Did You Know That NYC *Blacklists* Teachers?

[Smarmie Doofus]

450 in the last 2 years. They do it in the form of "discontinuing" probationers who run afoul of building principals for personal or political ( and sometimes - probably not often, I bet- pedagogical) reasons.

"Discontinued" is Orwellian educrat jargon that implies that the person may NOT be hired by any principal in ANY school in the entire 1,700 school district. The personal consequences...as you can imagine.. are immense. These are people who studied for years, got Masters degrees, jumped through all kinds of testing and licensing hoops. Then their careers are destroyed. Because ONE administrator doesn't like them.

Some of us want this barbaric, McCarthy-esque practice ended.

Here's a petition to Mayor dB's new Chancellor. Sign on if you would.

http://www.change.org/petitions/new-york-city-department-of-education-save-the-careers-of-discontinued-teachers

>>>Her name is Jennifer and she is in her early twenties.

She wanted to be a teacher since she was a little girl. It’s August and she gets the call that her interview at a local elementary school went well. Principal Higgins wants her to fill an opening for a 5th grade position. Jennifer and her family of teachers are ecstatic. Then, several months later and out of the blue, it happened. Without even realizing it, Jennifer crossed Principal Higgins by questioning some change in assignment and a preparation period she felt she was owed. Suddenly, Jennifer stopped receiving satisfactory ratings and began receiving several unsatisfactory ones. Principal Higgins then rated Jennifer unsatisfactory for her first year final rating.>>>>

I'm going to send a copy to dB himself. It may resonate. As some of you know, his own dad was a victim of blacklisting in the 50's. With predictably catastrophic personal consequences.

Thanks.

[joeglow3]

1. I would like to see more proof

If they have 20 teachers at each school, that means there are 34,000 teachers in the district. If 225 teachers make this "list" in a year, that is 0.66% of teachers. In my experience, this is still lower than people who do poorly at ANY job (Doctor, Attorney, Accountant, Engineer, etc.) that end up getting fired for their poor performance. They offer one person's side of a story in one example and make it seem like there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that less than 1% of people in a profession could be bad at it.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. The petition *permits* principals who WANT to hire a particular job applicant.....

... to HIRE that job applicant.

It doesn't take a position on the much more complicated issue that you raise of whether or not the % of teachers who do a good job in the classroom is higher than, lower than, or the same as people who work in other professions /occupations.

[joeglow3]

4. Fair enough. I did not read close enough

I am of the unpopular view that principals need to be given autonomy to run their schools, but also need to be held to a high standard of accountability. I agree that another principal should be able to hire her if she/he feels they could do a good job.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. +1. n/t

[frazzled]

6. Actually, there are 75,000 teachers in the NYC public schools

Key Facts:

1.1 million students
~1,800 schools
654 new schools since 2002
75,000 teachers
$24 billion annual budget

http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/default.htm

That would make the list about three-tenths of one percent of the teachers. If there is such a list, it's certainly a rarified one rather than a widespread phenomenon.

[weyrsinger]

14. I was one of the 450

The problem is, it isn't the teachers who do poorly...it is the teachers who cross their principal or AP who get discontinued. I was hired as an ESL teacher but the principal was just using that as a loophole to hire me as a jack of all trades. She was not upfront about it in the interview, and during my first couple weeks of school I found myself assigned to teach ESL, ELA, Social Studies, and act as a substitute whenever needed. This work should have been done by 4 different people, but the principal expected it of a first year teacher with no support. Needless to say, I was spread so thin that my ESL students were not getting what they needed- and what they were mandated by law to receive. So I stood up for my ESL students, and you can guess what happened next. I was never able to get another satisfactory rating from that principal or her AP, was discontinued, and can never teach in the NYCDOE again. Now this "incompetent" teacher is on her way to earning her PhD and is happily teaching college students instead.

I am not the only person with a story like this, and many of them have far less happy endings than mine.

[joeglow3]

15. That leads to a different discussion

How do we evaluate our principals and ensure only the best people are in that job? THAT is what needs to be addressed. Simply saying "there are asshole principals so any evaluations nationwide by any principal should not be allowed/used" is not a feasible or constructive solution.

[HockeyMom]

3. Exactly what happened to my daughter

right before she was to receive TENURE (NYC). I have seen it happen myself on Long Island. Apparently, it is very common. The opposite is also true. Relative of an Administrator? You can do no wrong. I've that one too.

[joeglow3]

7. 0.3% is "very common?"

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. Oy.

The "0.3%" figure is calculated as % of the ENTIRE workforce.

We're not talking about the *entire* workforce.


We're only talking about *probationary* teachers.


That is a much, much smaller % of the entire workforce.


So... yes... it is "very common". How common, exactly, is unknown. The DOE usually sits on those stats. But it happens a lot to untenured teachers.

( Even if it happened only ONCE, as in the case of Hockey Mom's daughter, that would be WRONG. No?)


Let's stay on topic: the city blacklists some untenured teachers and unreasonably keeps them from pursuing the profession for which they have trained.

If you think that's ok.... then DON'T SIGN THE PETITION.

[joeglow3]

9. I agree that other schools should be able to hire them

That said, isn't the whole purpose of a probationary period to allow the teacher to be judged and dismissed if they are not good at their job?

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. Yes. That's ONE purpose, anyway.

The primary other purpose being to permit them to "learn the craft"..... before they are "judged and dismissed". (What's the big hurry, btw?)

The difficulty... and the complexity.... here , for non-teachers to understand is the fact that there is no scientific way to determine w. metaphysical certainty that a probationer who displeases ONE principal will necessarily displease ALL principals. There are many incentives ( Hockey Mom references a common one: nepotism) for a principal to "discontinue" a probationer BESIDES pedagogical incompetence and/or lack of potential.

The bureaucracy, with it's characteristic certainty,oafishly insists otherwise.

The reality is that the vast majority of these u-rating dismissals are ... to be generous.... *subjective*.

But since we agree that individual principals should be permitted to make the determination of whether or not they wish to hire a probationer who's been dismissed by another principal.... feel free to sign the petition, because that's all it says.

[HockeyMom]

11. Three teachers at ONE SCHOOL in NY

Two at ONE SCHOOL in Florida. One school? My daughter? She did not work at those schools, or in that state.

The other extreme was a teacher who smacked a special needs, non verbal 4 year old child. Three staff members saw it and signed a statement to it, but were told to "keep quiet" about it. She was a relative of the Superintendent. It was covered up. Damn, firing? That should have been criminal charges. This was in Florida, not NY.

However, I am only ONE person, and only my own personal experiences. Doesn't that make you wonder,though, what else there might be?


Edit: The end of the school year that ended TENURE in Florida, they went around at the school I worked at, giving Unsatisfactory reviews to the majority of teachers and paras who would have been eligible that year for tenure. Tenured staff were grandfathered in, but all new hires, and those untenured, would only receive one year contracts starting with the new school year. Think about that.

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. It's the Bizzarro-world politics of public schools and ps culture about which...

>>>The other extreme was a teacher who smacked a special needs, non verbal 4 year old child. Three staff members saw it and signed a statement to it, but were told to "keep quiet" about it. She was a relative of the Superintendent. It was covered up. Damn, firing? That should have been criminal charges. This was in Florida, not NY. >>>>

... people like Gates and Duncan and the average lay person who finds them convincing....have no clue . Which isn't in itself their fault. ( I myself saw stuff that frankly I couldn't believe was possible.)

Most of these "reform" schemes end up punishing the most PRODUCTIVE staff and rewarding the scammers and schemers.

Anyway... for that , and many other reasons, "discontinued" teachers need to be able to compete for available positions.

[Smarmie Doofus]

13. Kick. Give me that 5th rec...... or I'll have you *murdered*. n/t