Education officials are slamming teachers-union boss Michael Mulgrew for standing in the way of a $15 million grant they say will pay for more training and resources in the new teacher-evaluation system.
City officials accuse Mulgrew, the head of the United Federation of Teachers, of refusing to sign off on the grant until the union’s other demands are met — all of which would give teachers less work.
“By refusing to sign the grant and inserting unrelated issues at the 11th hour, the UFT is once again hurting the students and schools of New York City,” Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement yesterday.
Education officials said the union wants a reduction in paperwork and data-collection requirements for teachers. The union also wants teachers to have to turn in fewer required lesson plans to their principals.
The UFT insists that the issues are related to the new evaluation system — and that the Department of Education has refused to engage them for months. The City Education Department has until 5 p.m. today to apply for the grant, which requires sign-off from the union.
“This is just another example of DOE incompetence,” Mulgrew insisted.
UFT attorney Adam Ross said the teacher evaluations will be based on student performance and that teachers need more time to teach and less time filling out “an endless stream of paper that serves no instructional purpose.”