What about the OLD hires?

    I began working for the city of New York in January of 1999 the day before my graduation from college. In order to get my lisence I had the dean of Hunter College's education department write a letter stating that I completed all the requirements and would begin teaching. I had done my education credits as part of my B.A., something which I didn't think was unusual, but, as I would learn was both strange and foolish.
    Back then any Tom Dick or Harry with a BA and a smile, actually the smile was optional, could get a job teaching. The Principal signed a waiver every year and you were hired. I thought I'd get special treatment- I was a lisenced teacher. In fact, no one cared. There was no difference between me and Dick. A few years later they changed that rule, and made it so only certified teachers could be hired. Simultaneously the "alternative certification" programs, such as the Teaching Fellows,  expanded. Now Teaching Fellows alone maked up more than one quarter of all new hires.
    These alternative certification programs take people who never studied education and gives them traning, and a discounted, sometimes free, master's degree in exchange for teaching in some of New York's most un-alluring schools. The same year that the law requiring only certified teachers went into effect I was looking for a new job. The DOE imposed a hiring freeze on all schools. Certified teachers would only be hired by SURR schools and hard-to-staff schools. I heard about the freeze while I sat in the lobby of the Queens High School District, waiting to speak to the HR director. I was told that no one could talk to me, and was directed to a SURR school fair being held in the Brooklyn Marriot.
    I ended up getting hired by the same school I work in today, a small middle school in the bulls-eye center of the South Bronx. The school is staffed with many teaching fellows and TFA's, teachers with less teaching experience than I have, but who receive free master's degrees, student loan forgiveness, etc.
    As time wore on I realized that I would have to get my master's degree. When I was hired in '99 I was given five years to fulfill this requirement or lose my lisence, and perhaps my job. As the dealine neared I tried to find a program that would help me get my degree. I thought that maybe there would be an alternative master's program similar to the TFA or Teaching Fellow's program. I discovered the Teachers of Tomorrow program, which promised to pay back the students loans of teachers working in Hard-To-Staff schools. When I applied to the program I was told that only new hires were eligible. It was a recruitment program. There was a tution assistance program, which paid 3,500 dollars a year towards an MA, but only if you  were attending full-time. In addition to teaching.
    I applied to City College but first had my application deferred, then was told, a week too late to apply elsewhere, that there was no room in the education department that year, but that if I wanted to take a class or two as a non-matriculating (a word, like bursar, I have one never heard outside of a university) I was welcome. I explained that I was about to lose my lisence but got little sympathy.
    Ultimately I had to take a class, costing about 800 dollar not including books, money that wouldn't be repaid by Teachers of Tomorrow since I was not allowed to enroll as a matriculant, in order to obtain a five-year renewal on my license. I had to research the renewal myself, because no one, not at the UFT, or the DOE, or at my school, could answer the question, "What happens when my license expires?"
    I got the renewal and was able to continue teaching. I decided that I definitely was not interested in attending City College, and they lost my application anyway. The fee for the renewal was 100 dollars, so all in all it cost me 1,000 dollars for the right to continue teaching in one of the most difficult schools in the city.
    This year I applied to a program at a school upstate, a school that is seriously involved in New York City public schools. I was delighted to hear, yesterday, that I was accepted, and in addition, would be receving a "financial award." Hopefully this means the full-tuition fellowship I applied for.
    The downside is that, even with the tuition paid, I will have to miss four four or five months of school, June and then Sept-Dec. I would be missing four of five months of my salary. I'm married, and live in a one bedroom rental apartment in Manhattan. I have rent to pay, debts, expenses. Teachers don't get paid much to begin with, some months I'm just scraping by.
    I asked my UFT rep if I could apply for a sabbatical, which would be half-pay. He told me that half-year sabaticals can only be taken in the spring, and that last year no sabbaticals of any kind were granted. So that's out. He told me I could take a leave of absence, and retain my job, but it would be an unpaid leave.
    I asked the payroll secretary if I could use the days stored up in my CAR (cummulative absence     reserve) before beginning a leave. She said that I could use all of them, 33 at the moment, and then borrow twenty more, and then get a 30-day grace period. I was elated. I practically bounced out of my chair- I couldn't believe that there would such a thoughtful, caring system built into the contract. If a teacher needs to take a leave, first it gets padded so they don't lose lots of money. And why shouldn't it be that way? I was leaving to fulfill an obligation that the DOE sets, and to increase my abilities as a teacher.
    During third period the phone rang. The secretary apologized. She explained that all that stuff about using the CAR, the 20 days, the grace period, forget it. That was only if you were taking a sick leave. I could take a leave, but it would be unpaid. The whole time. Snakes-on-a-plane, I thought.
    Somehow, despite the skepticism expressed heretofore,  I know this will all work out. I don't know the specifics of the award yet, the size of the stipend. I don't even know if I got the fellowship or just some generous financial aid. Maybe they're offering me no money at all and all this worrying will be moot. But still, I wonder, what is a teacher in my position supposed to do? Are the UFT subsidized courses (still expensive) listed in the back of NY Teacher the only option?
    In the course of writing this I happened to take a look at the Teachers of Tomorrow plan. Perhaps I'd apply for that 3.5K. To my surprise I saw that they have added a program- loan forgiveness for incumbent teachers! And I could apply online! So maybe I could get a little cash for the thousands I've repaid! I filled out all the forms, filled in the fields, clicked on alll appropriate boxes, and then my joy and expectation hit a virtual brick wall-

Do you have a master's degree?
() Yes
() No

If no, you are ineligible for this program.

    The sad thing is that I am not the only teacher in this situation. Most teachers leave before it comes to this, since most teacher leave within five years, but for those who stay, what is the DOE doing to retain us? Another teacher in my school, a four year veteran from Minnesota, who with her fuzzy sweater and rosy cheeks and thick Minnesota accent, I never thought she'd make it in the South Bronx, but she has, and now she's the coach of the cheerleading team, and a great eighth grade teacher. She needed to get a renewal this year. When it came, it was the new type. She doesn't have five years, she has three. She told me she plans to move back to Minneapolis next fall.

Comments

[yomister]

I'm not sure if this is of any assistance, but there are some scholarships available from the DOE for getting a license in a shortage area (TESOL, math, science). Preference appears to be given to new recruits, but appointed teachers may be considered. You may have already seen these offers, but here's the link and the qualification summary:

http://www.nycenet.edu/TEACHNYC/ExperiencedTeachers/Incentive+and+Special+Programs.htm

Qualifications:

Pedagogical or clinical employees of the NYC Department of Education are not eligible to participate in the Scholarship Program unless they are currently appointed and have achieved tenure in a non-shortage area OR have not served as a pedagogical or clinical employee for the NYC DOE within the past two (2) years. Applicants who have already achieved NYS certification in the critical shortage area for which they are applying are not eligible. However, since this is a recruitment program, non-Department of Education employees will be given priority in the selection process.

Also, the DOE is desperate for librarians. My school gave out some information about getting a Masters in library science (long distance from an upstate college), with the note that the degree would almost certainly be subsidized. Perhaps you could track down the personnel-hiring person with DOE?

Good luck with the search and I'll keep my ears open for other possibilities.

[He Who Can't. . .]

Thanks, yo. I am aware of that program. It is, as is clearly stated, a recruitment program, not a retention program. Also, notice that if I were a math teacher with a NYS provisional certification I wouldn't qualify, but would still be required to obtain a master's degree. Despite the fact that NY's teacher problem has really shifted from recruitment to retention, I still know of no across the board retention program. Any other business knows the value of investing in their employees, but the DOE hasn't caught up yet.

[Miss M.]

I assume that Yo Mister gave you info on the Teaching Opportunity Program- if not, it may be worth looking into as it's totally free. I finished it two years ago, and most of the people in the program had been teaching and were getting close to that five year mark where they needed the masters. It was my second masters, but I was the only one out of about 25. Good luck.

[H.W.C.]

Miss M,
Here's a quote from the TOP program website:
"Note: this program is designed to bring new teachers into the New York City public schools, and therefore is not open to persons who hold or qualify for New York State certification as a teacher or are close to qualifying for certification, ..."
TOP is a recruitment program. The point I was trying to make in that posting is that there is no effort being made to invest in the current employees, i.e. retention programs. There's nothing wrong with recruitment programs, of course, but I think NYC is getting a little heavy on them, especially when we have prospective teacher being turned away. My point is that NYC should invest more in retaining the teachers that they have because experienced teachers are one of the necessary components to quality education.
The quality of the education available at CCNY and other univerisities that typically participate in these recruitment programs is another matter. . .
P.S. Don't worry about me, I've been accepted to Bard's MAT program. Hopefully when I finish up I will be qualify for Teacher of Tomorrow loan forgiveness, because even with a (provately funded) fellowship fufilling this requirement is going to cost me a lot of money is lost pay. Of course I can only qualify for TOT if I teach in a SURR school, so that isn't exactly an "across-the-board" retention program is it? In fact, it is another way of recruiting teachers to work in SURR schools.

[walter brown]

wow...tough story

[G]

You keep spelling "license" wrong, and it's very annoying.

[Maks]

Interesting game about the submarine! Very long and with the not bad drawing.

[kate]

I recently happened across KDS (Knowledge Delivery Systems.) I was already a qualified teacher, but their program helped me stay a qualified teacher. I was able to get the credits I needed from the comfort of my own home for only $60 a course. I watched an online video, took a quiz and proceeded on to the next lesson. At the end of the course I sent in a “final” exam and was awarded the credit for that course. I was able to get the credits needed for my recertification in the short amount of time I had. Check it out at www.kdsi.org.