CamiGate II - Continues to Threaten Tenured Newark Teachers

Just read this horseshit.
Effective means you had 6 weeks training from TFA. Remember that contract Randi and Cami signed a year and a half ago? Why not just ignore it? The waiver she is asking for apparently violates the modified state tenure law, but why quibble?

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From: Superintendent Anderson
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2014 11:32 AM
To: Teachers - ALL
Subject: Update

Dear Teachers,

As I have shared in many conversations, brown bag lunches, press articles, and informal briefings over several months, NPS is facing a serious budget shortfall. As student enrollment has fallen dramatically and is projected to continue falling, we must make difficult decisions. I assure you, we delayed teacher layoffs as long as possible by making cuts to central and administration budgets. But, we are at a point where we must plan for the future and, unfortunately, that will require reducing the size of our teaching force to match the size of student enrollment.

Layoffs are difficult and I realize that some of you will be personally affected. Unfortunately, we have no other choice.  As a result, I am now trying to make sure that as we conduct them, we do so in a way that is least disruptive to our students’ learning.

Current state regulations would make this bad situation even worse by forcing us to completely ignore teacher effectiveness in making layoff decisions and consider only years of service. Therefore, last week, the district asked the New Jersey Department of Education to make performance a key factor, alongside years of service, when making decisions about teacher layoffs.

If the state grants our request, we could ensure our most successful teachers—many of you who have served our city for years—remain in the classroom. I have heard personally from many effective teachers (and national research would support) that good teachers want to work with colleagues who push them to be better. We also know that good teachers have a life-long impact on students. I believe including performance as a key factor is the best thing to do for students and teachers.

Whether or not you agree with me on this issue—and I realize that some of you may not—I want to be clear that we will need to conduct layoffs even if the state does not grant our request. You are likely to have many questions about when layoffs will occur and how many people will be affected. While we don’t have the answers yet, I wanted to reach out to you as soon as possible with the information I do have.

I promise to keep you updated along the way as we learn more specifics. My staff and I will also be hosting Q&A sessions in many schools over the next several weeks and months to update you and clear up any misinformation. Look for more details about these events soon.

During this difficult time, I know you will stay focused on the students in your classrooms and for that I thank you. As always, I deeply appreciate everything you do on behalf of our students every day.

In Service,

Cami