The passage of the New York State budget last spring brought with it changes to teacher evaluation and assessment system known as the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR). These changes require a set of expectations that each public school district is expected to implement within an absurdly tight timeframe. NYSUT and other advocates for sound educational practices have achieved some measure of accommodation that will likely allow these changes to be more gradually phased in. The STA and the Board will continue to discuss how to comply with the State’s mandates while preserving the existing local assessments that we know provides a truer evaluation of teaching and encouragement for professional growth. Nonetheless, the changes are significant and require every teacher’s attention to their details.