April 29, 2008: NYC To Pay Full Salaries To Eliminated Teachers

[Guest guest]

New York City to pay full salaries to teachers in eliminated positions.

In a front-page article, the New York Times (4/29, A1, Medina) reports, " New

York City is paying $81 million over two years in salaries and benefits for

teachers " who have had their positions eliminated, " but who have yet to

secure a new permanent teaching position at another school, " according to a

report by the New Teacher Project. The contract, which took effect in 2006,

requires for " teachers whose positions have been eliminated from one school

and cannot find another to hire them, or who simply do not look for a new

job, [to be] assigned to schools to fill in as substitute teachers or

temporary replacements. They collect full teacher salary and benefits. "

Those teachers must show up each school day during normal hours, although

principals are not required to utilize the teachers. The New Teacher Project

report also indicates that since the program's inception, over " 600 teachers

have been placed in the reserve after failing to find new positions. " In

contrast, " More than 90 percent of the roughly 2,700 teachers whose

positions were cut in 2006 found jobs at other schools within several

months, the report said. "