SHOP HFT AND DONATE TO A WORTHY CAUSE!
HFT t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, caps, and yes, even doggie t-shirts are all for sale through our web site, www.harlemft.org. ALL proceeds from the sale of HFT gear go directly to the Tony Babcock Scholarship fund, an annual scholarship the HFT awards to the best of the best of Harlem graduating Seniors. Pick up your union-proud gear, and donate to a very worthy cause today!
NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE
There is no current news to report about the negotiations process, other than The certified team has met 4 times and has 5 additional meetings scheduled through the last week of school. Please be sure to check the Member Area of this web site over the summer to keep current on negotiation news as it becomes available.
IEP TEAM REMINDER
During May’s Building Representative meeting, a reminder was given that IEP team members should be making IEP recommendations. Please contact your Building Representative if you feel that you are forced to go along with or make recommendations that you feel may not be in the best interest or meet the needs of a student.
5:1:1 COMMITTEE
The 5:1:1 committee has been working hard to come up with ideas and recommendations that will go to the full negotiations committee. At this time things seem to be going better with the Middle School 5:1:1 issues than the high school. There are several issues that the high school has including the fact that Gateway services may be significantly impacted by the current administrative recommendation. Lynn Kearney will keep the membership updated as these talks progress.
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 MONTHLY MEETING MINUTES
The meeting minutes for May 24th's Building Representative meeting are now online; you can read them by logging in to the Member Area.
SPECIAL EDUCATION WORKLOAD COMMITTEE
There are still several unanswered questions as to how the Workload committee works and how one goes about appealing a workload issue. The Union has continued to ask for information regarding this, as recently as this month's meeting with Union Board and Central Office Administration staff. Even the members of the workload committee expressed concern that they aren't really sure what their role is. The workload committee is scheduled to meet right after school is out in the summer, and perhaps answers to our questions would come at this time. We do know that if you are a special education teacher and you feel that your workload is too big, you have the right to appeal it. Those present were reminded that the workload process cannot be used to circumvent the contract language. If there is a violation of contract language then a Union representative should be contacted.
EVALUATION COMMITTEE UPDATE
The evaluation committee has continued to meet and it is likely that all schools will go to the walk through model that has been piloted at a number of schools this year. At issue currently are the lengthy checklists that are a part of the evaluation. It is the Union's hope that these checklists can be replaced by a more substantive narrative piece. The evaluation will still include a summative rating, your attendance and recommendation for next year. The new model should be outlined in staff handbooks this fall. The classified group is working to develop a more uniform and consistent form.
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