Narrative:

I was working atop we were split out three ways due to weather and deviations. Two sigmets were sent to the supervisor queue to be entered into atop. The supervisor was not paying attention to the supervisor queue; and had to be told that they were in there. The three controllers working were too busy to enter the sigmets in themselves; and should not be required to as this is a supervisor's task to do this. When the sigmets were finally entered; he never deactivated the old sigmets; so both sigmets were in there; as well as the old sigmets that were replaced by the new ones.as this was going on; sector 83 was getting a lot of point outs from sector 87; that because they deviated so far to the west; the controller ended up working those planes. L453 was closed because of weather; and L452 traffic was deviating to the east; L454 traffic was deviating to the west. Sector 86 ended up routing aircraft through 82/83 because of the deviations. This led to the controller being overwhelmed with people calling him on the line to do coordination; and also aircraft checking on. The supervisor should've done something instead of just watching from a few feet away and not offering to help by sitting on the handoff for a few minutes until someone came back from a break. The supervisor is certified at this sector; and it should've been a no-brainier to grab a headset and answer a line quickly to alleviate some of the workload off the controller. The supervisor should have helped by getting strips out of the hopper to post for the controller as we do not have a person working the floor.I've also been told by a fellow controller that this supervisor is also unsure of how to split out two radar sectors. [On another shift; controllers suggested the front line manager (flm) split sectors 82 and 83] but [the flm] ignored the request. When a former area supervisor came into the area to talk about a route closure; he was able to help with the splitting of the sectors.I would suggest sending [this flm] to atop school so he can learn the ins and outs of atop and how we work those sectors. There should be a supervisor certified at every sector in our area; just like every other area in the building. When one of our current supervisors transfers to traffic management unit in september; we will only have supervisors certified at sector 82/83. We will have none certified at atop; and none certified at 66; there hasn't been a supervisor certified at 66 since I first started working here. It is irresponsible to not have supervisors certified on every sector because how can they fully understand what the sector needs if they cannot work it. I know that getting a supervisor to certify at the very least on the handoff at 66 will probably never happen; but to certify at atop; is not too much to ask when the supervisors have taken the class.also I would suggest that sigmets are a high priority when they go to the supervisor queue so that way there will be a visual clue that there is something important and must be taken care of as soon as possible by the supervisor.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZNY Controller stated sectors should have been split due to high workload due to weather deviations. Controller stated Front Line Manager ignored requests to split sectors and inferred the Front Line Manager should have assisted the Controller but did not due to lack of proficiency.

Narrative: I was working ATOP we were split out three ways due to weather and deviations. Two SIGMETs were sent to the supervisor queue to be entered into ATOP. The supervisor was not paying attention to the supervisor queue; and had to be told that they were in there. The three controllers working were too busy to enter the SIGMETs in themselves; and should not be required to as this is a supervisor's task to do this. When the SIGMETs were finally entered; he never deactivated the old SIGMETs; so both SIGMETs were in there; as well as the old SIGMETs that were replaced by the new ones.As this was going on; sector 83 was getting a lot of point outs from sector 87; that because they deviated so far to the west; the controller ended up working those planes. L453 was closed because of weather; and L452 traffic was deviating to the east; L454 traffic was deviating to the west. Sector 86 ended up routing aircraft through 82/83 because of the deviations. This led to the controller being overwhelmed with people calling him on the line to do coordination; and also aircraft checking on. The supervisor should've done something instead of just watching from a few feet away and not offering to help by sitting on the handoff for a few minutes until someone came back from a break. The supervisor is certified at this sector; and it should've been a no-brainier to grab a headset and answer a line quickly to alleviate some of the workload off the controller. The supervisor should have helped by getting strips out of the hopper to post for the controller as we do not have a person working the floor.I've also been told by a fellow controller that this supervisor is also unsure of how to split out two radar sectors. [On another shift; controllers suggested the Front Line Manager (FLM) split Sectors 82 and 83] but [the FLM] ignored the request. When a former area supervisor came into the area to talk about a route closure; he was able to help with the splitting of the sectors.I would suggest sending [this FLM] to ATOP school so he can learn the ins and outs of ATOP and how we work those sectors. There should be a supervisor certified at every sector in our area; just like every other area in the building. When one of our current supervisors transfers to Traffic Management Unit in September; we will only have supervisors certified at sector 82/83. We will have none certified at ATOP; and none certified at 66; there hasn't been a supervisor certified at 66 since I first started working here. It is irresponsible to not have supervisors certified on every sector because how can they fully understand what the sector needs if they cannot work it. I know that getting a supervisor to certify at the very least on the handoff at 66 will probably never happen; but to certify at ATOP; is not too much to ask when the supervisors have taken the class.Also I would suggest that SIGMETs are a high priority when they go to the supervisor queue so that way there will be a visual clue that there is something important and must be taken care of as soon as possible by the supervisor.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.