Job Fair Tale #3: Fine Art and False Hopes

                                                                                                        

artquotes.net

  By Life in Limbo

                                                                                                             

I wasn’t going to go. 

I’ve become tired of dancing to the same old song and, sorry, I was just going to sit this one out. And I’ve already seen all of the paintings in the European Masters room. While I love Rembrandt, THSC, could you please move the fairs to a different gallery? I think the Surrealists make a better backdrop for this, anyway. 

But my inner masochist had been looking forward to this all week, and she’s such a whiner when she doesn’t get her way, so off I went. 

The “job fair” was supposed to start at 2. I arrived at about 1:45 and the line to get into the museum was already snaking through the Brooklyn Museum patio. I ran into a friend from my original school and I mentioned that I had been unable to print my ticket. He told me he had the same problem (printer trashed due to hurricane flooding) and said to speak to the lady at the head of the line so I could go in to get a ticket. 

I walked up to the woman at the door and she was engaged in a friendly conversation with a colleague. I waited. She made it a point to ignore me, so I finally just went in and got on the line for my ticket. A few seconds later, she was behind me, shouting. “Move over here! Yes, YOU! I’ll speak slowly. MOVE…OVER…HERE."

I had no idea she was speaking to me until she got up in my face. I looked at her and she said, "Did you not SEE that there happens to be 100 people outside? Or do you think that you don’t have to wait like the rest of the world does?” I explained that I just needed to get a ticket and wasn’t cutting to get in. “You didn’t cut the line? Oh, you certainly did! I saw you – you walked right past all those people like they wasn’t even there and just come on right through that door like you don’t got to wait for nothing.” When I asked if I was on the right line to get a ticket and then RETURN to the BACK of the line, she said, “Wait on this line here,” indicating the line she had pulled me off of.

After getting my ticket, I returned to the BACK of the line, which was now to the edge of the museum property. It was snaking onto the sidewalk shortly thereafter. I looked at the people with me and was, as usual, amazed at how many teachers here were over 35. If seniority decides excessing, then there must be an administrative game afoot because in every school I have seen it’s the 25 year olds who are in classrooms while the rest of us go to endless “job fairs”. 

I soon made another startling realization. There was a conversation next to me between a THSC person and a teacher whose entry was questioned. The teacher was asking the THSC person for her name. She refused to tell the teacher her name. “Say you spoke to the Hiring Center” is what she said, but she would not give out even her first name. So I started looking at these THSC people and saw than NONE OF THEM have names. Their badges said, “THSC Support” or “THSC Placement Adviser”, etc, but no one had an actual name. As a matter of fact, NO ONE in the place had names except for the teachers – even the principals/representatives wore badges that said simply, “Interviewer”. It was like being interviewed by a big, nameless machine - you don’t know who anyone is; you are at a disadvantage because your name is in bold type for all to see.

I also noticed that the gallery was half empty. The entire back of the room was filled with empty tables, set up for schools that never showed. Plenty of teachers were walking around looking frustrated and sad. The newly excessed teachers look confused. I spoke to several Reading teachers, all of whom had between 10 and 17 years of experience, one with 22. So many others told me of being in a building 7, 12, 15 years and being excessed while brand new teachers have classrooms. 

The saddest thing I saw was a male teacher about my age, who had two kids with him, about the ages of my older two. His name tag said, “Technology and Computer Science” and his kids kept pointing to tables saying, “What about this one, Dad?” or “This is a high school, Dad, how about here?” and he kept answering, “No, they don’t want me, they don’t want me.” My heart broke for this man, and my anger flared at a system that throws people on the trash heap like day-old bread. 

There were others – the teacher who taught business electives at a closing high school, a drama teacher excessed because the dance room was being converted to a classroom in her overcrowded school, music teachers who were told there would be no band program for them next year, math teachers, science teachers, even more than a few experienced Special Ed and ESL teachers, who are supposedly in shortage areas.

But do you know who there was an abundance of? TEACHING FELLOWS! Brand new, shiny, sparkling Teaching Fellows! Everywhere! Even though the invitation e-mail specifically stated that this “job fair” was for ATRs exclusively. One of them was at the water station, complaining about the lack of positions in ELA and how this was a waste of her five weeks. I said to her, “There are about 2000 of us ALREADY in the system without positions. Until EVERY one of us is placed in a position, there shouldn’t be a SINGLE new teacher in this room, period. You think you wasted five weeks? Some of these people have put in 10, 15, 20 YEARS and this is what happens to them.” She said she had no idea that there were teachers already in the system without positions. Apparently, the DOE lies to the Fellows, too.

All in all, this “job fair” was just like all the others. I hope they consider changing the gallery for the next one. I have viewed all the paintings in this one. Do they have any by Dali or Miro?

Job Fair Tale No. 2, in which the ATR teacher doesn't get any cookies

ANOTHER  JOB  FAIR  TALE

by Life in Limbo

I received an invitation to a job fair for members of the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) from the Teacher Hiring “Support” Center (THSC) about a week ago. After I overcame my shock at actually being INVITED to a job fair intended for people just like me, I figured, sure, I’ll go. I mean the “job fair” I attended last week was a complete waste of time and effort, so why not spend another day of my vacation engaged in yet another exercise in futility? My inner masochist could hardly contain herself. 

While this job fair was allegedly for Brooklyn and Queens only, I noticed that there were several schools from the Bronx and Manhattan in attendance as well, with the majority of schools being middle schools and elementary schools. There were very few high schools. 

So here are a few of my thoughts and observations: 

*ATR teachers were given blank sticky name tags on which to write our names and license areas. Teaching Fellows, on the other hand, were given pre-made computer-generated clip-on name tags in little plastic sleeves. Makes it pretty easy to separate the cheap, untenured newbies from the pack, doesn’t it? 

*I was at this fair for about three hours. I only got to speak to FOUR people. The lines for interviews were not particularly long, but the principals were speaking to candidates for 15–20 minutes at a time. I waited on line for an average of ½ hour for each interview, usually with only one or two people ahead of me. If anyone from THSC is listening, maybe a time limit for these meet-and-greets could be set, because I doubt any candidate could have met with more than 4 -5 principals in the four hours of the event. This is unfair. 

*There were MANY empty tables where schools had not shown up and many principals had sent representatives from their network to the fair instead of attending in person or sending an AP or two. 

*As I waited on line, I saw THSC people walking around serving plates of fruit salad and cookies to the interviewers (none of whom had their actual NAMES on their name tags–they just said, “INTERVIEWER”). The candidates, however, were only given access to two small water dispensers located in a far corner of the room. And no one ever brought me any. I just got it myself. 

*Many of the crowd of job-seekers (with the exception of the Teaching Fellows) were experienced, older (read: over 40) teachers and there were MANY Reading teachers seeking non-existent vacancies. I also spoke to math, science, ESL and Special Ed teachers who told me that they have been unable to find positions in spite of applying for many (some up to 100) vacancies. Others told me of vacancies in their license areas that they covered last year only to find that the job was given permanently to a newbie with a connection.

*My most interesting conversation, however, was with a very friendly UFT representative. I wanted to discuss my child care situation if I am sent to a school that requires a commute of over one hour. She suggested that I apply for a "Special Accommodation," which is usually reserved for people with disabilities, but might be worth a shot in my case. In addition, the UFT representative flat out told me that she does not think that they will really send teachers to different schools every week–the logistics of reassigning everyone are too complicated and the principals don’t want an “ATR of the Week” situation any more than the ATRs want to be in that situation. So now I have to wonder if the UFT knows something about this agreement that we “regular” people do not. In light of NYCATR’s post yesterday, I think it is possible. 

The results of this endeavor for your humble blogger? I had four interviews, one  with the school I was excessed from (listing an ELA vacancy). All went very well, with two showing what appeared to be genuine interest. I also received a call this afternoon and have an interview set up at one of the schools on Friday, so maybe it wasn’t an exercise in futility after all. But then, I have been down this road before, so while I will try to be optimistic, my inner pessimist will continue to give the finger to the powers that be who created this horrendous and degrading situation.

Job Fair Tales, by Life in Limbo

Our ace contributor, Life in Limbo, reports about the DOE's job fairs, where thousands of ATR teachers have wasted millions of hours. 

One of the singular privileges of being an ATR teacher is the opportunity to attend “job fairs” hosted by the Teacher Hiring Support Center (THSC). Usually held at the Brookyn Museum, they are a type of speed-dating where ATRs walk around, resumes in hand, and stand on line for interviews with schools with vacancies in their license area, while admiring fine art.

The first of today’s job fair stories begins in late May. I had realized that I hadn’t gotten any emails from the THSC recently and decided to check the their website myself. After a considerable amount of digging, I found a calendar of four job fairs, none of which had been brought to my attention! Two of the dates had already passed without my knowledge that these events were happening! I read further and saw that these events were by “invitation only."  

No problem, I thought, I’ll just request an invitation. I emailed the THSC of my intention to attend the next job fair and requested my invitation. I checked my contact information in the website (all correct) and waited. The following day, I was sent an email by THSC stating that my qualifications were being reviewed and that the event was by invitation only; should THSC feel that I am a good match for this event, I would certainly receive an invitation. The invitation never came. When I asked the THSC why I never received it, I was told to “Watch your email for invitations to future events!” 

Apparently, I was not the only ATR who was not notified of this event, as fellow blogger Chaz has noted.  I also heard from a UFT representative that this fair was for Teaching Fellows only, and that there would be separate events for ATRs over the summer. This made me wonder why the new hires were getting first crack at vacancies while ATRs (who are ALREADY DOE EMPLOYEES) were being forced to pick over the crumbs after the newbies got first crack at the jobs. My borough UFT office said they’d look into this and get back to me. I am still waiting. 

The second of today’s job fair stories begins a few weeks ago, in early July. I was up at my UFT borough office on a simple, unrelated errand. My eye wandered to a stack of handouts on a table bearing the THSC logo. I picked one up and saw that it was a flyer announcing five summer job fairs for ATRs, some by borough, others for schools throughout the City. Since the flyer stated that ALL ATRs would be invited to attend, I took a copy of the flyer and began checking my email for the invitations. No invitations ever came. 

I was able to attend the job fair last Tuesday, however, and did gain entry by having the representative at the check-in desk look me up on the computer. (What happened at the job fair is another post for another day.)  But the question kept nagging me: Why is it so difficult to get invited to job fairs that are allegedly being held FOR YOU?? And how many other ATRs who, like me, WANT to find permanent placement, are not being told of these events? Why would the THSC, and by extension, the DOE , NOT want us to attend these events they go to the trouble and expense of organizing? Is it possible that they do not WANT us placed? I think so.

If we are not aware of these fairs and do not attend them, the Post, then News, and every op-ed piece will focus on the lazy ATRs who didn’t bother to show up for the six job fairs the DOE so painstakingly organized JUST FOR THEM. This, in turn, strengthens their position that the ATRs should be the first to go during layoffs and that seniority rights must be eliminated to make this happen. After all, they must be lazy and unmotivated if they can’t be bothered to attend six job fairs held in their honor. 

Are we being used as pawns in Bloomberg’s “End LIFO” battle and set up to look lazy and unmotivated?  It certainly looks that way from here.  

By the way, I requested an invitation to the next job fair. Anyone want to guess how it turns out?