On February 28, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) announced

On February 28, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) announced that if the State government does not offer more funding, 4,676 public school teachers in New York City will be laid off, affecting 80 percent of the city’s 1,600 public schools. Many schools would lose from to one to five teachers, among them nine schools would lose almost half of their teachers. The layoffs, which would still be based on seniority, would affect 6 percent of teachers. According to the list provided by the NYCDOE, ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers and Special Education teachers will not being laid off. The news has produced great worry for many public school principals and teachers.

It has been 30 years since the last large-scale teacher layoffs in the public school system. Although last year there were budget cuts, Mayor Michael Bloomberg decided not to give teachers and principals pay increases in order to avoid layoffs.

Natalie Ravitz, spokesperson of the NYCDOE, criticized the policy of “Last In, First Out” as being unsound because it punishes schools that hired young and talented teachers.

Lin Lin Chou, the principal of ZhuangWen Academy in Lower East Side, commented that although that media has been reporting about the layoffs, she has not received official notice from the DOE and that the layoffs are not yet confirmed. She indicated that her school is in a special category because the teachers there are bilingual; however, she added that more senior teachers from other schools wouldn’t be qualified to teach in her school and would affect the quality of teaching. She believes that the seniority system does not meet the needs of her school. She agrees that layoffs affect negatively the quality of education and the impact on the students’ future would be immeasurable.

“As soon as I heard the news, I became so angry,” said Lin-Fong Tang, the principal of PS 124. Although she has not received official notice, she says the news has already affected the feelings of the younger teachers. Many of them are very nervous. Although they still need to find out about the state funding, teachers have to experience this type of pressure every year. Yesterday, talk among the teachers and parents was all about the layoffs; they still hope to receive good news. Last year, one teacher was laid off at PS 124 and a replacement was hired from a pool of teachers.

According to Tang, some senior teachers do not work hard, while new teachers, who have energy and passion, are targets for firing because they lack seniority. Tang believes that no matter what the state decides, the system needs to be reformed. Some teachers do not do their work but they collect a paycheck. This must be changed.

The State Assembly will be voting on the policy of seniority in letting go of teachers and to use performance as the criterion. Mayor Bloomberg supports this reform. It is not clear that the proposed legislation will be passed given complaints about the New York City public school system from elected officials in the state government.

By Echo Song, World Journal, 1 March 2011. Translated from Chinese by Connie Yik Yong.