Metro

Parents rally against plan to dump unassigned teachers on schools

Roughly 200 parents rallied at City Hall Thursday to oppose a plan that seeks to give unassigned teachers permanent gigs in district schools beginning next week.

Instructors are placed on the Absent Teacher Reserve list because of school closures, misconduct or incompetence.

Erik Thomas

ATR teachers – currently numbering around 800 – are cycled through short term positions in various schools while drawing their normal salary.

A new Department of Education plan will assign roughly 400 ATRs to schools with permanent job openings that persist into next week.

Organized by pro-charter school group StudentsFirstNY, the crowd at City Hall argued that teachers who were not hired elsewhere should not be foisted on principals who might not want them.

“School principals keep passing over these teachers, but now it’s our kids who are going to be forced to deal with them,” said Bronx parent Montrelle Douglas. “How come it’s always the schools in our neighborhood that end up with these unwanted teachers? Our kids deserve better.”

The group pointed out that 32 percent of all ATRs had legal or disciplinary matters and that an additional 12 percent got ineffective or unsatisfactory ratings.

According to the DOE, 37 percent of those currently on the list were also on it five years ago.

“My child deserves a great education, just like the kids in the Mayor’s neighborhood. We need great teachers, not leftovers,” said East New York dad Harold Wilson Thursday.

A former ATR teacher, James Eterno, said that many otherwise competent instructors were wrongly banished to the list because of cost-cutting or vendetta waging principals.

“This is a way to get rid of veteran teachers,” he said, arguing that pricier senior instructors can strain an administrator’s budget. “They want to see us fired and tenure gone.”

Citing his own experience of being placed in the ATR pool after a school closure before landing a new and stable position, Eterno said many ATRs deserve another shot.

Parents at Thursday’s rally called on de Blasio to “rethink” the imminent placement plan, insisting that low-performing schools will be most vulnerable to teachers with murky histories.

Assigned ATRs will be on a one-year probationary period at their new schools and must earn a positive rating before securing a permanent spot.