District 21 Acting Superintendent Erin Lynch-Reyes' Path To a Permanent Position In Trouble After Her Husband Attacks UFT Rep

A group of teachers at P.S./I.S. 225 wore black last week to show their support for teachers at P.S./I.S. 99. (Courtesy of UFT)

From Betsy Combier:

Speaking up against a principal or Superintendent can be dangerous (actions may lead to 3020-a charges and termination/retaliation), but if there is enough support by staff and employees, removal can happen.

See the stories of principals who have been removed and, the particularly disturbing story of Heather Jansen and her student Rat Pack:

Jansen claimed in a pending race-discrimination lawsuit against the DOE that Wilson unfairly removed her as principal of mid-island PS 46 in June 2023

Former Principal of PS 46 Heather Jansen and Her Student Rat Pack

I met Ms. Jansen when she testified at the 3020-a arbitration against my client, a teacher at PS 46. Jansen set my teacher client up by using what we ended up calling the "Rat Pack", and refused to listen to any evidence that the charges were frivolous and false. We won the case, the teacher was not terminated.

Jansen was so hated by staff and parents that a no confidence vote led by the UFT got her removed. She was given a job as a teacher at  PS 54 Charles W. Leng school.

Betsy Combier, Editor

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Husband’s alleged online attacks against union rep spark calls to oust Brooklyn superintendent

 By Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, March 1, 2026

Calls to remove a south Brooklyn schools superintendent are mounting after her husband allegedly 
posed as someone else on social media to attack a union rep for local teachers.

Erin Lynch-Reyes

The saga began to unfold when Acting Superintendent Erin Lynch-Reyes’ bid to become the permanent 
leader of District 21 seemed to hit a roadblock over public acrimony between teachers and their 
principal at a school in her district. A key voice in that labor dispute was Adam Shapiro, the 
district representative for the United Federation of Teachers.

While not the direct target of the complaints, Lynch-Reyes found herself in the crosshairs. After 
the setback came to light, her husband, Miguel Reyes — according to the UFT’s general counsel, Beth 
Norton — allegedly struck back. Falsely claiming to be a staff member at the Midwood school named 
Jose Tricoche, he made a series of social media posts personally attacking Shapiro, the union 
claimed.

“The UFT has a good faith basis to believe that ‘Jose Tricoche’ is Ms. Lynch-Reyes’ spouse, Miguel 
Reyes,” Norton wrote in a Jan. 13 letter to Liz Vladeck, the top lawyer for the city’s public 
school system.

“The UFT demands that the department immediately cease and desist from engaging in fraudulent and 
defamatory online attacks of UFT representatives, including Adam Shapiro, and from unlawfully 
interfering with the union’s representation function in District 21.”

A spokeswoman for the public schools and Lynch-Reyes did not comment, and attempts to reach Reyes 
were unsuccessful. Alison Gendar, a UFT spokeswoman, said the letter “proved effective” and the 
“activity has stopped” since it was sent.

A local conflict spirals

When Lynch-Reyes, a 24-year veteran of public education, was tapped at the start of this school 
year as the interim superintendent of District 21 — from Coney Island and Brighton Beach to 
Bensonhurst and Midwood — it seemed like a perfect fit.

Before stepping into the role, Lynch-Reyes was the top deputy to Isabel DiMola, the local 
superintendent for 16 years until DiMola was promoted last summer to former city Schools Chancellor 
Melissa Aviles-Ramos’ second-in-command.

As deputy superintendent, Lynch-Reyes oversaw sweeping changes to the district’s reading 
curriculum. She also had experience as the principal of Intermediate School 096 Seth Low in 
Bensonhurst.

“I am committed to ensuring that every school in our district is a place of opportunity, 
innovation, and joy,” Lynch-Reyes wrote in a letter, introducing herself as the new temporary 
leader.

But months into the new job, Lynch-Reyes had a major problem on her hands.

At PS/IS 99 Isaac Asimov School of Science and Literature, teachers accused their principal, 

Hrysoula Niarhos, of micromanagement and mistreatment. The nonprofit education news source Chalkbeat 

New York reported six complaints have been filed about Niarhos with the city over allegations of 
improper behavior, while Lynch-Reyes continued to stand by her.

Soon, teachers across the district — then the city — were talking about PS/IS 99 and District 21.
Last December, teachers from 30 schools districtwide wore black to work one day in support of the 
PS/IS 99 staff. Michael Mulgrew, the United Federation of Teachers president, personally spoke out 
against the working conditions at PS/IS 99, which also cast a shadow over the district.

DiMola told UFT representatives — according to the union’s letter — that the attention received by 
PS/IS 99 and, in turn, District 21, had delayed Lynch-Reyes’ permanent appointment.

After the UFT was made aware of the delay, a social media user identifying themselves as “Jose 
Trioche” went on the attack, the letter alleges.

“I work at this school,” Trioche commented on a Dec. 16 Facebook post of the Chalkbeat article. 
“Adam does not like his truth to come out all he does is post lies.” The user continued by making 
troubling personal allegations about Shapiro.

When a teacher disputed that Trioche worked at the school and asked him, “Why hide who you really 
are??” the user responded: “Cause I finally have a platform where I can speak freely.”

Adam Shapiro, District 21 UFT Rep

Norton, the UFT’s lawyer, wrote that the union has a “good faith basis” to believe that “Trioche” 

is Miguel Reyes based on a review of his posts, residence and employment. Trioche also followed 
Lynch-Reyes’ friends and family on social media. The Daily News could not independently verify 
Trioche’s identity.

The fallout

In the aftermath of the UFT’s formal notice, a letter campaign was launched that asked city Schools 
Chancellor

Kamar Samuels not to appoint Lynch-Reyes to the permanent superintendency.

“The actions of Lynch-

Reyes and her husband do not reflect the values of our community nor do they model the core values 
of the [New York City Public Schools],” read the predrafted memo, which had resulted in 256 letters 
sent as of Friday. “We are asking you to refrain from appointing Erin Lynch-Reyes as District 21 
superintendent and find alternative candidates.”

Union members also came to Shapiro’s defense. “That’s not the man I know,” said Randy Adelson, a 
paraprofessional and UFT chapter leader at PS/IS 226 Alfred De B. Mason in Bensonhurst.

“Whether it was done with or without knowledge of [the] superintendent, I don’t know,” he added. 

“But it’s embarrassing, and it’s below the station of a superintendent. And I would really hope 
that’s not the case. … I don’t want our kids to see the adults supposed to be their role models 
fighting.”

Jay Brown, the president of Community Education Council 21, said he was aware of the allegations, 
but would not share or sign the petition, given the parent-led school board’s positive experience 
with Lynch-Reyes, whom he credited as an experienced educator. He pointed to efforts by the acting 
superintendent to make parents aware of math curriculum changes coming to the district.

“We just had a tragedy: A student killed by a yellow school bus in our district that’s a horrific 
situation,” Brown said. “But it’s the sort of thing where people are tested, and we were working 
very closely and at the school together with the mom of the deceased student. My own personal view 
of it is she excelled in that role in that moment.”

Lillian Crespo, a teacher and chapter leader at PS 216 Arturo Toscanini in Gravesend, lamented that 
PS/IS 99 teachers’ allegations against their principal had been “muddled” because of the 
allegations involving the superintendent’s husband.

But Crespo said she would still feel comfortable with the permanent appointment of Lynch-Reyes, 
given her “extensive knowledge” of the district having worked “hand in hand” with DiMola.

“She doesn’t have to let this tarnish her reputation — she just needs to handle it,” Crespo said. 
“I would like to see her live on in this role.”

UFT Asks NY State Education Department To Hold NYC Department of Education Accountable For Failure To Provide Mandated Special Education Services

 As a parent advocate, I can say that the NYC Department of Education is committing fraud every day by giving false information to parents about the Individualized Education Plans (IEPS) being implemented for their children and students. The mandated services are not being given to the students that need them, and the money given to the school for a specific service is being spent on other people - sometimes staff - rather than the student.

It's a mess.

Betsy Combier

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Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers

Union urges action on city’s special education failures

Mulgrew asks state to pin down DOE

By Joe LoVerde

November 1, 2024 New York Teacher

The UFT has asked the state Education Department to hold the city Department of Education accountable for its continued failure to provide mandated special education services to students.

“Not counting the years of the pandemic, the DOE has been under a corrective action plan for roughly four years,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said. “For these four years, the situation has gotten worse, not better.”

He connected it to a growing shortage of paraprofessionals and related service providers. “We know we are short thousands of paraprofessionals and related service providers in all sorts of titles, including therapists, speech teachers, psychologists and social workers,” he said. “Every school I walk into is missing paraprofessionals and yet the DOE has frozen the hiring of paras.”

Mulgrew said the DOE claims it doesn’t have the funding to hire staff, while the city’s Office of Management and Budget counterclaims that it has sent the necessary funds to the DOE. “Mandated services need to be funded and used,” Mulgrew said in an Oct. 15 letter to state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa. “One agency blaming the other is not helping our students. We are asking you to make it clear to both agencies that they have to stop playing these games.”

Mulgrew told Rosa that the DOE has proven incapable of providing precise information about the number of unfilled positions or the steps it is taking to address the issues.

The UFT asked chapter leaders on Oct. 15 to work with their school-based special education committee and their paraprofessional representative to gather data on special education violations and unfilled positions at their schools.

“Special education teachers, paraprofessionals and related service providers do an incredible job helping students with special needs despite the roadblocks,” Mulgrew said. “But enough is enough. We refuse to accept these learning conditions for our students and these working conditions for our members.”

Rosa agreed to bring the parties together for a meeting to start to devise a plan to address the issues.

Growing bilingual special ed ranks

Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)

Better tool to assure special ed compliance

After Demanding a Second Vote, UFT President Michael Mulgrew Gets The OT-PT Contract Ratified

Mike Mulgrew

Mike Mulgrew, President of the UFT, did not like the fact that in a vote on a tentative new contract between the City of New York and the bargaining unit which includes Occupational and physical therapists as well as other professional groupings, this unit voted no. Nurses and audiologists, also in the unit, voted yes.

What did Mulgrew do?  Rather than go back to the negotiating table, he demanded that the unit voting no had a revote. No other members had to vote again. 

Guess what? Mike got the votes he needed the second time around to ratify the new contract he wanted.

Gosh, I wonder how that happened? 

This is the UFT.

 Betsy Combier

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NYC teachers union chapter ratifies contract after backlash over “undemocratic” revote

by Cayla Bamberger, NY Daily News, August 31, 2023

A chapter of school therapists that was directed to revote on a tentative contract agreement has approved the deal amid criticism the process was anti-democratic.

The contract between the United Federation of Teachers and the city was ratified by 89% of the more than 2,000 occupational and physical therapists who cast ballots, according to the tally of the revote by the independent American Arbitration Association.

“I want to thank the [occupational and physical therapists] who participated in the union meetings this summer to discuss your contract,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said in an email Wednesday to members. “The challenge we faced helped build a stronger union.”

Earlier this summer, the bargaining unit that included occupational and physical therapists as well as other professional groupings turned down the agreement. More than two-thirds of therapists who cast ballots rejected the deal, with many citing pay concerns. Others in the unit, including nurses and audiologists, voted it through, the initial tally showed.

Rather than go back to the negotiating table, the UFT split the therapists from the rest of their bargaining unit and directed them to revote. No other members had to vote again.

Mulgrew in announcing the revote cited an “outpouring of opinion” on all sides of the arguments. The UFT received just under 1,500 emails from members in the bargaining unit asking for a revote, according to a spokeswoman for the union.

But the directive was met with swift backlash from chapter leadership, prompting the resignation of three chapter executive board members, including chapter leader Melissa Williams.

Ballots were mailed on Tuesday, Aug. 8, and due on Tuesday, according to the UFT. They were counted on Wednesday.

Roughly 450 more ballots were returned in the second vote than during the initial round, according to figures reviewed by The News. The number of votes against the deal dwindled the second time around from 1,074 to 229, a memo from the UFT showed Thursday.

The initial vote to reject the contract was the second time in a row that therapists turned down the first offer from the city. In 2018, union reps went back into negotiations with city labor officials — a step that many therapists who voted no expected to happen again.

Vice chair of physical therapists Aideen Kwan Dela Cruz told The News she was relieved to no longer be labeled as a “troublemaker,” but saddened to miss out on pay parity and respect.

“I understand why people ratified this contract as they do not see how they can change the union leadership’s stance on not supporting our chapter’s demands,” she said. “It is disheartening that we pay union dues to a union who sides with the employer and not the paying members.”

The new contract boosts pay 17.58% to 20.42% compounded over the five years of the agreement according to the UFT. It dates back retroactively to last September, and comes with retroactive payments and a $3,000 ratification bonus.

By the end of the contract, a therapist with a master’s degree and a decade of experience would max out at a $94,804 annual salary, or approximately $20,000 less per year than a teacher with the same educational attainment and longevity, according to an analysis of salary schedules.

An internal survey by the UFT chapter showed more than two-thirds of members currently have a “side-gig,” including part-time jobs and contract work, to supplement their work as full-time school therapists.

Therapists were told they could voluntarily work an extra session at 12.5% of their daily rate to earn more money. But the option was largely unpopular as it would entail working longer hours, only to make less than similarly educated teachers.

Mulgrew in the Wednesday email to school therapists touted that the deal “increases control over how you spend your workday.”

Mimi Greenberg, an occupational therapist on the contract negotiation committee, said the chapter only found out about the option once it was already in the tentative agreement with the city.

Critics of the deal also argue that therapists’ necessary degrees and certifications make for some of the biggest student loan burdens in the city’s public school system.

“It is a true shame that union share tactics, and whatever else drove the vote, won out over personal integrity and democracy,” said Greenberg. “I consider this a very sad experience.”

UFT Pressures School Therapists To Vote Again On Rejected Contract

 

UFT President Michael Mulgrew talks at City Hall about reaching a tentative contract agreement, June 13, 2023.

Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

Social media has criticized Mike for usurping UFT members' rights, but I don't understand why. He was voted back in as President in the last vote, and since day one has been openly and clearly uninterested in the needs of members

Just read my blog posts. You'll see what I mean.

Just sayin'....

Betsy Combier

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School Therapists Want a Better Contract Deal. The UFT Wants Them to Give Up.

Union president Michael Mulgrew is pressing occupational and physical therapists to vote again on a deal they rejected — while some members demand new negotiations with city hall instead.

By Claudia Irizarry Aponte, Chalkbeat

  JUL 28, 2023, 5:00AM EDT

A United Federation of Teachers chapter representing school therapists stood alone among chapters in rejecting their union’s tentative contract agreement with Mayor Eric Adams earlier this month — and now say UFT leadership is pressuring them to accept the deal in a revote.

In voting down the contract, chapter members expected the next step would be for their bargaining unit — which also includes audiologists, nurses and supervisors — to negotiate with city labor officials for a collective bargaining agreement that addresses their specific concerns, as happened in their last contract. Instead, chapter leaders and members say, UFT President Michael Mulgrew is urging a new vote without further talks or changes. 

The 2,900 therapists and nurses are a small unit within the 120,000-member union, whose members include teachers, social workers and other city Department of Education employees. Three-quarters of the UFT membership approved the contract, the union announced earlier this month.

Within the unit, 59% of all members rejected the deal, which guarantees raises of 17.58% to 20.42% by 2026. Most of those dissenting votes came from occupational and physical therapists, who make up the majority of the unit’s members. Two-thirds of the therapists who returned ballots opposed the tentative agreement.

The independent American Arbitration Association conducted, tabulated and certified the contract vote.

Concerns about salary gaps between therapists and teachers are a major source of contention, according to chapter leaders and rank-and-file members who spoke with THE CITY. The gap is considerable: by January, a therapist with a master’s degree and 10 years of experience would earn $17,463 less annually than a teacher with the same credentials and experience, Chalkbeat reported, citing UFT documents. 

By rejecting the agreement, the unit voted to not receive raises, bonuses or other benefits that go into effect for teachers and paraprofessionals this summer, and to instead continue working under their expired contract.

Vote again?

But the unit also represents nurses, audiologists, and nurse and therapist supervisors who are eager to ratify the new contract, according to Mulgrew.

Numerous members are asking for a revote, he wrote in a signed July 21 letter to chapter leadership in which he detailed efforts to split the nurses, audiologists and supervisors into their own unit so that in the future they are no longer tied in with the therapists in contract votes.

“They are pushing hard to separate as soon as possible because they feel it is unfair that, although members of each of their chapters voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying the contract, they will not get the new contractual benefits because their particular contract failed to get a majority of the overall votes,” Mulgrew wrote.

“We are trying to get the city and DOE to come back to the bargaining table,” he asserted in the letter even as he highlighted demands from members for an immediate revote.

 That position puts him at odds with the therapists’ leadership: By a vote of 5-1 with one abstention last week, their executive board decided against a revote.

In a meeting with the therapists’ chapter on Wednesday afternoon, Mulgrew made repeated attempts to persuade members to give up on pursuing a stronger contract and to persuade them to join in a revote, claiming he had heard from 1,200 members who had demanded a new tally. Melissa Williams, the therapists’ chapter leader, asked Mulgrew for guidance on where and how the union’s constitution lays out rules for revotes.

“I’ve never had a chapter with this many people who are adamantly against the decision of their executive board,” Mulgrew said.

He added: “We have to make a decision. If we decide not to do a revote, fine. But everyone needs to understand the consequences of not revoting.”

Or bargain again?

Mulgrew also urged members to give up on trying to get a better deal. “The city isn’t interested in getting back to the bargaining table right now,” he said, noting that other legal maneuvers could potentially take years. “I can’t express this clear enough to all of you. We don’t have an avenue to get back to the bargaining table right now.”

Rank-and-file workers and union activists who spoke with THE CITY, however, said that union leadership should not entertain the prospect of a revote, but press on in trying to strike a better bargain with Adams.

Pursuing a revote of a certified election, Williams said, “calls into question the integrity of the entire process.

“I just feel bad for the people who took the time to vote,” she said in an interview with THE CITY. “I trusted that this vote had integrity, now I see that it’s wrong. It feels like a moral injury, to be honest.”

UFT spokesperson Alison Gendar said in a statement that “more than 1,000” chapter members “have asked — through emails and phone calls — for the opportunity to hold a revote.”

 ”The UFT leadership is working with the chapter to figure out next steps,” Gendar added.

Vocal dissent

This isn’t the first time that UFT occupational and physical therapists bucked the rest of the union in rejecting a tentative contract deal: The chapter also rejected a tentative agreement in 2018 over wage concerns. On that occasion, UFT leadership returned to the bargaining table and notched modest additional raises. 

A revote without fresh contract talks was never entertained as an option after the chapter rejected the agreement in 2018, three chapter members and two union activists told THE CITY.

One reason for the standoff now with Mulgrew, activists say, is that the union’s constitution does not lay out a procedure for renegotiating rejected contracts. 

“The chapter voted, and the chapter voted pretty much 2-to-1 against the contract, and to go to a revote sort of negates that process,” said chapter member and DOE physical therapist Chris Griffin, who noted she’s “not a huge ‘no’ advocate.” 

Discussion of a revote “undermines that process, which was done according to established rules,” she added.

Some therapists say they would like to see Mulgrew push harder to get the city back to the bargaining table.

“I believe he’s avoiding doing his job,” said a chapter member who asked to be identified only as “E” out of fear of retaliation from her bosses. “His job is to negotiate on our behalf, not to justify the city’s stance. So I feel like he’s using that to scare us into voting yes.”

Daniel Alicea, a teacher and UFT activist, told THE CITY that the union’s leadership should convene a constitutional convention that clearly lays out a renegotiation process for rejected contracts so that “things aren’t done arbitrarily and haphazardly.”

“If we acquiesce here, this can happen in local chapter elections, it can happen in our next general election — that if they’re not happy with the result, they will find some other means.”

Mulgrew MIA as Unity Tries to Disorganize OT/PT Bargaining Unit into Revoting ‘Yes’

The Mayor's Incompetence and the Chancellor's Neglect and Lack of Skills Leave Parents On Their Own For September

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio

According to parents, many NYC Department of Education teachers are not doing their jobs remotely and kids are just getting written assignments without any live teaching.

And according to UFT President Michael Mulgrew (UFT= United Federation of Teachers, the teachers' union), teachers will not be going back anytime soon:


Teachers will return in the fall if...
The city’s teachers union boss explains the COVID protection conditions for going back to school
By Michael Mulgrew, June 26, 2020
Opinion

This leaves parents, students, staff and employees wondering what will happen when September rolls in. This is not good. We are seeing two powerful men (Michael Mulgrew + NYC Chancellor Richard Carranza) battling for the $34 Billion dollars handed to the NYC DOE last year. It's always about money. Remember that.

This is the beginning of the end for the patterns and practice of the NYC DOE for the past two decades since Mayoral control took over, and changes were made to the UFT contract in 2005 (an example: in 2005 Randi Weingarten removed from the teachers' collective bargaining agreement the right to grieve letters to file). 

This is a good thing. In my opinion, the incompetence of Bill de Blasio points to the very obvious need to undo Mayoral control, elect all the members of the school board (the Panel For Educational Policy), and give parents once again the right to be heard and not pushed aside as trash.

Parents and teachers are not the only people who are frustrated with NYC's Mayor Bill:

Wiley Norvell (right), City Hall communications director, and Freddi Goldstein, the mayor’s
press secretary (Twitter)

City Hall ‘demoralized’ by de Blasio as staffers jump ship

Betsy Combier
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Our politicians are slow learners: School approaches, and parents are left on their own

by Harry Siegel, NY Daily News, July 3, 2020

“We’re full steam ahead,” says the mayor.

“Schools will be opening in September. Each school will have a maximum number of kids that can be in that school with social distancing, using every conceivable space in that school” so that at least “some schools will be able to have all of their kids.”

But then the governor’s office says that “all such decisions are made by state government and not local government,” and that “the public should not be confused.” Confusingly, he hasn’t said a thing about his own policy — just that he alone has the power to make it.

And the teachers union says that “new federal funds, now being held up in Washington, are the only possible way New York City will be able to invest in the protective measures and staff required for schools to safely re-open in September — even on a limited basis.”

The union also says, more quietly, to teachers that they aren’t required to do synchronous instruction (you know, actual classroom teaching).

And Trump says, “I think we’re going to be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.”

Man proposes and God disposes, of course, but no one is seriously proposing much here. The federal government hasn’t given any real guidance to the states. New York State hasn’t given any real guidance to local governments. (As Errol Louis noted: “New Jersey has a 104-page plan for reopening schools. New York has the usual petty power-play BS from Albany. And no plan.”) The city hasn’t offered any guidance to parents that they have any reason to trust.

Sure, Trump is a jackass and a menace, and yes, the fish stinks from the head. But “leaders” at every level of government keep talking about how they’re going to get things going again, without clearly defined rules and guidance. Everyone keeps outsourcing responsibility, so that it falls on parents to figure things out for themselves.

As The News noted, de Blasio has continued to put off hard budget choices even as tax revenue has plummeted. If Washington leaves a big hole in Albany’s budget, as it well might, there’s little doubt that Cuomo will pass that hole on to the city and the rest of the state’s local governments. Everyone keeps passing the buck, while talking about their leadership.

Hours after de Blasio’s big talk about reopening on Thursday, UFT boss Michael Mulgrew told NY1′s Jillian Jorgensen that City Hall “has refused to engage on any sort of how-to plan” about reopening schools. He added that for the mayor “to just pop up today and say ‘I’m opening schools’ is not going to give any comfort whatsoever.”

It was one thing to close schools through June in April, but quite another to have no plan for September in July. There’s still no evidence that Zoom school works for students. There’s no question that it’s been a disaster for working parents, and children with special needs, and a huge obstacle to restarting the economy or anything else.

The first four examples of child neglect provided by New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services are “failure to support a child’s educational need…failure to provide adequate food, clothing, or shelter, failure to provide medical or mental health care…and leaving a child alone who is not developmentally able to be left alone without adequate supervision.”

With the CARES Act unemployment benefit due to end later this month and New York City’s eviction courts back open again, many parents are facing a terrible choice between breaking the second rule of neglect, or breaking the first, third and fourth. Who wants to choose between supporting their children and neglecting them?

For parents who have the luxury of working from home, the same fundamental dynamic applies. Who can afford to lose their job — and their health insurance — now?

If you leave a 7-year-old in their room all day, every day, that’s child neglect. It’s also what the government is effectively telling parents to do.

harrysiegel@gmail.com

UFT Refuses To File Grievances For Teachers After COVID-19 Blunders By The DOE

Throughout New York City there is fear. Fear of the virus- COVID-19, the coronavirus. Fear of strangers. Fear for relatives and family members who have health issues, or are above a certain age. Fear of the unknown and known data. Fear for the future, the future of your own children, your business, employment, going anywhere.

And then there is the scary realization that our New York State and City governments lie to us, and deliberately or at least negligently put our lives and the lives of those we love, in danger. This realization is frightening.

Fear can motivate you or incapacitate you, depending on your personality, culture, social/emotional environment and mix of life experiences/perceptions.

I have found that most educators who teach at the New York City Department of Education are angry at the NYC DOE for what looks like complete disarray and even confusion by the Department as to what to do to fight COVID-19 inside the city's schools and how to do it. The anger is fueled by the realization that lives are at stake. Your life. If, as assumed, you are going to be forced to go into your classroom anytime soon.

Of course, there are avenues to remedies for educators if you don't like what the Department is doing, right?

No.

Teachers are going to the UFT, their Union, to grieve the harm that has taken a toll already on their lives and careers and they are hearing that the UFT will not file a grievance.

This is outrageous.

We are with you, MORE, as you proceed with your PERB complaint and beyond.

Betsy Combier
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Members file improper practice charge vs. UFT for lack of representation during pandemic by morecaucusnyc

After schools finally closed in mid-March, United Federation of Teachers members trying to file grievances about the DOEs mishandling of COVID-19  were shocked to find the union telling them their right to grieve was halted indefinitely.

As a result, more than 200 members who grieved on the grounds that the Department of Education was in violation of UFT contractual provisions on health and safety during the weeks of March 9 and March 16 were prevented by the UFT from pursuing these grievances.

Now, some of these members, including Chapter Leaders at three schools, are filing an improper practice charge against the UFT with the New York State Public Employees Relations Board for violating its duty of fair representation.  The full text of the charge is available here.

By keeping schools open and requiring staff in the buildings until March 19, the DOE endangered the lives of thousands of employees. Over 70 DOE staff have died due to COVID. By preventing members from filing grievances in response to the DOE’s culpability in endangering school-based staff, the UFT is failing to do it’s most basic job—represent its members.

Since the grievances were filed in April, low-level union staff have been telling grievants the grievance process was “paused,” “frozen,” or “in abeyance” until further notice.  This leaves UFT members without any recourse if their rights are violated. The lowest-level union staffers, the District Representatives, have been telling grievants that when the process “reopens,” they may submit their grievances.  This has not been acceptable to grievants, because any delay in handling grievances allows a continuance of abusive treatment.

Equally seriously, grievants are concerned with contractual time limits on how long they have to file grievances. Absent agreement from the Department of Education waiving timeliness restrictions, when the UFT finally resumes handling members’ grievances, the Department of Education can simply deny them as “untimely.”  This is unacceptable.

The charge at PERB is that the UFT has taken away members’ right to grieve, and so at best delaying their chance to correct unfair treatment. Additionally, the claim that grievances will be eventually accepted as timely, without any proof of an agreement on the part of the employer agency, constitutes a lack of good faith and honesty on the UFT’s part.

As we consider reopening plans without a clear Memorandum of Agreement on either remote or blended learning, it is imperative that the UFT restore the grievance process and the DOE waive the timeliness requirement for grievances.