The new professional certification requirements state that New York State teachers must earn 100 hours of professional development through SED (State Education Department) approved CTLE (Continuing Teacher & Leader Education) sponsors over a five year period. 

The teachers of New York City insist that our school districts become approved CTLE sponsors ASAP. According to the law, school districts are eligible to become sponsors.

 http://www.nysut.org/resources/all-listing/2016/january/faqs-about-certificate-registration-and-ctle-requirements

http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/news/newsitem05122015.html

Teachers participate in professional development on a weekly basis, as per contract requirements. These hours should absolutely count towards the 100 hour SED requirement. However, since the NYC DOE is currently not an approved CTLE sponsor, none of these hours can be used towards our certification requirements. This does not make sense.  http://www.uft.org/files/attachments/moa-contract-2014.pdf 

Teachers already dedicate countless hours of personal time working to help their students. Planning and grading are constantly taking place on weeknights, weekends, and over the summer. Professional work takes place regardless of family commitments, second jobs, personal events, etc. It is simply not right to overwhelm teachers further with more work obligations outside of the school day. Furthermore, teachers should not be expected to pay put of pocket to attend professional development courses. 

If our in-school professional development hours cannot be used for teacher certification requirements, our contract should be amended. Monday professional development time should instead become additional paperwork time, or time when teachers can participate in approved CTLE professional development online.

We request that our school districts take immediate action to become SED approved CTLE sponsors. We request that the United Federation of Teachers help us in making this a reality, instead of encouraging union members to pay for the CTLE courses offered at UFT Teacher Centers.