By Joe Anuta
The city and the United Federation of Teachers announced an agreement to implement teacher evaluations at nine underperforming Queens schools Friday.
The deal will help solidify $65 million in federal aid for 33 schools across the five boroughs, according to the city Department of Education.
“With this agreement, we will be able to bring millions of dollars in federal funding to these struggling schools and recruit top-quality teachers to help students succeed and mentor other staff,” city Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement.
The evaluations were just part of a broader plan to improve the struggling schools through a federal grant, where they will be restructured according to one of four models.
The affected schools are Newtown HS in Elmhurst, Grover Cleveland HS in Ridgewood, Queens Vocation and Technical HS in Sunnyside, Flushing HS, August Martin HS in South Jamaica, John Adams HS in Ozone Park, Richmond Hill HS, William Cullen Bryant HS in Astoria and Long Island City HS.
In the months leading up to the announcement of the city’s budget, the UFT’s “last in, first out” policy and teacher evaluations were a hot-button issue.
But UFT President Michael Mulgrew was positive about the talks and the evaluation process, which will rank teachers either highly effective, effective, developing or ineffective. Currently teachers are only rated satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
“This agreement helps lay the groundwork,” Mulgrew said in a statement. “Now we have to focus on providing the resources these struggling schools need to make a real difference in the lives of their students.”
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
