Lew's View: teacher evaluation plan mess - New York News | NYC Breaking News

Lew's View: teacher evaluation plan mess

Lew Leone is the vice president and general manager of WNYW-FOX 5. He is taking to the airwaves with his thoughts on current affairs. It's called "Lew's View." The views expressed are not necessarily those of the station or its employees.

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If you have been following the never ending saga of the negotiation between the United Federation of Teachers and Mayor Bloomberg to install a teacher evaluation plan you no doubt know that the process has been a complete mess.

It was over a year ago that Governor Cuomo, the self-described chief lobbyist for students, required that that NYC come up with a new teacher evaluation plan in order to have some accountability.

That's because the current system where nearly every teacher is rated satisfactory has been a joke. The governor set a hard deadline. If the deal was not done in a year the city would lose at least $250 million in aid. As I predicted last month, it never happened and the city has lost the money.

The problem is that the UFT will never agree to a real evaluation system unless the union is forced to do so. Remember the New York City teachers have not had a contract in over 4 years. They don't have to negotiate because New York is the only state in the country which keeps current contracts in place including raises when the agreements expire.

The only way to end the stalemate on an evaluation plan is for the governor to mandate one through legislation. It remains to be seen if the governor will really live up to his promise to be a champion for public school students --- not a puppet for the adults in the union.

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