Union Rep to NYC Teacher: Leave me the fuck alone. [View all]

No, not verbatim. But that was the message.

Paperwork was the issue. And teaching. Or not having any time to do so.

Great system.Yeah. This is working really well.

>>>> Like death and taxes, certain things will be with us forever. Teaching will always involve paperwork . But , just as certainly, teaching is not only paperwork. At least it ought not to be.

Our union (UFT) seemed to “get” this at one point; even pushing for a safety-valve mechanism in the 2007 contract to guard against paperwork excess and abuse. (And that’s as it should be. They were teachers at one point. I think. Weren’t they? ) So… what happened?

I lobbied for *years* to get a ”paperwork reduction” committee established (as per Art 8-I, Sect. 1. BTW, people should actually READ THE LANGUAGE of the contract.) in my district only to be repeatedly stonewalled by the unelected UFT “UNITY” District Representative then in charge. When I approached him face to face at the Delegate Assembly… after a number of emails on the topic went unacknowledged…. it was like I was speaking a language other than English.: “PaperWHICH?” “ReductionWHAT?” “CommitteeWHO?!?”

He quickly gathered his wits. We didn’t NEED a paperwork reduction committee, he explained. The UFT had everything under control. There was a lawsuit making it’s way thru the courts… the outcome of which would surely end “excessive paperwork” as we then ( This was about 3 years ago, I’d say.) knew it.
I went home that night and googled every possible phraseology-combination that might elicit a reference to the UFT being involved with a suit the subject or object of which was paperwork reduction. Finding nothing, I emailed DR ( “Flash”, I decided that this one needed a name.) again. No response. ( Don’t these folks know how to click the “reply” button ?) Meta-message: “Leave me the fuck alone.”>>>>>>>
The rest:
http://paulvhogan.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/paperwork-thin-i-thought-we-were-supposed-to-be-teaching/