I did think that for a moment my phone call and question will be piped in live like "Donahue" and I would be able to question President Mike directly. It was not to be.

I called in at 5:01 and asked a simple question (Though for some reason I had to give my school, district, and license area);

"If an ATR goes on an interview and is not offered the position will that count as a strike against them towards them leading to an expedited 3020-a?"

The person on the other end told me no it wasn't but we both agreed that there are many out there wondering and that it would be good to get the word out there (Though we here at SBSB seemed to have come up with a loophole).

To hedge my bets I emailed a question in;

Subject: ATR Interviews From: So BronxSchool  
To: webcast@uft.org
 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=f46d041b9afc5e7b7e04f9c7112d  --f46d041b9afc5e7b7e04f9c7112d 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 
 If an ATR is interviewed and does not receive the position, does this count towards one of the 50 day strikes against?   

Still wishing to hedge against the possible propaganda I then tweeted;

WhT about reduced due process? #UFTWebcast
— Bronx Teacher (@SoBronxSchool) May 19, 2014

Nothing. But finally, Kevin from Fort Lee NJ (Click here to get the "joke) came up with a question about ATR's.


So nothing about ATR's and their REDUCED due process? Mulgrew claims the media and previous administration made ATR's out to be made people? Gosh! Throwing them under the bus as they are in this contract is not helping their public perception!!!

Then Mulgrew calls the ATR's great assets which I tweeted and still awaiting a reply;

@UFT what about reduced due process? @UFT
— Bronx Teacher (@SoBronxSchool) May 19, 2014

Worse, he flippently suggests that, and I believe he is referring to ATR's, that "they should find another profession, and we'll help you," to which I responded;

Good find me another profession. I want to manage @Yankees @uft @MOREcaucusNYC  #UFTWebcast
— Bronx Teacher (@SoBronxSchool) May 19, 2014

So that was it for the ATR question. I waited and waited and waited for another question about the ATR's. Sadly, there were to be no more.

Of course there were 6 questions about pay, 3 about retirement, 4 about evaluations, 5 about educational issues, 4 about the workday, but not more than 1 about what I feel, and many, many others feel is the most important issue, the treatment of the ATR's!

As discussed here, Mulgrew is clearly avoiding any deep discussion and/or mention of the ATR's other than to gloss it over with, "Hey, they will now be working regardless of how much money they make."

And why should he? He had an "audience" of trained Unity shills. The webcast didn't even waste any one's time in even attempting to give the appearance of impartiality.  This was propaganda at its finest.

If on the off chance that an ATR does pass muster to fill a vacancy what is to stop a principal from getting rid of a veteran ATR when a new, or somewhat new teacher becomes available for that position? Would the principal need to show cause to show that ATR to the door? If so, we all know how creative principals can get when they want to be.

Even if Tweed will be paying that ATR's salary, why would a principal want, in their school, a veteran teacher that is capable of thinking for themselves and not want someone they can mold in their own graven image?

Mulgrew and Unity have not settled the ATR issue, in fact they have made it more complicated and worse off for those without a school.

Mulgrew had a golden opportunity yesterday to allay fears of the ATR's and to counter what the pundits and bloggers are saying. Instead he decided to kick the ball down the road, close his eyes and hope the problem goes away.

Mulgrew knows he made a bad deal for the ATR's and he's hoping that the ignorance of the rank and file will come save the day again for him.

I do not care how much money in raises and retro pay I am offered. I could not, can not, and will not under any circumstances vote for this contract until the ATR's have full due process rights and a fair procedure to be hired permanently into schools.

VOTE NO ON THE CONTRACT. THE ATR YOU SAVE MIGHT BE YOURSELF ONE DAY!