The Teacher Shortage Is Here!

I have previously predicted a severe teacher shortage within five years.  This prediction was based on fewer applicants going into the education field, especially the classroom.  A colleague of mine works as an adjunct professor in the education program of a well respected university in the city and told me his schedule was reduced by half and fewer students are in his remaining classes.  More importantly, when he surveyed his students. he found that 75% never intended to step into the classroom.  Worse, when high school students were polled about becoming a teacher, few considered the profession due to the media attacks on the teaching professionr. As for teacher preparation, there has been a steep drop in teaching applicants nationwide and especially in States like New York.

Now it seems after years of recessionary austerity, the New York City suburbs are now hiring teachers for the first time since 2007.  The extra State money, the lessening of the pension costs due to a more favorable contribution schedule, more teachers leaving the profession before being vested,  the implementation of less costly pension Tiers (V and VI), and the austerity that cut the teaching force to the bone along with the increased retirements of the "baby boomers" has resulted in a hiring frenzy for the 2015-16 school year. The expectations are that over 1,000 new positions will be filled and over a 1,000 more will be hired to replace retirements throughout the New York City suburbs.  If the more punitive teacher evaluations are as bad as predicted, look for increased retirements and a ever shrinking applicant pool to replace them.

In a school in the building I am in, I heard an administrator say that they advertized a Math vacancy in the DOE's new teacher finder for the next school year and received no responses.  Two years ago a similar Math vacancy had 25 applicants in the first two weeks!  With the suburbs hiring, many potential applicants due to their attraction of the higher pay and better working conditions, the City cannot compete.  Moreover, in New York City "quality teachers" will flee to the suburban schools for higher pay, lower class sizes, and a more disciplined student population.

Teaching in the New York City schools is a high stress occupation with incompetent and poorly-trained administrators micromanaging the teacher, excess paperwork requirements, large class sizes, lax student discipline standards, and inadequate pay.  For example, even with our raise, the average New York City teacher makes about $70,000 a year.  While a suburban middle class school district averages over $100,000.  That means that the average New York City teacher is making 30% less than their suburban colleagues.  For example, the top salary for an East Islip teacher is $147,000 while the top salary for the New York City teacher is $105,000.  Is it any wonder that teachers are fleeing the City classroom for the more pleasant working conditions of the suburbs?

I thought the teacher shortage would take some time to materialize but it seems that the ever worsening classroom environment and the union's failure to get the DOE to remove the "gotcha system" that makes the classroom a hostile environment, has resulted in  many teachers leaving the system and create a  real hiring shortage of "quality teachers" down the road as the best candidates go to the suburbs and many others flee the system for higher pay and better working conditions. You would think that the DOE would do their best to retain their teachers, instead the DOE's "education on the cheap" policy has resulted in an exodus of "quality teachers" as their "fair student funding" policy ensures its recruitment over retention at the expense of the students academic achievement.

The Experienced Teacher - An Endangered Species

Tweed's crusade against the experienced teacher is moving full steam ahead as it appears that more teachers will be retiring or resigning from the New York City Public School system than ever before. True, the 25/55 pension change is an important factor. However, the classroom environment keeps getting worse and more teachers are tossing in the towel. Last year saw a doubling of teachers leaving the system and this year appears to be no different.

Tweed cannot be happier about how their recruitment over retention policy is succeeding beyond expectations. Teachers have to wait to November before they can even get an appointment for a pension consultation. Further, many talented and experienced teachers are now ATRs and many other experienced teachers find themselves in the "rubber room" for minor, frivolous, and false allegations.

Where does Tweed find these inexperienced and low-paid teachers to replace the experienced teachers they push out of the system? Easy, besides the truly naive college graduate there are the two year wonders of "Teach For America" and the not ready for the classroom "Teaching Fellows". In addition, Tweed runs their usual intergalactic job fair that brings teachers from Jamaica, Philippines, Slovakia, and if NASA find life on Mars, maybe even a Martian to the city classroom! Moreover, Tweed has allowed the principals to go after experienced teachers to get them off the budget. Many of the new small schools have few experienced teachers and the ones in the school are always at risk of being removed due to budget considerations.

If you were a parent, would you want an experienced teacher who knows how to manage a class, work with a curriculum, and handle student problems? Or a newbie teacher who is clueless in the classroom and must follow a steep learning curve to manage classroom issues teaching your child? A no brainer. Right? Wrong, in the wacky world of Tweed a newbie teacher is more important to the DOE than an experienced teacher. Remember, in the Kleinberg administration its all about the money and not about the students.

As for our union? Forgetaboutit! Randi has bought into Tweed's recruitment over retention policy and don't expect any help from Randi and her friends. Look for more experienced and senior teachers to find themselves as ATRs and in the "rubber room". Hence Tweed's "Children Last" program continues unabated.

Tweed's Children Last Program Continues As DOE Is Winning The Recruitment Vs. The Retention Battle

During the administration of Bloomberg and Klein there has been a major effort to push highly-paid veteran teachers to retire or resign. In the last year there was a doubling of veteran teachers leaving the system and it appears more are to follow. Whether it is the elimination of the seniority transfer system, the "fair student funding" program, the increased time and duties in the classroom, or the 25/55 pension sweetener, it seems obvious that more veteran teachers are going to leave. While I am all for the 25/55 pension sweetener, this will further encourage many of the highly-paid "boomer" teachers to put in their papers and retire. In fact, if you try to get a pension consultation, you need to wait to October to get one. This certainly indicates that many teachers may be leaving the system at the end of the school year or after they finish summer school this year. Unfortunately, this plays right into the policy of DOE recruitment over retention.

Every right-thinking educator knows that a quality teacher is the most important requirement for student learning in a classroom. Quality teaching only comes with a decade or more experience and these teachers are the very ones that are retiring or resigning, leaving the newbie teacher who must go through a learning curve before they can be a quality teacher. However, almost 50% of the newbie teachers leave the New York City school system by their fifth year, or before they can achieve the necessary experience to make a difference in the classroom. Why would the DOE not encourage retention over recruitment? It's all about the money. The lower-paid newbie teacher doesn't qualify for a pension until five full years are completed. Further, if they leave the system in their 20's and 30's they will take their money out of the pension system. In addition, they don't qualify for lifetime health and welfare benefits unless they have completed ten years in the system and can't collect these benefits until they are 55 years old.

Is it any wonder that Kleinberg allows a new teacher job fair before excessed teachers are placed? Or that the DOE runs an intergalactic job fair rather than filling in classroom vacancies with ATR's? You would think that the DOE wants what's best for the students. Guess again, the DOE is not looking for quality teachers, just cheaper teachers with disposable benefits when they get fed up and leave the system. As for the students? It's still "children last" when it is all about the money.

What Does The Teacher Retention Satistics Show?

According to the union over 4,600 teachers resigned over the last year. This is double the resignations of the previous years. These resignations do not include retirements or firing's! Why are so many NYC teachers quitting the profession despite a 40% increase in teacher pay since 2002?

Could it be the overcrowded classrooms? How about the extra classroom duties like a sixth period? Or maybe it is the overall disrespect of teachers by the administration? Possibly the reluctance of teachers to discipline or interact with students for fear of being assigned to a "rubber room" (which went from 315 in March 2005 to 757 by June of 2007). while a biased and one-sided investigation is conducted on the poor teacher. In reality its a combination of all the factors cited above.

The doubling of teachers resigning and being assigned to the "rubber room" is no coincidence. The life of a New York City classroom teacher is becoming more and more dangerous and time-consuming. The New York City teacher does not command respect by the administration and a student's word is often believed over the teacher's. Is it any wonder why more and more teachers are resigning?

What can be done about this? Like I said previously. The union must start running ads showing how the Kleinberg administration is anti-teacher. Show how few teachers resign in the surrounding school districts and even fewer are reassigned, unless charged for a criminal activity.

It is obvious to me that the Kleinberg administration is anti-teacher (especially the older teacher) and the DOE motto should be that students lie....except about their teacher!

Randi Does It Again - Recruitment Over Retention

In a New York Post article Randi Weingarten complained that to encourage qualified minorities to join the New York City teacher corps, the city should give bonuses, loan forgiveness, and housing assistance. Here again Randi chooses to ignore the real problem, retention of quality teachers. In response to a somewhat bogus study that showed that minority children respond better to their own kind despite all studies that show an experienced quality teacher is the most important thing to have in the classroom, regardless of race, creed, and religion. Instead of stopping at the colorblind statement, Randi continued on how we need to attract more minorities to enter the teaching profession. At no time did she bring up the retention problem, the most important factor in the successful classroom.

It certainly appears to me that Randi & gang seem more focused on the high and low end of the the teacher memberts in the UFT. Much of the problem with the last contract was Randi's insistance in not selling out the newborns. However, Unity sold out the rest of us. with god awful givebacks. She should have stuck it to the city and see if they can hire a $25,000 per year teacher, instead she chose to screw us. Further, she is trying to enhance the high end members (30+ years in the system) by sweetening their pensions while doing nothing for the 5-20 year teaching veteran.

As a 10 year teacher who is subject to the Unity givebacks and lack of union support for the very teachers that are the backbone of the union, is it any wonder I am anti-Unity? The shocking thing is how clueless many teachers are to the issues and it is this ignorance that must be addressed if our Union is to become responsive to the classroom teacher.

New York City & Teachers Union Agree On a Bonus & Housing Subsides For New Teachers To the System What A Deal, Or Is It?

The New York City Department Of Education (DOE), with the approval of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) have started a 1.5 million dollar program that will pay a $5,000 bonus and up to $400 a month rent subsidy for up to two years for math, science, & special education teachers who join the New York City school system. That is $14,600 to join the "smartest" (the DOE logo for NYC teachers). What a wonderful deal you think? I think not. First, you are placed in the "worst schools" and are committed to teach for a minimum of three years. Second, you will find that the average studio apartment in bad neighbourhoods in NYC is $1,000+ monthly and in the more desirable neighborhoods $2,000+! Third, be prepared to sleep on a friend's couch or on the streets and don't get sick because it can take up to six months to be put on the payroll. Finally, if you quit before the three years are up (and many do), be prepared to reinburse the City of New York for the bonus and housing subsidies. The program doesn't sound as good as you thought huh?

How about the classroom conditions you will encounter in the "worst schools" you will be assigned to? You will be given the most wonderful students. The ones who test well below average academically, who are disruptive, and disrespectful to adults, including teachers, and yes you! How about school discipline you say? Well the DOE does not enforce student discipline, you might hurt their self esteem. However, the DOE will go overboard and charge you with discipline infractions in a moment. You told her she looks nice in that outfit (sexual harrassment/proposition). You told him that was a stupid thing to do when he sent a spitball that just missed your eye (corporal punishment) and you just earned a 90-day unpaid suspension at the "rubber room". Better yet, being untenuried they will most certainly fire you and demand payment of the bonus and housing subsides.

Still interested? Good! how about parent involvement. Maybe they can help you? At the middle school and most certainly at the high school level the parent (if there is one) has long ago given up on the child. It's like spitting into the wind. It will only get you slimed.

How about those wonderful administrators. Won't they help you? Duh, the reason these schools are the "worst" is because they are the dumping ground for bad administrators. They were bad teachers who couldn't or wouldn't deal with the classroom and please don't ask them to help you in the classroom. They can't stand being in the classroom that is why they are administrators!
Maybe if your real lucky you will get one of the DOE Leadership Academy principals. You know the ones with little if any classroom experience, poor interpersonal skills, and clueless of how a school operates. Why are you lucky? Well when the LIS is scheduled to visit the Leadership Acadamy principal is allowed to pay you $37.96 an hour for up to 4 hours to fix up your classroom! What a bonanza!


You still want the job? Congratulations, you will get the maximum amount of students the contract allows (34 for general education classes). You will be required to buy many of your own classroom supplies. Photocopying? Go to Staples or Kinkos for photocopying on your own dime. Air conditioning? You will be lucky to have heat in the winter. Your own classroom? Fat chance, expect to have three or even four different rooms and don't dare be late to class otherwise, a reprimand with a Letter-To-The-File (LIF) that will land in your personnel file for Life. Finally, don't bother to shine by being innovative. You will be micromanaged, told what to teach, how to teach it, and when to teach it. You talked one minute over the time for talking? Your LIS will gently pull you aside and let you know to follow the script "AND DON'T DO IT AGAIN OR ELSE ANOTHER LIF FOR LIFE! Further, make sure your student work is hung up, no matter how bad it is. You don't want to hurt their self esteem do you? Finally, I'm sure you can't wait to pitch in and do cafeteria duty (ducking food thrown at you) or potty patrol (hanging out at the bathroom). What a wonderful job for an adult with a Masters degree!

You changed your mind? Your going to the suburbs where there are 22 students to a classroom, adequate supplies, fair and enforced student discipline codes, your own parking space, good administrators, involved parents, and for more money? I don't understand why your giving up all the advantages the City of New York is offering you? Don't worry, I'm sure their will be some unlucky loser who will take the NYC offer only to leave because of how the DOE treats its teachers.

Good luck and I wish you well.