Yesterday, thePJSTA Executive Board unanimously passed the following resolution…

Resolution in Opposition to Receivership

WHEREAS: New York law establishes Receivership for schools that have been or will be categorized as persistently failing and struggling and that these schools are identified as the schools in the lowest 5% state-wide on NY Common Core assessments will mean there will always be failing schools and schools in Receivership, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership uses developmentally inappropriate and unreliable Common Core aligned test and punish and evaluation regimes to categorize failing schools, and;

WHEREAS: The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association has taken a strong position against the Common Core Standards, and encourages members to refuse the Common Core Tests used to place schools in Receivership, and;

WHEREAS:  144 public schools serving mostly low income students from Buffalo to Albany, Utica to New York City, Yonkers to Rochester have fallen into Receivership, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership law states that the Receiver “may abolish the positions of all teachers and pedagogical support staff, administrators and pupil personnel service providers”  of any or all Receivership schools and can do so without cause, and require them to reapply if they choose, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership requires a “Staffing Committee” to determine whether senior former staff at Receivership schools are qualified to return to the school and those who are not rehired from their school are denied “bumping/seniority rights” and must be placed on a preferred eligibility list regardless of their teaching experience, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership further undermines collective bargaining by granting a Receiver broad power over budget, curriculum and programs, discipline, testing, class size, teaching conditions, length of the school day and year for each individual Receivership school, and;

WHEREAS:  Receivership erodes local control of schools by allowing a superintendent or independent Receiver to supersede decisions and policies established by an elected Board of Education, and;

WHEREAS: The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association has previously stated both its opposition to Receivership and its support of local control of Public Schools, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership denies due process and other forms of fair employment practices for educators and administrators by allowing the law and commissioner’s regulations to set up a timeframe and process for different agreements with each Receivership school that ensures these “agreements” give expression to the will of the commissioner without ever having to prove how imposed agreements will improve the quality of education, and;
WHEREAS: Receivership law requires “failing/struggling” schools to improve in two years but provides ZERO/NO additional resources or funding to those schools, and;

WHEREAS: Receivership does not address the great inequality in funding for urban schools, as the Tax Cap and GEA have helped to defund New York State’s Public Schools since 2010, but rather Receivership doubles down on those districts by defunding them year after year, labeling them failures and giving them one or two years to “improve” without additional resources in most cases.
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THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED IN UNITY: That The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association vigorously oppose Receivership and encourage our regional and statewide NYSUT affiliates to pass similar resolutions demonstrating solidarity against New York Receivership law, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:  that NYSUT exhaust all legal means to change and to challenge in court any attacks on due process, collective bargaining and other fair labor practices that are a consequence of Receivership, and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that NYSUT develop a plan/outline to advise members on how they should respond to the demands of Receivership and that NYSUT plan meetings to educate and activate members about said plan – especially those in Receivership schools who develop a SIP plan, sit on a Staffing Committee, or are assigned to CET, SBMT and/or any other member interested in the impacts of Receivership, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association will submit a Resolution in Opposition to Receivership at the April 2016 NYSUT RA in Rochester NY, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that a copy of this resolution be sent to all NYSUT Members and all local NYSUT Presidents and the entire New York delegation in the State Legislature.