Teachers at John Dewey High School say they are being buried in paperwork.

A state arbitrator ordered Principal Kathleen Elvin “to cease and desist requiring educators to do unnecessary paperwork.” The new teachers union contract requires the Department of Education to stop bogging instructors down with petty paperwork edicts.

The dispute centers on “Do Now” assignments, which students are required to start at the beginning of class, a sort of a mini-quiz on the topic at hand each day.

But teachers claim Elvin required them to record and grade “Do Now” assignments every day — akin to grading tests or quizzes each day for an average of 180 students.

The UFT filed a grievance on behalf of Dewey teachers, arguing Elvin’s edict violated the paperwork provision in the union contract. The Department of Education defended Elvin in the proceeding.

Arbitrator Martin Scheinman — the chief mediator who helped work out the UFT contract last year — said the principal went too far.

The “Do Now” assignments are “proper” and a “useful pedagogical tool,” Scheinman wrote in the four-page April 3 opinion obtained by The Post. But “It is now agreed the prior announced intention teachers grade and record each of the ‘Do Now’ responses by individual students constitutes unnecessary paperwork.”