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human capital

July 30, 2009

Klein to principals: Hiring restrictions probably won’t be lifted

by Philissa Cramer, at 7:51 pm

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein warned of “unacceptable financial consequences” today if principals do not accelerate their hiring.

In an e-mail today, Klein encouraged principals to list and fill their open positions as soon as possible to help reduce the number of teachers without jobs. If a principal can’t pay for a teacher, the teacher goes into a pool of “excessed” teachers whose salaries are paid by the department. If the size of the pool swells, the department could end up shouldering thousands of teachers’ salaries — all while the teachers aren’t officially on a school’s staff.

Klein emphasized that principals should plan to fill their vacancies with teachers who already work in the system, especially the more than 2,300 who currently lack a permanent position. “You should be aware that excessing conditions make it unlikely that we will lift hiring restrictions across the board,” he wrote. Restrictions have been lifted in a handful of specific license areas, most recently in special education, where the hiring freeze was lifted yesterday.

Some have speculated that principals might try to evade the hiring restrictions by not listing their open positions publicly before the “open market” period of teacher hiring ends next week.

“That’s maybe what some of them were trying to do and that’s why we had Joel send out the e-mail today,” said Photo Anagnastopoulos, the department’s chief operating officer.

There are currently about 2,400 teaching positions open in the city schools and about 2,340 teachers who don’t have positions, according to data released by the Department of Education today.

Nearly 2,000 teaching positions were cut at the end of the school year, the “overwhelming majority” because of budget cuts that totaled as much as 8 percent of schools’ budgets over the course of the last school year, department officials said today. The numbers released today marked the first time since principals submitted their budgets June 18 that the department disclosed how many positions had been cut.

Since the end of June, fewer than 400 of the teachers whose positions were cut at the end of the school year have been hired by other schools, according to the department.

The city’s excess pool currently has 1,570 teachers whose jobs were cut this year and 770 teachers whose jobs were eliminated in the past. The latter number is down from about 1,100 teachers in the pool at the end of April. About 300 of those teachers were offered permanent positions at schools since then.

Department officials say they are “pretty confident” that the number of teachers without positions will settle back to about 1,100 by shortly after the school year begins. “Right now it’s pretty much where we thought it would be,” Anagnastopoulos said today.

In addition to the 2,340 teachers currently without positions, there are also 300 school psychologists and social workers who do not have jobs at schools but whose salaries are being paid by the department.

Teachers are protected from layoffs, even if they do not land a position in a school. No such protection exists for the 900 excessed school aides, paraprofessionals, and other people who do not belong to the city teachers union. There are only about 100 openings for those kind of positions. 

Here’s Klein’s complete letter to principals:

Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to give you an update on the hiring restrictions and how they impact our overall budget situation for the upcoming school year.

When we implemented the hiring restrictions in May, we did so to ensure that the size and cost of the excessed staff pool did not grow to the point where even more cuts would be required. I am aware that these restrictions limit your choices, but this policy is the only way to preserve your ability to select your own staff, a hard fought change in school hiring that we sought and achieved based on your feedback.

We continue to monitor the excess situation on a daily basis. A number of you have already selected internal candidates, including excessed staff, to fill your vacancies. But even with these hires, we still have many teachers in excess. As a result, we need to work together before the start of the school year to avoid any year-to-year increase in the number of teachers in excess and avoid unacceptable financial consequences. I am sure some of you are waiting to either declare or fill vacancies with the hope that hiring restrictions will be lifted soon. While I understand your desire to staff your schools with the candidates you feel will be the best fit, you should be aware that excessing conditions make it unlikely that we will lift hiring restrictions across the board in any other subject areas. To date, we lifted the hiring restrictions for almost all districts in special education and for all schools in other shortage areas, such as bilingual special education, speech, and most sciences.  Prospectively, there may be some targeted lifting of restrictions – in specific districts and subjects – but I anticipate even those targeted exceptions will be very limited. As we continue to monitor the situation, we may even need to re-impose some hiring restrictions in areas where we have lifted them.

Given these circumstances, you should not hold back on creating and filling vacancies. The best internal candidates – both teachers in excess and other teachers seeking transfers – are available now and the widest possible pool exists during the Open Market Transfer period, which by contract closes on August 7. It is crucial that you are staffed appropriately for the opening of school and therefore should create and fill vacancies as quickly as possible from the current pool of available internal candidates. Your HR Partner and the Office of Teacher Recruitment & Quality can assist you in identifying internal candidates. Many of the teachers in excess are relatively new teachers who you and your colleagues hired one, two or three years ago; many others are also dedicated teachers who could be a good fit for your school. Some excessed teachers can be hired with a subsidy, whereby central will bear a significant part of the cost even after you hire them.

I am aware that some schools will have staffing needs for short and long term absences. Please remember that you cannot use per diems and F-status staff to cover vacancies; this is something we will be monitoring. Per our agreement with the UFT, if you need to fill a vacancy caused by a leave or a sabbatical, you can hire excessed staff on a provisional basis. A provisional hire means that you are hiring the individual for only this coming year. At the end of the school year, that teacher will return to the excess pool unless you both agree he or she should remain on your staff. Questions about this process, subsidies or other matters pertaining to excesses should be directed to your HR liaison in the ISC or CFN.

Only by working together can we successfully navigate this challenging situation. I realize that you have already had to make difficult and painful decisions as a result of current budget conditions. In the case of staffing, however, critical steps remain. To the extent that vacancies are not scheduled or that the process of filling them is being delayed, the actions of individual schools have the potential to negatively impact all of our schools. I am deeply grateful for all that you are already doing to make the best choices for your school under difficult circumstances, but I ask that you please move expeditiously to schedule and fill your vacancies.

Sincerely,

Joel I. Klein

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  • Justin

    As an aspiring social studies teacher, I wanted to thank you for publishing this e-mail. This honest appraisal of the hiring situation was the most helpful piece of information educators have learned since the restrictions first went in place.

  • insiderknowledge

    There is one huge fallacy to point out here.. Why is Klein saying that if principals do not hire excessed staff the DOE will be stuck shouldering the salaries? Earth to Klein whether the teachers are assigned to a school or not the DOE is STILL paying their salary.. Bloomberg and Klein created this mess when they made the teacher salaries count against the budget of the school. That’s the real reason why many have not been hired.. Also when they close schools down the staff are displaced and the new incoming school is allowed to hire from outside..

  • http://edintheapple peter

    If the DOE informed principals that unfilled positions will be withdrawn from the school’s budget as of September 10th the excess/ATR pool would evaporate in a hurry … right now there is a game of “chicken,” can principals outwait the freeze … BTW, its not the higher salary of excess?ATR teachers, its the reticence of younger principals to hire teacher older and more experiences … generational discrimination …

  • http://edintheapple peter

    If the DOE informed principals that unfilled positions will be withdrawn from the school’s budget as of September 10th the excess/ATR pool would evaporate in a hurry … right now there is a game of “chicken,” can principals outwait the freeze … BTW, its not the higher salary of excess/ATR teachers, its the reticence of younger principals to hire teacher older and more experiences … generational discrimination …

  • http://mrhistory.info Gregory

    As a language arts, technology and history/social studies teacher, it is tough to hear the teacher job hiring wall is still there and the fight to teach back home in NYC continues. The parents and children of New York City must decide if they want the best teaches for the classrooms or the best of this pool. New Yorkers have always demanded the best out their sports teams and everything else. Now demand the best for your children – fight to life the hiring freeze to ensure the best! New York was ranked 3rd in the nation for quality of education last year! If this plan continues – this will slip and the blame will fall on the mayor and chancellor. I ask as a teacher who wants the best for his own children and all other to fight for THE BEST EDUCATION FOR THE BEST CITY IN THE UNITED STATES – NYC DESERVES NOTHING LESS

  • Jessica

    As a teacher who was let go for budget reasons in westchester county this past year, I must say that NYS is doing its best to keep me unemployed. Furthermore, I can’t even recieve unemployment benefits- they’ve frozen all educators claims. I’m an excellent teacher who has had nothing but praise from the 2 schools I have worked for in the past. I’m in the DOE system, but my application wasn’t reviewed untill June so I have no file # and now I’m waiting…. I might have to go back to being an adminstrative assistant. I truly LOVE teaching, and it breaks my heart that so many doors are closed to those who could sincerely make a difference in students lives and educations.

  • Kate

    I don’t understand why people think that lifting the freeze will ensure better teachers for NYC kids? It’s really an unfair assumption that those in excess are not excellent teachers themselves. In my school 4 really good teachers were excessed due to budget constraints. They deserve the opportunity to find new positions over people who are not in the system yet. Fighting to lift the freeze without ensuring that the qualified teachers who are out of permanent positions find them will only cause further budgetary issues as these teachers will still be getting paid. There are so many issues that surround the power struggle that is the hiring process in NYC. There are a lot of gray areas.

  • ghteacher

    Once again it comes down the almighty dollar. Principals in NTC have seen fit to only hire 400 of these so called “quality” teachers. Enough about the budget when comes down to putting the best teachers in the classrooms. I would be furious if my kid was getting a sub standard education because of a “budget” and there was not every attempt made in and outside the DOE system to put the best teachers in the classrooms. All children in this country, regardless of race, socio-economic and other factors deserve the right to the pursuit of happiness. This can be gained through quality education and a shot at the American dream, . I believe the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution guarantees that to ALL Americans and still we3 fight over funding. Maybe if the President would release the other 93% of the stimulus this would not even be an issue and stop spending money building amusement parks and studying the gases of animals with this money and put it in our classrooms.

  • Steve

    Kate, I recently sat with a principal who misread my resume and thought I was an experienced teacher rather than a new one. I was told that out of all the people he had interviewed, some with as much as experience as 8-10 years, I was far and beyond anything they had to offer and that he was shocked how some of these teachers have made it in the system. So here I am trying to get a job, a job that I know I will be good at in my heart, unable to attain one because schools are not allowed to hire whos best for the job…just something to think about

  • http://www.studentbooks.com Matt

    Kate and Steve,

    Maybe the issue and something that needs to be solved is the union stronghold.
    The norm is that all people get a chance to interview and take a job if accepted. The current system doesn’t allow new teachers to be considered fairly and at the same time against more experienced teachers.

    I agree that there are many good teachers in the pool who deserve a shot at a job, but they are getting paid aren’t they? New teachers who were recruited because of ‘a need’ now are in limbo, unpaid and waiting for this freeze to be lifted.

  • http://edintheapple peter

    Many of the teachers in the ATR pool are 1st teachers who were excessed in June … the alternative to the ATR pool is laying off “extra” teachers … the law says in inverse order of seniority … the problem is NOT union rules … the problem is the huge budget cuts have reduced positions around the city … reduced positions by many thousands. See latest DOE missive below:

    This is what the DOE recently sent out to the field. Please note the lifting of the hiring freeze in special ed.

    § Hiring restrictions will remain in effect. In May, we placed restrictions on the hiring of teachers and other school-based staff. Principals will continue to decide whether to hire and which candidates, as long as the person is already working in a New York City public school or is in the excess pool, which includes staff who are newly excessed for budget or enrollment reasons. The restrictions are in place to prevent the size and the cost of the excess pool from growing.

    Hiring Restriction Exceptions:

    § Schools in their first, second or third year of operation will be required to fill at least 60% of their vacancies from among current staff; the rest of the new staff can be outside hires.

    § The second exception applies to positions in the following areas: speech, bilingual special education, bilingual school psychologists, bilingual social workers, occupational and physical therapists, or bilingual counselors.

    § Hiring restrictions lifted in all Special Education licenses for all districts EXCEPT Districts 19, and 23. Restrictions are not lifted in Districts 19, and 23 since there are more excesses than vacancies available.

    § Hiring restrictions lifted for all sciences except Biology—new General Science, Earth Science, Chemistry, and Physics teachers can now be hired.

    § Hiring restrictions lifted for all of District 75/97 Schools in all titles except for paraprofessionals.

    § Staff in Bilingual pupil personnel licenses CITYWIDE can be hired with no restrictions.

  • http://www.studentbooks.com Matt

    Clearly the budget cuts are the biggest factor. My comment above was to point out 2 things:
    1. That many teachers in the pool are good teachers and
    2. There are some bad teachers in the pool who cannot be fired and who have priority over new and sometimes better qualified teachers.

    I believe that previous contracts that the union has agreed, have only kept the bad teachers in the system when they would be better suited to other careers. This can be frustrating for the new teachers who want to be hired fairly based on merit.

    About the hiring restrictions…

    I’ve read these, are no longer impacted by hiring restrictions on new teacher candidates:

    * 40% of all vacancies in schools that have opened within the last two years or are opening this fall
    * All vacancies in special education (except for vacancies in Community School Districts 19 and 23 in Brooklyn and District 9 in the Bronx)
    * All vacancies in District 75 schools
    * All vacancies in bilingual special education
    * All vacancies in chemistry
    * All vacancies in earth science
    * All vacancies in physics
    * All vacancies in general science

  • http://edintheapple peter

    Matt

    Union contracts don’t protect bad teachers … by law, all union members are entitled to “fair representation” by the Collective Bargaining Agent … just as all accused are entitled to be represented in the courts … management, the DOE, has an obligation to bring charges against “bad” teachers … if the DOE has sufficient evidence the discharge will be sustained.

    The process takes months, and sometimes years, because management, the DOE, choses to delay the process … the union doesn’t hire teachers, they defend their dues paying members to the best of their ability … the public should be angry at management for allowing “bad” teachers to continue to work.

  • Dee

    As I read this article and all of your comments I have tears rolling down my face. I have worked for the DOE for the past three years as a per diem substitute teacher. Over the past three years I have seen good teachers and I have seen bad teachers. I also know that principals target teachers who are not performing to standards and use budget cuts as a resource to get these teachers out of their schools. I have just become a certified teacher and it disheartens me that someone like me, who gets nothing but praise from the principals and teachers I’ve worked with, can not get a permanent position. It now appears that I will not be able to be hired as a sub because principals are required to fill these vacancies with ATR teachers who no one else wanted. There has to be a reason these principals are reluctant to hire from the pool and I don’t believe that it is age discrimination. I want to know why I have to suffer and worry about how I am going to provide for my family and these teachers who are unwanted remain on payroll and get paid to sit in the office at their school until they are called up from the excess pool. I believe the principals know who will be a good fit in their school and who will not and believe me they communicate with each other when hiring a teacher from another school they want to know their strengths and weaknesses just like any other employer so these teachers who were excessed because of performance will remain in the pool to haunt us for the 2010-11 hiring season.
    On another sore spot for me… TFA and NYC Fellows are still being recruited and paid for training and promised jobs but teachers who are already certified and who have the knowledge and experience needed to teach our children are being shut out. Lets put these pet projects on hold until the economic crisis is over and put qualified teachers in our classrooms! These programs are not recruiting long term teacher almost every teacher I know who has gone through one of these programs has left after their 2 or 3 year commitment is over. They take their free masters and go home. I have worked hard to get where I am and I want to stay and teacher in NYC for the next 25 – 30 years.
    Let’s figure out a way to make it happen for me and the many other frustrated, well qualified, new teachers.

  • Kathy

    Please at this point lift the Freeze… There are many talented people waiting to work for our city.
    new trained teachers with new ideas to share.

  • http://edintheapple peter

    Kathy: The freeze is NOT going to be lifted because the City has no money! Last year the City cut hundreds of millions of dollars from school budgets …next years budget is less than last years budget … many hundreds of first year teachers were excessed … usually the Department would lay off excess teachers, and these laid off teachers would have the right to return to vacant jobs. A few years ago the union negotiated a “no layoff” clause …

    Unfortunately the budget situation will get worse before it gets better … the stimulus dollars are only temporary. As someone who has a role in hiring staff I am leary of brand new teachers, enthusiasm and “new ideas” don’t always translate into effective classroom teaching … I seek teachers who have been successful in the classroom, and in this era of Open Market teachers can jump from school to school.

    I fear that for the next few years new teaching jobs may be few, as they were in prior economic downturns.

  • http://www.studentbooks.com Matt

    Peter – The freeze is gradually being lifted (so you can’t say it wont be lifted – it already has been in the areas I mentioned above)

    A lot of what you’re saying makes sense but just as I want to be fair and say that there are good teachers in the pool, you should be fair and say that there are many new, motivated teachers who will be effective. I’m seeing good and bad from the new and old teachers.

    Each candidate should be judged on their experience, skills and interview performance (including demo lessons). It’s the only way for NYC kids to get the best possible teachers.

    As for the open market – I thought this closed on 7 Aug ?

  • Will

    When is the budget due for principals to put into the DOE? Now that the Open market is closed as of aug 7th, what are the next steps to see if the freeze will be lifted? Any important dates coming up?

  • http://edintheapple peter

    When is the budget due for principals to put into the DOE?

    Budget were due in June, they were reviewed by ISC and approved in mid July

    Now that the Open market is closed as of aug 7th, what are the next steps to see if the freeze will be lifted?

    The “drying up” of the ATR pool by license and district. The DOE simply can’t afford to pay many, many hundreds of teachers as ATRs … In early July the vacancies and the ATR pool appeared to be about the same … however it appears principals have withdrawn vacancies, trying to “wait out” the freeze … I suspect that the DOE will direct principals to spend all dollars allocated. Any important dates coming up?

    No statuatory dates … in these dire fiscal times, with more and more budget cuts down the road dollars will drive all else.

  • Melanie

    Dee I totally understand where you’re coming from! I was a per diem sub since 2004 trying to get a full time position! two years ago I finally end up in a school that had a teacher on a year long maternity leave so I got my first full time classroom in but I couldn’t be appointed. Yet again this past year I covered another year long maternity leave. So here I have two years in this school, to be thrown back out there with no hope for a job or even subbing because of all this freeze nonsense!

  • Jenn

    I just came from the hiring fair in Queens. It’s was sad to see how many vacancies there are for positions that cannot be filled by qualified applicants because of the freeze. The fellows and TFA’s were also there–eager to teach but unable to get jobs. THE ATR’s who don’t have jobs now don’t have jobs for a reason–LIFT THE FREEZE so we can get some quality teachers in our schools. Not only can we not hire Fellows or TFA’s but we cannot hire new traditional teachers. I have never seen so many principals hiring on the spot–crossing out vacancies after meeting with peopel they chatted with for20 minutes. Schools that wanted to actually see demo lessons could not get anyone to come before they were hired on the spot by another school. This is insane! We should be doing what is best for our kids–lift the freeze and let us hire the best teachers not leftovers….

  • Rudy

    Quick question about the hiring restrictions regarding science. I noticed the following on the DOE’s website

    “External hires may be considered for all science vacancies except biology (this includes chemistry, earth science, physics, and general science).”

    Does this mean that an external hire with a biology license can be considered for an Elementary science or middle school science position? Technically none of these are Biology vacancies for which I’m applying.

    The way I’m reading this is to mean you can’t hire a new person to teach biology, am I just reading what i want to here?

  • Jenn

    Elementary and middle school is general science. You should be ok…. Call and find out. Get on the new teacher database and look up postings. You need to act now or you wont get a job.

  • Jeff S

    The biggest reasons ATR’s are not being hired is that many of the Principals are insecure and really don’t want veteran teachers who know what’s going on and can see through their incompetence and lack of experience. If I’m a teacher who has invested 15 to 20 years of my life and suddenly through no fault of mine, Klein and his mindless bureaucrats close the school and declare me in excess, I wouldn’t want to work for one of these Johnny come lately Principals who spent 2 or 3 years in the classroom and are suddenly deemed competent enough to be a Principal. Nobody is qualified to be a Principal without at least 10 years experience in the classroom as a teacher, 5 years of experience as an Assistant Principal. This from somebody who spent 12 years as a teacher and then 21 years as an Assistant Principal (just like nobody is qualified to be a Chancellor who did not spend at least 10 years in the classroom and 10 years in school administration and Joel Klein is a perfect example of that of course).

    The second reason Principals do not want to hire experienced teachers is the idiotic decision to change the budgeting to charge each school for a teacher’s actual salary rather than treat all teachers as 1 unit. Nobody can tell me this isn’t a big factor in the inability of the many fine ART’s with experience to get jobs. Klein has created this mess thanks to his lack of qualification for the job he currently, most unfortunately for the schools, holds.

  • http://edintheapple peter

    Jenn:

    Klein established a policy based upon limitless dollars, by allowing the unfunded ATR pool to grow he created a $100 million plus liability … the freeze can’t be lifted until the license area in the pool is exhausted … there simply aren’t available dollars … and budgets will continue to shrink over the years … for thirty or forty years we have had shortages of teachers, that is no longer the case … for years teaching jobs for graduates were readily available, now there are numerous applicants for every job, and, by waiting, rolling the dice, hoping that the freeze would be lifted, resulted in this last minute scramble.

  • http://edintheapple peter

    Jeff:

    In my experience principals are eager to hire experienced teachers who bring a value-added to the table … experience alone is not sufficient. Schools routinely require a demo lesson, I have interviewed too many experienced teachers who resent having to “prove themselves,” by teaching a demo lesson. Experience means the availability of data: asking an experienced teacher to provide specific data re their class achievement, readily available ARIS data is a fair request, yet some experienced teachers reply that they are unfamiliar w/ ARIS. Fair Student Funding (FSF) is an issue, not a determining issue, brand new teachers, regardless of their initial enthusiasm require a great deal of support. Using an Inquiry/data-driven approach requires building teams, principals seek teachers who are eager to work in a grade or subject team, regardlesss of experience.

  • Jeff S

    Peter…I’m sorry you cannot throw out the argument that a Principal can hire 2.5 new teachers for the same amount of money that he or she can hire 1 experienced teacher.
    And quite frankly, I can understand why an experienced teacher, one with 20 years of satisfactory service who is excesed through no fault of his or her own because of the insane policy of closing the large high schools which have been the pillars of their communities for decades, would resent some new Principal, with a third of the experience he or she has, insisting he or she teacher a demo lesson or provide meaningless statistics on test scores which have little to do with competence.

    My point remains it is Klein’s incompetence, stupidity or whatever and lack of understanding of the basics that has gotten us into this mess.

    Oh and BTW, the SAT score report shows how little he has “improved” education. The reason the test scores are up is not because Klein has done anything with his lack of educational experience and lack of qualificaton for his position, but rather the dumbing down of the New York State tests. Of course, when it takes what is it 30 credits out of 84 to pass an Algebra Regents exam, guessing at the answers can lead to a passing score. Everybody knows it but then again why let the facts get in the way of a good story.

  • Dissenter

    Aren’t you all arguing past the real point, which is why is it that we have people sitting around who are guaranteed a salary even if they don’t have a position? That was not a Klein problem — it is the stupidity of the City in ever agreeing to such a thing years ago. If a school does not want to hire a teacher they should not have to be paid going forward. Period.

  • http://edintheapple peter

    Dissenter

    The Walmart model … no unions, pay as little as possible, all at will employees … survival of sites based on profits … 5 or ten years down the road u might get yr wish …

  • experienced and talented teacher

    why shouldn’t I be guaranteed a salary? I have worked above and beyond the hours required of in the UFT contract. I have worked on my lunch hour, as a member of various school teams (inquiry, subject-based, extra support for students in completing work), stay later and arrive earlier than most other teachers, am available to parents by phone during the evenings and on weekends, able to manage and instruct large groups of children with and without learning and emotional disabilities. Am being penalized for choosing to work in a struggling school, which was ultimately closed. Being asked to do demo lessons (and thus needing to take time off from work and away from teaching) while working full-time and simultaneously trying to help your students transition from the end-of-the-year into the unknown (i.e. new grade, school closing, children fearful about what is happening to them, need their teacher there for stability) is unfair. Having to settle for just any job so that we don’t become this horribly stigmatized “ATR” is also unfair. Like anyone, I am seeking a teaching position that is a good fit between myself and the school. Unfortunately, in this test-score fanatic environment, many principals are fearful of anyone who has skills an interests in any other areas that encourage the growth and development of children in addition to academics. Many schools have absolutely no resources for art, physical education, music, science, conflict resolution or anything else outside of what is being tested for. If all we teach children to do is pass the test, that is all they will know how to do. I’m not looking for a principal who is afraid of Bloomberg and Klein and believes that test scores show the full picture and true merit of the quality of: their school, any individual child, any individual teacher. And that, my friends, is why I am still looking for a job.

  • Dissenter

    Oh God, only in NYC could someone write the words “why shouldn’t I be guaranteed a salary?” and it seem like a reasonable argument. Why should ANYONE be GUARANTEED a salary?

  • experienced and talented teacher

    um, because the two of you enter into an agreement in which those are the stated terms.

  • experienced and talented teacher

    Dissenter,
    Teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve pool do not “sit around.” They actually go to a school and teach.

  • http://edintheapple peter

    The most important decision a principal makes is who they hire … and, if the potential hire is a tenured teacher … all the more care …

    We live in a world of scores, on ELA tests, Math tests, LSAT exams, SAT exams … as a principal u are primarily concerned w/ the teacher value-added … an effective teacher teaches ELA and Math within the contest of art and music and science and phys ed … any principal who hires a eacher w/o a demo lesson is foolish … the days of closing the door and teaching yr kids is gone … schools look for teachers who can work collaboratively in grade or subject teams … who can convert data into effective lessons …

    Teachers, be they first or second or 20th year teachers have an obligation to improve each and every year … it’s the same for doctors and accountants and most professions.

  • Bent

    This freeze is rediculous. I have ten years excellent teaching experience in Westchester county. They closed my school and with limited jobs here I was unable to get another teaching job. I have applied to NYC DOE schools, but unfortunately cannot be hired due tot he freeze. I LIVE FOR TEACHING. It brings me joy and happiness. It is my life. I have even met with principals who say they want to hire me but just cant right now. Is this fair to me? This freeze really is not fair, And as an excessed teacher in Westchester-once you are excessed you do not collect a dime.

  • Paula

    Does anyone know if Bilingual Ed is exempt from the hiring freeze?

  • Cindy

    Paula, read the above messages. And my first sentence.

    I just got hired as a bilingual teacher. I left the system a few yrs. ago to pursue other opportunities and loved it. Returning to DOE due to personal reasons I also love teaching. With three diff. license under my belt and 10 years of teaching experience, I was offer a few positions. I did my demos over the summer, the principals were happy with my knowledge and performance. However, due to the hiring freeze, the principals couldn’t take me in. Now with a few open options, one of the principals called me in for a bilingual class.

    Like Peter said, principals new or tenured know what they want for their schools. Having taught over 10, 20 years doesn’t say anything about any individual teachers.

    In terms of the ATR pool, these teachers are collecting a salary without being place in the appropriate position and it is taking the city too long to end this non sense. The only way this will move quicker is by giving ATR teachers three straits. If they can’t get a position after visiting three diff. schools/principals then they are out. Simple as that.

    All the best,
    Cindy

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