Chancellor calls for teacher evaluation agreement by Dec. 21

DECEMBER 5, 2012
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At an event at the Manhattan Institute on Dec. 5, Chancellor Dennis Walcott spoke about the ongoing negotiations between the DOE and the UFT over a new system for teacher evaluations. In his speech Walcott called for an agreement by Dec. 21 and invoked the threat of school budget cuts if no agreement is reached.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew responded to the chancellor's statement as follows:

The UFT has been trying for two years to negotiate with the DOE to create a teacher evaluation system that will help us help kids — a system whose first priority is making sure that all teachers continually improve.
But we’re not going to have an agreement until Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott stop playing politics with our schools. Rather than establishing bogus deadlines and threatening parents with the loss of teachers and services, they should be focusing on reaching an agreement that will actually help make the schools better.
Making schools better also means the administration needs to provide the things that teachers and students need but which the DOE has largely ignored — curriculum, smaller classes, and an acknowledgement that their job is to actually assist schools and students, rather than just preaching accountability.