Statement from NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi on SED's response to Buffalo's evaluation plan:
"Attendance does matter. No one can deny that student attendance is a critical factor in measuring student performance. As NYSUT has made clear throughout this entire process, all of us in the educational community should support the inclusion of student attendance as an integral part of every plan to develop a fair teacher evaluation system.
"NYSUT fully supports the Buffalo Teachers Federation and BTF President Phil Rumore in their insistence that there must be an appropriate place for factoring in student attendance when using student growth in evaluating teachers. The New York State Education Department needs to work with the Buffalo City School District and the BTF so that this issue can be resolved immediately. SED's unjustifiable failure to recognize the importance of student attendance unnecessarily and unfairly holds up badly needed federal funds that provide services to Buffalo school children.
"I urge SED to address this issue immediately."
NYSUT, the state's largest union, represents some 600,000 classroom teachers and other school employees; faculty and other professionals at the state's community colleges, State University of New York and City University of New York, and other education and health professionals. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.