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March 21, 2012

Fiscal picture, turnaround open more spots for new teachers

by Philissa Cramer, at 2:52 pm

A slightly improved fiscal picture and a higher-than-usual number of anticipated vacancies mean more new teachers are likely to enter city classrooms this fall.

Two groups that prepare new teachers, the national nonprofit Teach for America and the city’s own Teaching Fellows program, both say they are planning to boost the number of recruits that they direct toward city schools. Together, they are anticipating hiring about 1,100 new teachers — far fewer than in their heyday but up by more than a third since last year.

The groups are by no means the only source of new teachers for city schools, whose principals also hire teachers trained through traditional certification programs and teachers who are already working in other districts. But their anticipated enrollment represents a barometer for evaluating the city’s teacher hiring climate, which for years has been dampened by restrictions introduced in 2009.

Then-Chancellor Joel Klein introduced the restrictions as a way to cut costs when economic recession kicked in and the city’s fiscal picture dimmed. They have not been lifted, but over time the Department of Education exempted some subjects and geographic areas and now says on its teacher hiring page that restrictions f0r the 2012-2013 school year “are unavailable at this time,” suggesting that principals might well face different or fewer constraints when filling open positions this year.

Why the change? One big reason is that the city’s finances are on the upswing: Unlike in recent years, Mayor Bloomberg is not threatening teacher layoffs this summer, saying that the city’s improving fiscal picture does not warrant them. In addition, the city is planning a massive organizational change, “turnaround,” at 33 schools that could free up as many as 1,700 positions for new teachers — many of which would fall under an exemption in the existing hiring restrictions.

According to federal guidelines, schools that undergo turnaround must replace half of their staffs in order to receive School Improvement Grant funding. The city’s turnaround plans involve closing and reopening the 33 schools with new staffs that draw from the old school. Even in 2009, new schools were allowed to pull 40 percent of their teachers from outside the system, and the reopened turnaround schools have been told they will have the same flexibility. That means that the schools will potentially be able to hire externally for more than 1,300 positions, in addition to positions that are exempt from the restrictions.

The schools will be able to recruit from other schools in the city and from a tiny pool of teachers that the Department of Education has trained specially for schools undergoing radical reform efforts. They are also likely to turn to products of Teach for America and the Teaching Fellows’ longstanding alternative training programs.

Teach for America is anticipating placing about 175 teachers in Department of Education schools, up from about 135 last year, according to a spokeswoman, Danielle Montoya. Another 200 or more Teach for America recruits will find jobs in charter schools and early childhood programs, Montoya said.

The city’s Teaching Fellows program, which at its peak brought thousands of new teachers into the system each year, is anticipating a class of about 700 teachers, according to a Department of Education spokeswoman, Barbara Morgan. Virtually all of those teachers will enter special education positions or other high-need spots, such as science.

Together, the groups are planning to take on more than 1,100 new teachers, up from 800 last year and fewer than 650 in 2010. Teachers trained in those programs get help finding jobs but must be chosen by principals according to the principals’ own hiring criteria. If the recruits are not hired by a school by midway through the fall semester, they are cut loose from the training programs’ payrolls.

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  • Flerplunk

    I’m not sure how much of an “upswing” the city’s finances are on, given that Bloomberg had to zero out the city’s reserves and issue a billion dollars worth of new taxi medallions to balance the budget.  I recall that when he was asked last month about the $3 billion shortfall projected for 2013, his response was, more or less, “That’s a year away,” roughly translated as “Not my problem.” 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000571042513 Rodney Nightingale

    WHAT ABOUT THE ATR SITUATION?

  • Transformation Teacher

    Apparently no one, not even the UFT cares about the ATRs. Even though there will be twice as many next year, in our post-turnaround world.

  • Kay1

    Not to rag on ATRs because all of us are one school closure away from being one ourselves, but now that ATRs are sent to schools every day to help out – some of them are REALLY weird.  One guy talks to himself in gibberish, another lady looks like a psycho who will pounce on you with a knife any second, a third is going around bothering everyone about his outside consulting business and a fourth is a lady who doesn’t speak – to anyone.  There are more stories of recent ATRs, but you get the point that not all ATRs are upstanding teachers who are just oppressed by the system.  There are dregs everywhere, and we seem to be getting the bottom of the barrel!

  • Clay

    How did Chancellor Dennis Walcott’s daughter get around the hiring freeze as a gym teacher in Queens? GS, look into that!

  • truth hurts

    They may say no layoffs but they are not replacing retirees which means cuts to individual school building budgets–just like last year. Funding will increase for Charters and such but public schools can expect another cut–that is the reality of it.

  • Ajax

    “The city is planning a massive organizational change called turnaround at 33 schools that could free up as many as 1,700 positions for new teachers”. Wow. Gotham Schools really sugarcoated the true nightmare that involves turnaround. You call the massive chopping of half the staff at a turnaround school as an “organizational change”. It is not a organizational change, it the wholesale slaughter of 50% of the teachers in these schools who will be placed in the ATR pool with absolutely no due process or evidence of individual poor teaching performance. These teachers are dedicated professionals who have dedicated their lives to teaching. They are now being tossed into the permanent purgatory of ATR status due to a political agenda. They are not as you say, being “freed up”. 

  • just the stats please

    Just curious does anyone have stats on how many teachers are eligible to retire this year? There has been such a rush to the exits the past few years I wonder what the experience levels are nowadays. Is there data somewhere? Also what is the expected attrition number?

  • Schmitlab

    How will the influx of excessed teachers from turnaround schools affect hiring restrictions for all other DOE schools? Seems like restrictions could be tighter at least early on when the excessed pool is large, and won’t be lifted until many of those teachers are hired by other schools.

  • just the stats please

    Something has to give you can’t keep increasing the size of the atr pool there is no way to place them. As it is rotating them weekly must be a logistical nightmare and a huge expense.

  • Vote NO!

     I’ve  seen   just  the  opposite.  Many  of the  ATRs  that  have  come  through  the  school,  really  could  have  added  to  the  school.  They  should  have  been  placed  into  the  vacancies.  What  a  waste  of  talent  having  them  serve  as  day  to  day  subs.

  • Invictus

    There must be two ways that the UFT are looking to the ATR situation…they are playing a game of guts with the Supreme Leader, in order to stack the ranks of the ATRs to the point that it is politically untenable.  Then, we will have the Supreme Leader’s propaganda department condemning them as being “Lazy, unfit for duty” vs the language of the desirable teachers being…”young, outstanding, the ones that our students need the most” all in a show attempting to break the worker protections built in in the NYS Labor Law

    and

    Mulgrew will play its cards to the membership…pushing against the mayor and declaring an impasse because the Supreme Leader has just 1 year to go… 

    Perhaps when the new Leader gets voted in, there will be some back dealing where ATRs will be forcibly placed in vacant positions and with the Cuomo’s Trojan horse of “Teacher’s Evaluation”, principals will pick from the recently hired ATRs to fill their “ineffective” and depending of the case, the UFT will simply turn their backs on them.  

    Looking at the political field coming to a massive change within one year and a half, I can see why Mike will tell the Supreme Leader to take a hike…in hopes of becoming chummy with the next Leader in waiting.  

    The only thing that we should expect is the unexpected.  

  • michael

    And our union will sit back,and let it happen. I want my union dues back so I can start a class action suit against the DOE, and yes our union too.

  • michael

    And our union will sit back,and let it happen. I want my union dues back so I can start a class action suit against the DOE, and yes our union too.

  • michael

    If you were sent to a different school every week you would be talking to yourself too.

  • I noticed that…

    Your school must be the only school receiving ATRs that are unsavory.  In my school every ATR has demonstrated unquestionable professionalism.  Two of the ATRs went beyond the call of duty to provide the necessary services to the students.

  • I noticed that…

    Please refer to those teachers as PE teachers, not gym teachers.  Thank you.

  • IrateTeacher

    These closures will lead to massive inreases in the ATR pool. Dear Leader is fattening the lamb before the slaughter. Guaranteed, dear leader will move to layoff the ATR’s before he is out of office and guaranteed Mulgrew will let it happen. Union members are powerless to stop it because Mulgrew doesn’t care, he doesn’t need the support of the ATR’s and potential ATR’s. All the ATR’s are from middle and high schools because those are the schools being closed but Mulgrew and Unity gets the majority of their support from elementary teachers, look at the vote tallies.

  • Evrytos

    This is so tragic. We are seeing the destruction of people’s livelihoods and their lives. Most of the teachers in the “turnaround schools” just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of these schools are Bs and As and don’t deserve to be closed. In fact, no school should ever be closed. We are opening schools in Iraq and closing them in NYC. We are on a self-destruct mode here. Who would have thought in the 80s when some of came into this profession, after waiting for Board of Examiner tests to be given, working as TPDs, earning tenure, finally getting seniority, and devoting our lives to this profession, that we would be the victims of this kind of scheme to rob us of our jobs. Bloomberg finally found a way of circumventing the union, rendering it powerless. It is the beginning of the end of the teaching profession, public education, and democracy. Also, as a parent, I would pull my kids out of any school where half the staff is replaced by inexperienced newcomers. It sounds downright dangerous. 

  • Supremeeducator5

    If Bloomberg goes after the ATR’s especially when the pool will be fattened by turnaround, I think it might be time to strike. “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”

  • Math Teacher in Waiting

    As someone who has been fighting to find a job as a new teacher for almost 3 years. I do hope there is a chance for me to get a job in a public school this upcoming school year

  • michael

    Mulgrew, did you hear that? STRIKE,STRIKE, STRIKE ………………….

  • Puttng4birdy

    Striking would be a huge mistake. We would lose all of our current rights including tenure and Bloomberg would have the right to create any work rules he wanted. The teachers that got their jobs back would be on probation for a year no matter how long they were teaching. It would play right into his hands. 
    Hopefully we can last these next 20 months and get someone who is teacher friendly in office.Working under these conditions has become very stressful.

  • Ajax

    There will be a ton of ATR’s already in the system that deserve the first shot at any teaching jobs that “open up” in NYC. Good luck to you however. 

  • Nyccchip

    Do not go into teaching. There are no jobs and there won’t be for years. I graduated in ’09 
    nothing- but subbing and summer school. The Ed. schools should dial back their enrollment or at least be more honest with the students. This would require them to be somewhat in touch with reality. Joke. 

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