Fidgety: Does it help to 'Know your Rights?'

December 4, 2008

Does it help to 'Know your Rights?'

After more than a decade of teaching and attendance at hundreds of Union Meetings, keeping informed of my rights as a teacher has always been a priority. "Know your rights," is what my chapter leader always preached, and I agreed. "Attend Union Meetings"... and I did..."Become familiar with the chancellor's Regs,"(Regulations)...I did that too. You too can become informed. You can find the 'Know Your Rights' portion of the UFT website by clicking here... You too can know your rights and stand by powerlessly as they are being violated and no one is doing a damn thing about it.
I knew my rights. I knew my rights so WELL... IN FACT- that when Robo Principal violated three of them, I knew that without a doubt that I had been disabled from correctly performing my duties. Oh yes, I knew my rights- alright. I knew it when they were being violated. I knew it at that very moment when it was happening. I knew it when it wasn't corrected. I knew it when it wasn't treated or handled as an emergency situation. I knew it when I informed my chapter leader and waited faithfully while she did nothing. I knew it when I informed my principal and asked him why no measures were being taken to correct the potential safety hazard that it posed. I knew it when he was making excuses and failing to provide sufficient support. I knew it the entire day leading up to the very moment when it handicapped me from doing my job to the best of my ability. I knew that at that moment that I was SCREWED.

Sure it's good to know your rights... that way you can recognize them when they're going down the drain...
Having rights and having them Enforced are meant to go hand in hand. Laws are created to protect THE INNOCENT, but if they are not enforced, who do they protect and what good are they?

Blogger jonathan said...

It's part of my pitch to new teachers: the contract names your rights; the chapter enforces them.

Getting the chapter to fight can be hard. Sometimes it is barely breathing.

In that light, I ask all teachers to attend chapter meetings. I don't even care if you say anything, the act of meeting itself, even if it is to eat birthday cake, is the beginning of gaining or regaining strength. And if there are not meetings, if you could ask, even one time in a year... that would help.

And new folks, untenured, can't really do much more than that. But helping is helping, in whatever way we are individually capable.

Jonathan
jd2718

December 7, 2008 10:43 AM
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Blogger Fidgety said...

Well then you answered the question as I already knew the answer.. I took all of those suggestions and became well informed. I am now more informed than my own chapter leader who knew nothing about the rubber room until I was reassigned. I am now keeping her informed. She has admitted to me that the union is 'powerless in protecting its' teachers.'

December 7, 2008 11:12 AM
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Blogger jonathan said...

True, though it depends somewhat on the chapter (only somewhat, of course). The rebuilding needs to start from the ground up.

Jonathan
jd2718

December 7, 2008 7:47 PM
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Blogger Fidgety said...

As a chapter leader you are limited to what happens in the school...except for rallies, protests, etc. Matters of reassignment become the district leader's responsibility.

December 8, 2008 9:10 PM

4 comments:

jonathan said...: It's part of my pitch to new teachers: the contract names your rights; the chapter enforces them.

Getting the chapter to fight can be hard. Sometimes it is barely breathing.

In that light, I ask all teachers to attend chapter meetings. I don't even care if you say anything, the act of meeting itself, even if it is to eat birthday cake, is the beginning of gaining or regaining strength. And if there are not meetings, if you could ask, even one time in a year... that would help.

And new folks, untenured, can't really do much more than that. But helping is helping, in whatever way we are individually capable.

Jonathan
jd2718; December 7, 2008 at 12:43 PM
FidgetyTeach said...: Well then you answered the question as I already knew the answer.. I took all of those suggestions and became well informed. I am now more informed than my own chapter leader who knew nothing about the rubber room until I was reassigned. I am now keeping her informed. She has admitted to me that the union is 'powerless in protecting its' teachers.'; December 7, 2008 at 1:12 PM
jonathan said...: True, though it depends somewhat on the chapter (only somewhat, of course). The rebuilding needs to start from the ground up.

Jonathan
jd2718; December 7, 2008 at 9:47 PM
FidgetyTeach said...: As a chapter leader you are limited to what happens in the school...except for rallies, protests, etc. Matters of reassignment become the district leader's responsibility.; December 8, 2008 at 11:10 PM

Origin of The Rubber Room...(From Rubberroommovie.com)

Exact specifics as to when, why and how The Rubber Room came into being are next to impossible to come by, although wild speculation abounds. The likelihood is that, rather than being consciously created by any one person or group, The Rubber Room slowly but surely developed over a period of years through a process of trial and error, whereby teachers deemed unfit to remain in the classroom where "reassigned" to the nearest empty and available administrative space.
The term "The Rubber Room" appears nowhere in the formal legislative code governing New York City schools. When a New York City educator is sent to The Rubber Room, that educator is not openly or specifically told that he or she will be going to a place called "The Rubber Room". Moreover, if you telephoned an official in the New York City school system and asked for directions to "The Rubber Room", you may very well likely receive a response, possibly masked in faux confusion, telling you that there is no such place called "The Rubber Room". Nevertheless, "the room" undoubtedly exists and, because it has no official name, those three provocative and inflammatory words, "The Rubber Room", make up the default epithet by which it has come to be known, even by high-ranking school officials, many of whom find the phrase distasteful.
The exact meaning behind the words "The Rubber Room" is a topic of hot debate, particularly for occupants of The Rubber Room itself, some arguing that it is a reference to a padded room where mentally ill patients are placed, others proposing it is a room where once normal people are slowly and steadily driven crazy, still others believing it to be simply a generic allusion to a prison cell. There are even some -- more than one might initially suspect -- who claim to have been present during the exact moment when the phrase was coined, or even to have coined it themselves. Aside from etymological differences, however, almost everyone agrees that "The Rubber Room" is a pejorative term used to describe a room where New York City teachers are sent, usually involuntarily, to sit idle day after day while still collecting their salaries, often for months and sometimes for years at a time.
Over the years, many have made efforts to eradicate The Rubber Room entirely. For example, in March 2002, then Chancellor Harold Levy vowed to close The Rubber Room after becoming frustrated with a particular case, and in January 2004 Randi Weingarten, UFT President, called for an unconditional end to all of New York's Rubber Rooms. Despite best efforts, however, "the room" remains. http://www.rubberroommovie.com/

Do not believe...

Do not believe because you read it in a book,
Do not believe because you saw it on television,
Do not believe because science says so,
Do not believe because a famous person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person believes it,
Do not believe because your best friend believes it,
Do not believe because everyone else believes it,
Do not believe because others have believed it for a thousand years,
Do not believe because you've heard it many times before,
Do not believe because you are told you must,
Do not believe because others expect you to,
Do not believe because it gets you accepted
Do not believe because it will make your parents happy,
Do not believe because it will get you noticed,
Do not believe because you want to believe,
Do not believe because you can't afford not to,
Do not believe because it helps you cope,
Do not believe because you'd go mad if you didn't,
Do not believe because you must believe something
Do not believe because there's nothing else to believe,
Do not believe because it feels good to believe,
Do not believe because it makes sense,
Do not believe because your eyes tell you it is so,
Do not believe because it is your own experience,
Do not believe because it feels true,
Do not believe because you know it is true,
Do not believe any of this, Believe only that you are,
And do not even believe that,
For that is beyond belief.

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