Wonder why ATRs won't go that extra mile or try with all their heart to stay under the radar?Read on.
An ATR in Queens, and is currently assigned to a middle school, that has had the proverbial DOE bus driven over her several times and suffers from PTSD was given the dreaded white envelope one day in January. It wasn't an envelope filled with fifty dollar bills but rather the "48 hour notice" meeting and to bring along a union rep.
For the next 48 hours, the ATR spent most of the day, both at home and in school, barfing her brains due to the effects of the PTSD and the 48 hours of not knowing what the hell was going on.
The ATR did have the presence of mind to bypass the school's chapter leader and turned instead to her district leader (we here at SBSB highly recommend this route for ATRs unless you have a real all-star as a chapter leader) to represent her in the meeting with the AP.
The day of the meeting came. This is what she was accused of...
Early in January a student meandered into her class along with the proverbial chip on her shoulder happened to be in a feisty mood that period. It so happens that this young lady was looking for an argument and who better to start it with than this ATR who was covering a class.
When the ATR refused to take the bait this student went to plan B. This student then called her a "racist bitch," "you're not my teacher," and the usual early teen anger that spews forth from an early teens mouth
Still, the ATR retained her poise and composure as if she had learned at the footsteps of Emily Post.
The student, ever so frustrated took her anger to the dean and claimed that the ATR purposely hit her in the face with a textbook. This is what precipitated the meeting with the ATR and her AP.
What the ATR did was place four textbooks at the middle of each table for the students to distribute to themselves. At no time were any textbooks or students in danger.
Of the 30 kids in the class, nine wrote statements and only two corroborated what the student claimed. The student and her best friend.
Praise be to some higher deity (be it God or Mulgrew) that this ATR didn't suck down a bottle of Xanax with a glass of vodka or that the students of her class had her back.
Were there any consequences befallen upon this student for taking her tongue and telling a lie? Of course not. Even if the AP or principal wished to there is nothing in the NYCDOE discipline code saying lying and being dishonest is wrong. And just as an aside, nowhere does it say that admins that lie are doing bad. Only teachers. Go figure.
What to do? The Crack Team suggests that this teacher and any and all teachers in the future that are falsely accused by a student is to take them to court. Hire Bryan Glass and sue the parents.Hell, represent yourself if you don't want to hire Bryan. Let the parents pay for their own lawyers or if they fail to show you get a summary judgement.
But thanks to the last 15 years of hatred of teachers in the media, of politicians, and nationwide, students have learned that teachers make inviting targets.
One more thing, OSI and the AP know before hand that the kid is full of shit, Yet they let it drag on. Name them in the lawsuit as well.
4 comments:
Teachers are an endangered species.
FACT: I was given a"white envelope" a while ago as well. I had no idea what the charge was. I also bypassed my chapter leader and asked for a district rep to come to my meeting. Said district rep contacted my chapter leader and said that district reps do not come to these types of meetings. This district rep did not even have the courtesy to write me back. Ever since then I have been furious with the UFT and will never trust them again. (Turns out the meeting was for a verbal abuse charge that was bullshit and was merely deemed as unprofessional)
That’s just wrong. Your DL should rep you. Better yet, I’m still at a loss why the districts don’t have any meetings for ATRs throughout the year.
They don't have ATR meetings because they just don't want to hear it. They KNOW. They hear it all the time. But they'd rather shrug and say, "You're lucky to have a job".
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