NYC Rubber Room Reporter and ATR CONNECT: Mike Mulgrew Congratulates Himself For Writing Another Gobblygook Letter To "Members in Excess"

From: Betsy Combier

Ok, so what happens when a position is NOT filled by a "member in excess" (which does not explain how or why "members who have been brought to 3020-a" and "members who are ATRs for no reason" are included in the ATR pool)?

Answer: nothing, we probably wont hear of it because vacancies are not posted or revealed.

Then, what is the "Joint Oversight Committee" and who is on it? When and where are meetings held? Are any NYC Department of Education personnel involved?

Answer: still waiting

Please answer within 5 days.

Luv,

Betsy

From: Michael Mulgrew;
Subject: New provisions and stronger protections for ATRs
Date: Friday, September 14, 2012, 3:43 PM

Dear colleagues,

It’s my pleasure to inform you about our recent settlement of a union-initiated grievance that has resulted in new provisions and stronger protections for ATRs.

We filed the grievance on behalf of all members who have been placed in excess once it was confirmed that the Department of Education was not properly implementing its June 2011 agreement.

We achieved five important things in this settlement:

Principals have been instructed that they must use members who have been excessed and not per-diem substitutes to fill leaves, long-term absences — now defined as longer than 29 work days — and vacancies. Members in excess who are filling a leave, long-term absence or vacancy cannot be rotated week-to-week unless the principal requests a change.
In the week-to-week rotations, early childhood-licensed teachers cannot be sent to junior high schools and junior high school-licensed teachers cannot be sent to elementary schools to fill early childhood positions. Junior high school teachers can be rotated to elementary schools to fill common-branch assignments.
If members in excess are in the Brooklyn and Staten Island High School District (BASIS), the borough of the school from which they were excessed is the borough where they can be assigned.
A member in excess can choose to agree to be provisionally hired if offered the opportunity by a principal. As a provisional hire, the member must be treated in all respects as an employee on the school’s table of organization. At the end of the school year, the employee can choose to remain at the school and take his or her rightful place in seniority order if the principal agrees. Both the provisional hire agreement and the agreement to make the assignment permanent must be in writing.
The monitoring by the Joint Oversight Committee will be strengthened and the committee will identify and resolve any infractions of the settlement. If resolution is not achieved, the member now has the right to grieve.

We will keep you informed as we implement this important settlement.

Sincerely,