Sept 2, 4:30: Unjust, unfair firing of probationary teachers – give them a second chance

Hey, good news. New Action is taking some action. I will be there to videotape it. Ed Notes has taken up the issue of Discontinued teachers who are blackballed from the system for many years - I'm too lazy to look for the links but if you search for '"the dreaded D" you will find a bunch.

Many of us in MORE have worked with people in this situation.

MOREista Patrick Walsh, CL of PS 149M, had this to say:

The issue of discontinued teachers is a disgrace of the highest order and one that makes a mockery  -- and an extraordinarily painful and costly mockery -- of simply human decency, never mind unionism.  Furthermore, I would argue that to unfairly strip a person who has labored for years in preparation of their right to make a living is too an attack on social justice, no less, in essence than the unfair and rigged closing of a school.   I have had the painful and unsettling experience of watching helplessly as some of my colleagues were cast away like trash by a psychotic principal via the process of discontinuance and four years later all four continue to struggle to find work and feed their families. 

New Action has to show this is not merely a publicity stunt. They need to follow up and use their UFT Exec Bd seats (I'm being a good boy and not commenting) to badger the leadership every single meeting to put an end to giving principals total power over the untenured to end their careers. I hope someone will be watching.

Note that I'm blanking out the teachers' names - even though their names are all over the place with announcements. Why? I believe that having their names out there jeopardizes them for future jobs. We've seen this already with others who spoke out publicly. In essence the DOE has people over a barrel and oh what a feeling of helplessness, even for me who wants to blast these monsters who abuse teachers while also wanting to protect the teachers. Grrrrrrrrrr.

NEW ACTION / UFT

NEWS RELEASE                                            

Contact: Greg Distefano

August 28, 2014                                           

Phone: 718 757 4552

                                                                  

Unjust, unfair firing of probationary teachers – give them a second chance.

Press conference 

Tuesday, September 2, 4:30 PM 

in front of the Department of Education (Tweed), 52 Chambers Street.

Stephanie (Barchitta) Casertano  PS3 Staten Island and 

Dana Parisi PS253 Brooklyn, both discontinued, will speak briefly, will deliver their appeals to Carmen Fariña, and will be available for interview.

Under the Bloomberg / Klein administration, many principals were hired based on management, not educational/pedagogical skill. While some grew to be fine principals, hundreds remained incompetent and became abusive. And as probationers can be fired without cause, hundreds of probationary teachers were unjustly discontinued and prohibited from working anywhere in the NYC Department of Education.

The teachers here today could work elsewhere in the system - other principals want them. They spent many years of college preparation, and were fired without being given proper support. But they are unfairly barred. They are asking the Chancellor to review their discontinuances. And we urge the Chancellor to review all the discontinuances of incompetent principals.