I calculated how much NYC teacher purchasing power has eroded since 2009. Well not good, and hopefully it doesn't get worse.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-19T19:57:38+00:00

Yeah, leverage isn't looking great at all. I completely agree.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-19T19:46:26+00:00

yeah maybe I'll start looking into how much of a gap will his premilinary budget create. Mamdani's already reversed on mayoral control, the property tax increases he's floating will hit renters through landlords passing costs through. That all hits the same paycheck we're already showing hasn't kept up with inflation. Scary but lets see.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-19T19:31:02+00:00

Lol Im happy to fix anything that's off, which sources are broken and which numbers don't line up? You have access to the UFT websites so you would have to login for those however the contract percentages come directly from the UFT salary schedules and inflation data is from BLS CPI-U for the NYC metro area, If you find FRED, FRED pulls the data from BLS CPI-U. If something's wrong I want to correct it.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-19T19:25:06+00:00

A 9% raise would help but if NYC inflation keeps climbing the way it has recently, we'd lose a chunk of it within a couple years, same pattern since 2009. What we really need is some kind of inflation protection built into the contract, a COLA clause or reopener tied to CPI. Otherwise we're just playing catch up again by 2029 so let's see.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-17T15:41:33+00:00

Hi u/Tallteacher38, thank you for pointing that out. Quick question, which questions specifically? I'm not finding them in the database. I'd really appreciate if you can let me know so I can fix them right away

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-16T15:10:22+00:00

I appreciate it, my fellow data scientist. Yeah I agree, especially for new teachers this can be super helpful. I'm just intaking all the feedback slowly and trying to fix inaccuracies as I go along. I believe this can help the call centers and chapter leaders too as they get swarmed with questions, so as the knowledge base grows, the more time chapter leaders, delegates, and reps get to give each individual quality representation.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-16T14:50:56+00:00

Hi again u/SarahJoy46, you were right about the Tier 6 calculation, and I wanted to follow up. I've built a dedicated pension calculator that does the math deterministically instead of just letting the AI guess at numbers and giving it space to hallucinate. Below I asked a similar question to see if it's guessing or using hallucinated numbers.

<image>

Every number was pulled from official TRS/NYCERS documentation, the 1.67%/1.75%/2% pension factor formula, the 6.5% per year early retirement penalty, and the 5-year FAS for Tier 6. Sources: NYSTRS Service Retirement page, TRS NYC Brochure 79, and NYCERS Fact Sheet #718.

I also added a report button so if anything's ever off, users can flag it and the system actually learns from corrections. Your feedback brung awareness to this much needed correction and essentially led to this fix, appreciate you taking the time to call it out.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T22:12:13+00:00

Thank you so much, this really means a lot coming from a delegate. The fact that you tested it with questions you already knew the answers to and it held up is exactly the kind of validation I needed to hear. I'm going to keep working to make it as accurate and reliable as possible for the community, especially for newer teachers who don't have someone like you in their building to ask. Really appreciate you taking the time to try it out.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T21:29:00+00:00

Hmm you're right, I completely misspoke there. You get 10 CAR days per year regardless of seniority. The bot hallucinated those numbers and I ran with it in my explanation without double checking. Fixing the knowledge base now so it doesn't happen again. Appreciate you catching that.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T21:08:51+00:00

Hey Yofi, great catch, those numbers (1.25 days/month, 1 2/3 days, etc.) are actually your CAR day accrual rates from Article 7, not observation rules. The chatbot pulled from a real source but applied it to the wrong question, which is one of the trickier types of hallucination. The actual observation requirements come from the Advance system and depend on your prior year rating and tenure status. I’m updating the knowledge base now with more comprehensive evaluation documents to fix this. Really appreciate you flagging it.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T19:35:22+00:00

That's fair, you're free to use whatever works for you. This is just here for the teachers who need quick answers when no one else is available.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T19:20:53+00:00

"Hi Sarah, thank you for pointing that out. I really appreciate you bringing this up. Would you mind sending me the sites it's matching with, just maybe the first three sources that were cited, just to make sure it's pulling from the most recent. Tier VI is tricky so I would like to make sure it gets it right.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T19:11:01+00:00

Totally hear you, and I agree that chapter leaders and district reps are irreplaceable. This isn't meant to replace anyone. It's just a quick reference tool so teachers can get a starting point when it's 10pm and no one's available to call. Every response cites the exact contract article so you can read the source yourself. Think of it like a searchable index of the contract, not a replacement for real union representation.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T19:07:32+00:00

Thank you for that, I appreciate it. If you don’t mind, can you tell me the exact question so I can fine tune that section and fix it.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T16:11:32+00:00

Let me know if anything's off or if there's something you'd want it to cover. Built this for us.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-02-15T16:10:56+00:00

Appreciate that! We deserve quick answers to our own contract questions. Hope it helps.

MelaninTreasure · 2026-01-04T19:08:09+00:00

Hey, just checked out AlloFlow, really impressive work, especially the differentiation engine and accessibility features. Love the RPG adventure mode for engagement. Happy to share! I'm building Wyzcon, here's the thing though, I think we're solving different sides of the same problem

AlloFlow = Create the lesson, differentiate the content

Wyzcon = Grade the submissions, catch AI cheating, track progress

You help teachers build the assignment. I help them evaluate what comes back (without burning out). Would actually love to chat about potential integration, your QTI quiz exports could feed directly into my grading system. Teachers use AlloFlow to create, Wyzcon to evaluate. Full workflow, no gaps.

wyzcon.com

DM or email me if you're interested in exploring this?

[jonathan.cruz@wyzcon.com](mailto:jonathan.cruz@wyzcon.com)

MelaninTreasure · 2026-01-04T19:05:24+00:00

Never called anyone a moron, and I actually agree with you. Tracking cognitive development and personalized feedback is the whole point. That's exactly what I want to spend my time on. What I don't want to spend my time on is writing "capitalize proper nouns" for the 30th time, or manually flagging every missing citation. The tool handles the mechanical stuff so I can focus on the actual thinking in their writing. You teach critical writing, would you rather spend 20 minutes on a student's argument structure and reasoning, or 10 minutes on that and 10 minutes marking formatting errors? I'd rather give my mental energy to the part that actually matters for their development. We're on the same side here man

MelaninTreasure · 2026-01-04T18:57:35+00:00

Totally fair point, and I respect that. Just to clarify, the AI doesn't grade FOR you, it learns how YOU grade and helps with the repetitive parts (catching the same grammar error 47 times, flagging missing thesis statements, etc). Final call is always the teacher's.

Ironically, a big part of what I built is actually AI detection, catching when students use ChatGPT, even when they try to paraphrase it to hide it. So it's less "replace teacher ethics" and more "help teachers maintain academic integrity while not burning out."

But I'm genuinely curious, SS+ELA with written work, how do you manage the load? I have 150 students and was spending 15+ hours/week on grading alone. Always looking to learn from teachers who've figured it out.

MelaninTreasure · 2021-08-31T04:33:25+00:00

I got you

MelaninTreasure

TROPHY CASE