Response to Teacher Culture Post

"Obnoxious article that ignores the circumstances.  My mom was one of these teachers with a "lack of initiative."  It was "suggested" to her that she might be "fired" (she has tenure, so is technically an ATR) in early August, after working for the DOE for 31 years.  They don't make it clear to you whether or not you will have a job; it's sort of mildly suggested that you may want to start looking around, since they can't technically fire you and they don't know their own needs because the government can't get anything done right (to put it simply). 

My mother was completely confused, as she has worked in the same school for three decades, is a speech therapist, and the FIVE schools in her building (formerly one single school, before Bloomberg decided to destroy every school with a name attached to it) don't have another speech therapist to replace her.  The DOE had no idea what was going on, and after weeks of her trying to figure it out, they just rehired her when they realized they were out of compliance with the city's own rules if they got rid of her and didn't find a new speech therapist/resource room teacher.  Plus, they'd be paying her $106,000 for sitting around, which frankly is fair considering that private speech therapists charge hundreds of dollars an hour for the services she provides the city.

The communication at the Board of Ed is a joke, and their process is unlike anything else you've ever seen.  The woman who "fired" my mother was not aware of where she worked or what she did, and was incapable of providing her with even the simplest information.  Articles like this ignore the facts in exchange for blanket statements about teachers' bad incentives.  The average teacher I have met has excellent intentions, and is surrounded by complete administrative incompetence.  This makes sense, since, for example, a math teacher in NYC is required to be a math major and have a master's degree, whereas the average administrator is a moron.

To give you an idea of how their hiring is done, I was offered a job in NYC immediately after my student teaching, then had it pulled by the city, only to then receive two job offers over email begging for a math teacher in late August, 30 days after I found a job at a private school, where I am getting paid more, have better benefits, better students, nicer classrooms, free housing, free meals, and work with an intelligent and caring administration with ties to the school.  Heads of departments make salaries consistent with universities to keep our school staff competitive for PhDs.  Public education is pathetic.  I pity the teachers who genuinely care enough to do that job, as they are caught between an awful union and an awful city government.  Since neither is visibly on the front line, everyone points fingers straight at the teachers.  The teachers aren't the union, and they're certainly not the government.  The fact that NYC is all one district essentially ruled by a mayor who has been there longer than term limits allow should give you an idea as to what you're up against there as a teacher.

Wow - this email was longer than I expected, but then I do like to rant."