DOE teachers- the latest re layoffs (link to NY Times piece)

This is going to be interesting- I am not crazy about the possibility of parents making decisions about layoffs, but State Sen Diaz is a big advocate for more parent involvement. I suspect this will be good news for some of you ladies who are newer and not so good for those of us who are higher on the salary scale. Regardless, I hope no one is laid off. And I really wonder why the idea of a pay freeze has not been floated- it's almost like they want to lay teachers off.

If you don't already read the Gotham Schools blog, I suggest you look at it- they gather info from all the local papers in one place along with their own news pieces. It's very informative.

NY Times Article

Two Democratic state lawmakers have sponsored a bill that would give principals in New York City the power to choose who should lose their jobs if the city needs to lay off teachers because of budget cuts.

Re: DOE teachers- the latest re layoffs (link to NY Times piece)

I think that Blommie has not offered a pay freeze b/c he is using this as a bargaining chip in contract negotiations.

I also don't understand how parents can really help to make this decision when their child has probably only had a small pecentage of teachers in the school. They will be unfairly biased for or agaisnt those teachers and not know anything about the others.

Right now the system is not structured to do this fairly. We get rated as satisfactory and unsatisfactory. So even if you lay off all the teachers who are unsatisfactory and that is not enough, how will you decide between all the teachers who have had satisfactory observations? How do you compare teachers in different disciplines? If you start to use test scores, what will you use for the subjects that don't take tests?

This gives principles an unfair amount of power. I think that this is a way to weaken the union. They want to run the schools like a business and don't want people to stick around and get pensions. They want more work for less $$ just like in the corporate world. So they will bring in new teachers and then drive them out when they make too much. And who is going to want this job anymore if that starts to happen?

Message edited 4/13/2010 8:33:47 AM.

Re: DOE teachers- the latest re layoffs (link to NY Times piece)

I do not see this bill passing.

Our Union still has power in numbers.

Honestly the whole situation stinks.

Re: DOE teachers- the latest re layoffs (link to NY Times piece)

Hope you are both right. I agree that there is no real way to do this fairly. A principal will be able to excess one senior teacher instead of two newer ones. And I hate the idea of parents making this decision- I feel like in many instances, if you angered a parent over a grade, you'd be a target.

Re: DOE teachers- the latest re layoffs (link to NY Times piece)