Tagged: buffalo teachers federation

Governor Cuomo and the State Education Department are saying a side deal between the Buffalo school district and the Buffalo Teachers Federation regarding teacher evaluations is illegal and should be blocked. The union is going to court to uphold the deal.

The Buffalo School District plans to scrap its memorandum of understanding on teacher evaluations. In a written statement, Superintendent Dr. Pamela Brown says the State Education Department determined the MOU between the district and the Buffalo Teachers Federation is void.

After a lengthy process, Buffalo teachers voted Wednesday night to approve the city district's new teacher evaluation plan.

Buffalo teachers still have not voted on the proposed evaluation system of their work and it may be a few weeks before there is a decision.

Uncertainty and anger among Buffalo Teachers Federation leaders has stalled approval of a teacher evaluation agreement signed off on Thursday in Albany.

The long struggle over evaluating teachers in Buffalo may be over for this year, with Albany approving the plan bargained between city schools and the Buffalo Teachers Federation.

A agreement on the teacher transfer issue was reached late Friday during a meeting between the Buffalo Teachers Federation and Schools Superintendent Pamela Brown. 

The Buffalo School District has two weeks to have a teacher evaluation plan approved in Albany or face the loss of millions in aid the fiscally-strapped system can't afford to lose.

Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore isn't backing down in the face of layoff threats from the school district.

The Buffalo Teachers Federation has rejected a cash incentive aimed at easing the involuntary transfer of 106 teachers from some of the district's low-achieving schools.

The Buffalo News reports the $2,500 cash incentive was offered by new Superintendent Pamela Brown as the district struggles to implement its school turnaround plan.

BTF President Phil Rumore called the offer "unacceptable."

Brown would not comment on the action, but is expected to address the issue at Wednesday's school board meeting.
 

Buffalo schools are committing to a long court fight with the Buffalo Teachers Federation over involuntary transfers of 54 teachers out of three of the city's academically worst schools.

After a closed-door session with lawyers, the board says it will appeal an arbitrator's ruling the district violated the union contract in the way it chose teachers to be transferred out of Schools 33, 37 and 59.

The arbitrator ordered them sent back to the schools.

Buffalo schools and the Buffalo Teachers Federation  are possibly ready to work out differences about major teacher transfers out of three troubled schools.

Both sides were in court Thursday; they're are due in court Friday after  State Supreme Court Justice Gerald Whalen ordered Schools Superintendent Pamela Brown to be there.

BTF President Phil Rumore was in the court session.

A lawsuit filed by the Buffalo Teachers Federation will have representatives from the union and the Buffalo school district in court this week.

Turnaround plans for three underperforming schools, Bilingual Center 33, Futures Academy and Drew Science Magnet, call for transferring teachers at those schools. BTF president Philip Rumore claims this move violates a collective bargaining agreement. The state has designated more than $5 million to assist those schools.

Rumore hopes a judge will halt the transfers and allow for arbitration to resolve the issue.