Saturday, August 1, 2009

Filling Vacancies


A great post by Chaz got me thinking about how we could solve the ATR problem--assuming, that is, that Joel Klein actually wants to solve it, which is debatable. He certainly sent a tepid email to principals implying that they should try to hire from the ATR pool, but as far as taking any action against recalcitrant principals, we've seen nada. Considering that Klein has a free hand to exert his authority under mayoral control, he sure hasn't been using all that muscle.

To solve the ATR problem, Klein could simply issue the following mandate to principals:

  1. You have two weeks to fill your vacancies from the ATR pool.
  2. After two weeks, if we find a position in your school for which a qualified ATR exists, we will place that ATR ourselves.
  3. In addition, your budget will be cut by an amount equal to that ATR's salary. That money will be distributed equally to the rest of your staff to be used as additional Teacher's Choice money.

This would force principals to fill their vacancies with ATRs, and the best part is they'd have to scour the system for qualified senior ATRs or face the prospect of a hefty fine.

And if that didn't work, we could threaten to fill any other vacancies said principals may have with cacti.

5 comments:

Pissedoffteacher said...

Great ideas. Too bad the powers that be will never use them. They are all in cohoots to find a way to get rid of the ATRs.

Chaz said...

Thanks for the plug. Joel Klein and his flunkies knew full well that the hiring freeze was simply a ploy to show that they were doing something about the wasting of money. However, the truth be told, they will continue to loosen the hiring freeze despite the budget cuts.

Anonymous said...

If, at the end of the year, principals are to be held accountable for their schools' performance, then you can't force them to hire anyone. Otherwise, a low-performing school has the easy excuse of having had excessed teachers foisted on them and there is no accountability.

Mr. Talk said...

Anon, I guess it's safe to assume that you're a principal? I think principals should be clamoring for experienced subject teachers rather than considering them "foisted" upon a school.

If you want accountability, let's be fair. I should get to choose all the kids I teach, too, shouldn't I? I mean, it isn't fair if you "foist" a bunch of children on me and then hold me accountable, is it? What if they don't perform up to my expectations and drag my test results down?

Anonymous said...

Vacancy: Please define pursuant to the Contract.