One of the policies of Arne Duncan is to do a "turnaround" of a school. Fire the principal, fire many or all of the teachers, and force them to reapply for their jobs.
I think this is perhaps the cruelest of the policies because it involves random firing and rehiring. It crushes teachers, often ends their careers. And guess what...no one in authority in our party cares at all.
From Gotham Schools Blog:
The Emotional Fallout Of TurnaroundThe steps leading up to our current situation thus far have left the entire staff (and student body) extremely jaded. We all believe that there is no logic to the entire process and that the DOE had already predetermined who they will be hiring back, and most of us believed that salary would be a big factor. (For each teacher, the city charges schools the average salary of all of the school’s teachers, so principals have a financial incentive to hire less experienced teachers when possible.)
The administrators had the nerve to send emails during the day to teachers who were not being asked back. Here is more about some of those teachers...good teachers, worthy teachers.
Many of the teachers who were not accepted were those who have the utmost respect from their students and colleagues. These are people who conduct before- and after-school programs, coach sports teams, and lead honor societies. Age did not seem to play a role as both rookie and veterans received the devastating news.
Why would the school be so classless as to notify these teachers in the middle of the day on a Thursday? This was unprofessional and highly insensitive — after all they had been through, the teachers deserved the respect to be notified in private or during a time where they could be alone. Teachers were crying out of hysteria, as were many of their colleagues who were equally devastated to hear the fate of their friends.
More from Gotham Schools blog
Road to “turnaround” rehiring has been bumpy, teachers sayThe hiring process has hit snags at several “turnaround” schools where teachers have been told to reapply for their jobs this year.
Staff from many of the 24 schools that the city will close and reopen this year under a reform model called turnaround are complaining they are facing confusion and misinformation over who qualifies to be rehired and what will happen to teachers who are not rehired. At a handful of the schools, interviews were delayed by days because of last-minute administrative changes and unexpected time pressures. And some of the school-based hiring committees are working long hours but still falling behind.
They have carried it far enough in NY that thousands are being given pink slips in the name of "reform."
More than 3,500 “turnaround” school staffers getting pink slipsThousands of teachers, administrators, and school aides in the city’s 24 “turnaround” schools are getting official notification today that they aren’t assured a position next year.
The total number of workers at the schools who are being “excessed” — or having their positions eliminated — is 3,671, making this year’s citywide tally of displaced teachers larger than in any recent year. The Department of Education released the figures this afternoon but did not share data about excessing taking place at the city’s 1,600 other schools.
Schools learned that the excessing letters would be distributed today on Friday, and at some schools teachers received the notices while interviewing to retain their jobs. The workers who received the notification include 2,995 people represented by the United Federation of Teachers, mostly classroom teachers; 497 people represented by DC-37, the union that includes school aides and parent coordinators; and 179 members of the principals and administrators union.
Typically, schools excess teachers because of budget cuts, enrollment drops, and changes to program offerings that render the positions impossible to fund. But this year, every single person who works at the 24 schools undergoing a federally prescribed turnaround process is being excessed — and virtually every single person is being replaced, either by himself or by another person, during restaffing processes that are already underway.
The blogger calls it an "expansive game of musical chairs." Just imagine teachers preparing and working for years to play musical chairs with their livelihoods.
This is all being done with the full blessing of this administration. What a shame.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
