The UFT’s paperwork process can bring relief from excessive paperwork in a matter of days or weeks, rather than months. This is the biggest plus about the paperwork process in my book.
In early October this year, my principal told teachers in two departments that they would have to fill out a log for every student in their classes who had failed the Regents exam in that department, even if it were in another area. For example, I would have to fill out a log for a student in my U.S. government class who failed the Regents in Global History. Some teachers had five, some 10, some 20 students who failed a Regents exam. The teacher would have to identify specific strategies for each student in these logs.
I had been talking to the principal about the logs, but we had no agreement. Once I filed the complaint on Oct. 18, things moved along because the complaint had to be settled before the next district paperwork committee meeting was held or else it would be escalated to the district level. The principal withdrew the log requirement at that point.
This was the third paperwork issue at my school that I have been able to resolve through the paperwork process. I won two paperwork cases — in response to my principal’s new edicts regarding bulletin boards and a log for co-planning — in the first five months after I became chapter leader in 2016. The paperwork settlements from the first two cases are still in effect, too.
The paperwork reduction process has been in our contract since 2014, and it is a serious process. When paperwork issues get resolved quickly in my school, it makes a statement to members that the union is working for them.
Marjorie George is a social studies teacher and the chapter leader at Franklin D. Roosevelt HS in Brooklyn.
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