Shame, Shame, Shame

    For once, I agree with the New York Post: it really is a shame that Mayor Bloomberg's proposed teacher layoffs would hit hardest at schools in the city's poorest neighborhoods.  

    You know what else is a shame?  It's a shame that an ATR that I know, who has a clean record, has been trying for the last two and a half years to find a permanent position in just about any school in Brooklyn, Queens or lower Manhattan--including in neighborhoods where local residents warned him it might be dangerous for him to work.

     It's a shame that this ATR applied for positions through the Department of Education's Open Market online system but often received no reply--even from schools that must be desperate for good teachers.  

     It's a shame that this ATR spent hours at DOE job fairs with no serious interviews to justify his time.  One principal told him to his face that she was not interested in him--because he was tenured!

     It's a shame that two other principals seemed just about ready to hire this teacher--until they called the Human Resources department and were told to hire someone else; one guesses that they were told to hire someone younger, untenured, and with a lower salary.  

     And yes, it's a shame that this talented ATR may finally get a position at a school in a troubled neighborhood only because a talented younger teacher--with less seniority--might be laid off.  

    I know all about this ATR, because he is me.  I also know that the biggest shame is that Mayor Bloomberg seems more interested in changing the way layoffs are carried out, and less interested in preventing them.