Teachers' warning that they'll sue city if 'harmful' evaluations are released
Wednesday, October 27th 2010, 4:00 AM
The city could face even more legal trouble from teachers over the controversial effectiveness ratings, union officials told the Daily News.
If the ratings are released to the public despite a pending teachers union lawsuit, the city could get slapped with suits by hundreds of teachers who have called a union hotline to report errors, the officials said.
"If members are harmed or defamed because the Department of Education was not managing the data inside of the system, then we will help them take legal action," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.
Teachers charge there are simple mistakes in the Teacher Data Reports, which use a complex formula to rate teachers on how well their students did on state exams.
Mistakes - like the wrong number of students or counting the wrong kids - could mean the ratings are way off, teachers said.
English teacher Kevin Trustey of Queens Junior High School 189 said he had earned the lowest rating in 2008-09 after receiving the highest the prior year because, he said, the
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