Staff Development Committee Information
AKA PD Committee
The following notes were taken during a UFT workshop on the Staff Development Committee (aka PD Committee) hosted by Jamie Polzin in November 2025. There’s a ton of information and useful tips regarding PD. If you ever have a chance to attend any of Jamie Polzin’s workshops, I strongly suggest you do so. She’s a treasure trove of information and an indispensable resource.
Contract: Article 6 - Professional Development, Staff Development Committee (SDC).
ILT = Instructional Leadership Team. Was replaced by the Staff Development Committee but many principals haven’t replaced it. Most principals do both.
If you’re in a school with an ILT, the CL should be on it. Contact your District Rep to determine if the ILT should exist independent of the Staff Development Committee (SDC). You can contact Debbie Poulos at the UFT. Principals give more attention to ILT.
The PD Committee and the Staff Development Committee are the same thing. SDC is the contractual name.
The chapter leader is a mandated member. The CL gets to choose half of the committee members. The principal chooses the other half.
The SDC reviews staff development/PD taking place and makes recommendations as to what to modify or what may be needed in the future. The SDC can make sure mandated PDs are taking place and push for priorities at your school PDs.
The committee is supposed to meet no later than 11/1. If you’re in a school where the SDC has not met yet, or in the future, meets after that date, you can file a grievance. It’s recommended that you bring it up at a consultation meeting if the committee hasn’t met by 11/1 or send an email first.
It’s helpful to survey the school staff in the fall about which PD(s) they may want.
You can send out a survey that asks if people would be interested in presenting or giving PDs.
A per session posting should be created if teachers or staff are creating PDs. The consultation committee can weigh in on that. Consultation should see postings.
The SDC should send out a mid-year survey to their staff. Ask how they feel about PDs. Ask if the found any to be particularly meaningful.
Reflect on PDs at the end of the school year in June. Use Chancellor’s Day to meet with SDC to think about next year.
Only two meetings are contractually required - November 1 and in the spring.
The contract states that OPW time can be utilized throughout the year for work dedicated to SDC.
Always ask if per session time can be offered to members for time used outside work hours. The principal isn’t forced to do so. If a meeting is held outside the school day, per session should be paid.
Technically, the committee doesn’t create any PDs. The SDC makes recommendations for PD. If agreed, a per session posting can go out for pedagogues to create PD or someone from outside can be brought in.
Suggestion: pick people from different departments, grade levels, para rep, etc. for the SDC.
Ask the principal when you should meet to develop the SDC.
The principal has final say in determining PDs, but if they are not listening or taking the suggestions from the committee, you can file an operational complaint.
There are more mandated PDs than we realize. We can find a list and bring them up to the principal.
The SDC can bring up mandated staff PDs that haven’t been completed yet. It could also be a Consultation Committee issue.
You can find out your principal’s deadlines by logging into the Principal’s Hub and clicking on Calendar. Can print it out and put it on the UFT board.
Principals should offer per session at the beginning of the year for people to read IEPs. It shouldn’t be done on your own time. You can ask the principal when they’re going to give time for staff to read IEPs. We’re supposed to read IEPs prior to the school year so we can implement them.
Mandatory: Opening Day Emergency Procedures and Violence Prevention Training. Principals often share only a little bit (if at all) about mandatory PDs and subject matter because principals don’t want staff to know. i.e. There should be slides during that tell teachers they can remove students who are substantially disruptive or undermining teachers’ authority.
PD and OPW time can be used for grading MOSLs.
There should be at least two PDs per semester devoted to safety, climate, and culture.
Look at the Quality of Professional Development data on the school survey website. If your results are low, you can use that to advocate for PDs the staff actually wants/needs.
Quality of Student Discussions tends to be a low score throughout the City. The principal should focus on that, especially since it impacts teachers’ ratings.
Contract says to differentiate PD for staff. Not everyone should get the same PD every week (Article 6).
Ask to conduct school survey protocol where you spend a PD looking at school survey data and sharing thoughts.
Give a Professional Development survey to staff. The survey can cover a bunch of areas: a) Check which topics you might want PD on. b) Space to say something else you haven’t thought of. c) Include Danielson on there. Ask staff if there are any areas they want PD on. d) Include question asking if there are certain staff members you’d like to see present PD. e) Include space for staff to mention PDs they have attended that they found helpful in the past. f) Ask what PD(s) should be highest priority?
Ask principal where biggest domain is for 1s and 2s (Ineffectives and Developings). Ask for PD on it.
Lots of teachers want de-escalation protocols.
Ask staff if they’d be interested in presenting.
Looks good in tenure binder if newer teachers host PD.
Ask if one PD per month can be optionally self-directed, especially for paraprofessionals. It’s an easy way to meet the needs of your staff.
If mandated Danielson PD isn’t given, you can point out it’s unfair of admin to discipline/penalize someone for something they weren’t aware of.