[DISCLAIMER: If you are teaching for July, August and every other vacation, have no intention of improving or being better, then please leave this page and think about going into a different field of work. We didn’t write this for you. You may be targeted because you are ineffective and don’t care to change. The students deserve dedicated educators.]
Are you an educator who cares about the students, cares about your job, but are under attack? Do you feel helpless? If so, maybe this page can help. Why are you under attack? Perhaps you are just too old and making too much money. Your pension will be pretty substantial and your termination, resignation or retirement will help the city save. Maybe it’s because you’re Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, have dreds, wear white shoes after Labor Day or dress too nice. Perhaps your administrators are jealous of you because you are 6 sizes smaller than them or the female staff members flirt with you. Quite possibly, you just simply questioned their actions (inactions). It could be anything, but the fact is….you have been targeted. Perhaps you have reached out to your Chapter Leader, your union reps, or even a lawyer. You have filed meaningless grievances (that are now denied at a rate of 99.8%) You may be just like me – a David going up against a Goliath. You see, your administrators are not actually that tough. They may be the worst kind of bullies – the bullies that need backing. You know, like that kid with the yellow eyes from “A Christmas Story“. That backing is the NYC Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel. You are outnumbered and outbudgeted, but fear not. All hope is not lost. Remain calm. If you take anything away from this site, it is the word “Document.“.
Document everything! DOCUMENT!!
Sometimes this is the case.
Step 1: YOUR CELL PHONE WILL BE YOUR BEST FRIEND: If you have an old dumbphone, stop reading this for now, place the phone into a blender, and press “Puree”. Then go and buy a “smartphone” (ie. any Android, iPhone).
Step 2: APPS: You will need apps that allow you to make quick notes, at a moment’s notice, and back up automatically. Example : “On Jan 15th, I entered the principal’s office to discuss the lack of discipline in the school. They immediately ignored my request and asked for 5 weeks worth of lesson plans and told me they will be “dropping in”, sometime in the next few weeks, to check on me.” I recommend Google Drive or Evernote as they work across all operating systems.
Step 3: More Apps: In NY State we have a single consenting party law when it comes to recording conversations. At least one person in the conversation needs to know it’s being recorded. https://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/new-york-recording-law. If you are from another state, please check your local law. Don’t go buying a separate audio recorder, because it’s not as inconspicuous as a phone. If you go up to your bullies with a strange flower in your lapel, they may get suspicious. Just go to your phone’s App Store and type in “voice recorder”, test some out and make sure to check the settings so there isn’t a 5 min limit or something like that. I once had a conversation where my principal berated me, and I only had some of it. It’s enough, but there was some of it I wish I had. I realized I accidentally had the wrong setting, so check.
Step 4: Redundancy: Make copies of everything. Again you can use Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud to upload you files. Use your smartphone camera to make clear copies of documents that you then upload to your online file system. Do not rely on a flashdrive. Not only can you lose it, but it can fall in the wrong hands. “Yo! Check out what’s on this flashdrive I found. It’s a video of AP Smith erasing test bubble sheets and changing answers…” I personally have copies of everything in several locations. Call me paranoid, but at one point I pictured Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon kicking in my door and storming my house with all his investigators. ???? Don’t ask why, but I think it had to do with two of his investigators coming to my house to confiscate equipment on February 28, 2012. That and I have a lot of evidence. Sometimes you may have a verbal conversation with an administrator. You can always email them after and document the conversation. “Dear AP Smith, as per our conversation, on blah date, you indicated that I allow too many students to use the bathroom…”
Step 5: FOIL (My Favorite): Because our schools are funded by tax dollars, you have the right to request documents. Look up the Freedom of Information Law. Then check out my post on easy it is to obtain information. Now I don’t know if the NYC DOE FOIL unit lets the administrators know you are looking into this, but you may want to have a friend make the request. I wasn’t hiding and have been using my name to FOIL time cards, incident reports, school credit card bills, audits etc. Read my How To FOIL. Be prepared for delays. Step
6: Disciplinary Letters. It doesn’t matter if you are innocent. If they are after you , they will find you guilty. For some reason the UFT gave up the right for us to grieve letters in our file, BUT we can add rebuttal letters that get attached. When I signed the three disciplinary letters I received in 10 days, I wrote on each one “Rebuttal to Follow”. I’m wondering now if I could have written other things like “This investigation was flawed.” See my Disciplinary Letters and my subsequent rebuttal letters for ideas.
Step 7: Band Together: The union is you and your close colleagues. Band together! You are the 99%. Let the admin know that you have backing, because most are not intimidated by the UFT. Pick a day and have everyone wear blue or place a “Dont Tread on Me” flag on your door. That’s what I did until they ripped it down, when I was absent. I then replaced it with a bigger one. Thank you to my high school social studies teacher, Mr. Bruns, for teaching me about the Gadsden Flag.
DTOM Flag on My STEM Lab Door
Step 8: BLOG about it: Come up with a great name and buy the domain from www.godaddy.com or www.webair.com. Then use wordpress.com or blogspot.com and create a blog. Give the public a play by play of what is happening to you and your colleagues. Perhaps they can control the media, but we still control social media. Do not defame anyone. Be careful what you write. My blog is full of information on people, but I have evidence backing everything up.
Step 9: Twitter and Facebook: Tweet your story out there. Share it on Facebook as well. When I post a blog entry, it automatically tweets it to my followers as well as posts it on my two Facebook account timelines. I often tweet to @nycschools, media, the mayor, etc. All their followers will see it too. Mine is @mrportelos.
Step 10: Contact Authorities: DO NOT MAKE ANY FALSE ALLEGATIONS OR ALLEGATIONS YOU KNOW ARE FALSE. There is no need to waste any more taxpayer money with investigators running around and charging the city for time, travel, subpeonas etc. You believe your bullies are involved in misconduct? Wait! You are a mandated reporter, but don’t just go contacting Special Commisioner of Investigation (SCI), Office of Special Investigation (OSI) or Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) right away. I’ve read too many stories where, like me, the teacher’s/para’s troubles really began after they reported admin misconduct to these agencies. I had a clean record until I contacted SCI. Four days later I had three investigations and two disciplinary letters. Three days after I called OEO on an AP, she gave me my first ever U Observation. I was removed from school exactly one month later and that OEO case came out as unsubstantiated and they did not even call in all my witnesses.
You can try Suggesting an Audit through the Comptroller’s Office. You can also try contacting on the state or federal level. www.nysed.gov or www.ed.gov/misused before contacting your local investigative bodies.
Here is the trouble with anonymous reports….you can’t find out what’s going on and they can’t contact you for more information. If you really, really need to take the anonymous route, head over to a a nearby Staples, Best Buy whatever and use one of their floor model computers. IPs can be traced. See my post Hate Mail from within the DOE. SCI has policing power and can make arrests. They are an entity under the NYC Dept. of Investigation. I’m a little leary if they take a serious complaint and refer it to OSI. They did that with me and I can’t fathom why you would let OSI investigate the DOE. It’s basically the DOE investigating itself.
If you don’t want to be anonymous, find a friend or family member with different name to make the reports and you can do this with the FOIL requests.
READ THIS ABOUT WHISTLEBLOWING –https://www.nyc.gov/html/doi/html/report/faq.shtml
Step 11: Look at their admin manual: The DOE Office of Labor Relations put out a very detailed Q and A manual for principals in April 2007. Almost like a “Principals for Dummies.” It is a revision and expansion of an earlier edition dated October 2004. Here it is: Frequently_asked_questions_–_doe_office_of_labor_relations_4-07
If you have any questions about this manual, feel free to contact David Brodsky at or Karen Solimando at . David is the Director of the Office of Labor Relations and Karen is the Deputy Director. If you wish to phone them, their numbers are (212) 374-7954 and (212) 374-7990, respectively.
David Brodsky, Director of NYC DOE Office of Labor Relations
Step 12: PERB Complaint: PERB stand for the Public Employees Relations Board. It’s the NY State board that makes sure that the unions and employers play nice in the sandbox. I filed an improper practice complaint against the city. It’s free and you may get discovery and access documents. I filed stating that my union activities lead to me being attacked. https://www.perb.state.ny.us/
Remember there are 300+ lawyers and 200+ accountability experts in the DOE…and then there is you.
See more stories of abuse:
https://www.nycrubberroomreporter.blogspot.com/
https://www.endteacherabuse.info/ DTOE IS RUN BY UFT SOLIDARITY
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