Michael Solo

"I had a trial by fire as a new chapter leader, and the union was with me every step of the way..."

By #UnionProud Stories

March 28^th, 2016

BY MICHAEL SOLO

I had a trial by fire as a new chapter leader, and the union was with me every step of the way. Last school year, our principal at the time was requiring every teacher to give a “Do Now” assignment in each class, then to collect, grade and upload those assignments to an online records system every day. Entering grades for 170 students every day was a painful and absolutely excessive paperwork burden.

After months of in-house negotiations between the UFT chapter committee and the principal in an effort to modify the directive, we got nowhere. So eight tenured teachers and I filed a grievance. After getting no redress at each step of the process, the UFT Grievance Department helped us bring this case to arbitration, where the arbitrator agreed with us that the grading and uploading of every day’s “Do Now” was in violation of the new paperwork standards in the 2014 contract.

The teachers at John Dewey HS were very pleased with the arbitrator’s decision, especially the newer, untenured teachers who, at the time, were the most targeted teachers at Dewey.

There was a lot of back and forth and a lot of pressure from the union to get this resolved. We now have a new principal who understands that it is in everyone’s interest to work in a collaborative and supportive environment.

Michael Solo is a teacher and chapter leader at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn.

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Photo by Miller Photography

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Shalca Nelson

Michael Solo

"I had a trial by fire as a new chapter leader, and the union was with me every step of the way..."

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