Sunday, August 30, 2009

Principals refuse to hire experienced teachers

From the NY Times:

Less than two weeks before the start of school, about 1,800 teaching jobs in New York City remain open as principals appear to be resisting orders to fill vacancies with teachers whose previous positions were eliminated.

Facing steep budget cuts, the Education Department enacted a hiring freeze in the spring, requiring principals with openings to hire teachers who are already on the city’s payroll but who have no permanent position, often because their schools were closed for poor performance.

But many principals prefer new teachers. So in an act of quiet defiance, they are allowing jobs to sit vacant, leading to one of the most difficult hiring seasons in recent history despite the large number of vacancies and the thousands of candidates who could fill them.

Teachers who lost their old posts are frustrated about the scarcity of job offers. New teachers who cannot get hired are furious after upending their lives to begin careers they must now delay. And principals are upset that after years of choosing their work force, their options are being drastically limited.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What have I been saying???

The DOE wants them young, stupid and cheap.

The experienced teachers are the enemy.

Anonymous said...

The principals have a budget. The old timers make more money than a fresh new teacher. And who wants to hire someone whose last school was closed because of poor performance. I think the union contract mandates that these teachers are warehoused and paid anyway. It's a sad situation for everyone and the taxpayer is probably getting screwed again as usual.

Anonymous said...

No one, teacher or not really knows his job until he has done it for a year or two. Hiring inexperienced newbies in excess guarantees pliable, but incompetent staff.

Anonymous said...

has there been any follow up conclusion to the P.T.A
member's at P.S.203 , in district26, allegation that out
of district parents were paying to enroll their pupils?

rumors of "dormitory weekly residence for out of district pupils" exist in e.queens. also is it possible that"lottery K-3 grade" schools in district 25 have a fee for those who do not make the lottery?

Anonymous said...

My wife is starting her 5th year with the DOE. She started in a low income area (takes her over 1hr to get there by train) because that is where the jobs were. Now that she has some experience, she's trying to get something closer to home. After applying to over 35 schools, she received 1 interview and didn't hear anything after that. My coworker's wife is in the Fellow's program and was hired to a school my wife applied to for the same subject. If that's not a slap to the face, I don't know what is. It's very discouraging to be a NYC teacher right now.

Anonymous said...

"It's very discouraging to be a NYC teacher right now."

That's the understatement of the century.