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UFT Appeals Release of Teachers' Names With Ratings

By DNAinfo Staff on January 13, 2011 4:23pm

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, opposes releasing teacher data.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, opposes releasing teacher data.
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DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro

By Jennifer Glickel

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — The United Federation of Teachers has appealed a ruling made on Monday that the city's Department of Education can release performance rankings for 12,000 public school teachers along with their names, according to court documents.

The notice of appeal was filed on Thursday by the UFT to overturn Judge Cynthia Kerns' ruling that all the teachers' names associated with the Teacher Data Reports (TDRs) be made public to the media. The UFT is not appealing the release of the TDRs, but rather just the teachers' names accompanying those reports.
Monday's ruling was a setback for the UFT, who went to court in October to try to block the DOE from making the internal rating reports for teachers public.
"The reports, which are largely based on discredited state tests, have huge margins of error and are filled with inaccuracies, will only serve to mislead parents looking for real information," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew in a statement on Monday.

The NYC Law Department, speaking on behalf of the DOE, said that the ratings will not be made public while the appellate court decides the UFT's stay application.

"The Court has affirmed the City’s belief that the public has a right to this information under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)," Jesse Levine, senior counsel for the City, said in a statement on Monday.

"Since the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) has advised us that it intends to appeal and seek a stay of Justice Kern's order, we will not oppose the application, and will await the Appellate Division's determination."