Metro

UFT nixes evaluations at its own charter school

The UFT’s own charter school, which barely won state accreditation this year, has decided to opt out of new teacher evaluations that all its members in public schools have to undergo.

Mayor Bloomberg described the situation as beyond baffling.

“It’s laughable at our level,” the mayor told WOR radio host John Gambling.

The troubled school in East New York, Brooklyn, has been plagued by high principal turnover rate, troubled finances, and pathetic academic performance.

This year the K-to-12 school barely escaped being closed.

But it is one of 80 charters in the city that can forgo teacher ratings because they are not taking federal money under the Race to the Top program.

The school’s chief executive, Sheila Evans-Tranumn — a former top official in the state Education Department — said her institution was taking “the opportunity of exercising some flexibility” under the charter regulations.

That decision will cost her pupils, Bloomberg warned.

“It’s tragic for the kids not getting an education, and they will never catch up,” he said on WOR.

“Never is overstating it,” he added. “But unlikely to catch up.”

The teachers union, which has clashed repeatedly with Bloom­berg’s efforts to promote teacher ratings, referred questions to Evans-Tranumn.

Some parents whose children attend other charter schools chided the UFT.

“I’m not surprised. The union has been contentious about evaluations. The union has its own agenda,” said Sheryl Davis, whose children attended the Explore Academy charter school in Brooklyn.

Only a small minority of the city’s charters have unionized teachers. But in September 2005, the UFT opened its own school with high hopes of demonstrating that a union contract wasn’t why so many schools were failing their students.

However, so far the two-campus school has been an embarrassment.

Fewer than 10 percent of the school’s eighth-graders passed the 2012 state English exam and only 28 percent passed the most recent math exams.

The principal’s office has been a revolving door, with five different leaders in a seven-year period.

The city’s Department of Education gave the school a D for overall performance — and an F for making progress — in its 2011-2012 progress report.

In February, the State University of New York, which authorizes charters, decided to renew the school’s charter for two years, but warned it would be closed for good if it fails to improve.

The UFT has defended the school, saying the best pupils in District 19 are lured to other schools.