The DOE “plans” to hire Teaching Fellows? They plan to? Meaning, there’s an implication that they want to, will be able to, and will hire Teaching Fellows?

Call me skeptical, even cynical, but this sentence in today’s New York Times? I don’t know how they parsed out this meaning from the announcement last Wednesday. To me it seems like they are actively pitting the new traditionally certified teachers against the new NYCTF and TFA recruits.

“The city still plans to hire about half the usual number of educators from Teach for America and the Teaching Fellows program, but it has not made similar guarantees for other teachers.”

Sigh. Divide and conquer. That’s what it’s called, right? Textbook case. As far as I see it, this information is false and was included in the article specifically to fan flames of jealousy between two sets of new teachers, who would naturally be allies (and that scares the powers that be).

The truth? Teaching Fellows have gotten no word that the DOE “plans” to hire them. In fact, they’ve been told exactly what new graduates of the city’s top MS Ed. programs have been told – wait your turn. Be flexible. Network. We make no guarantees.

As a former journalist, I hate bad fact-checking and I hate purposefully false “news” even more.

Click below to see the full text of the letter that Teaching Fellows received last Wednesday evening, telling us about the Chancellor’s announcement.

Dear ________,
We hope you have taken the opportunity over the last few days to review the recently published terms of the June 2009 Fellowship. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to complete enrollment in the Fellowship by electronically signing the Fellow Commitment Form on the ‘Home’ tab of your My NYCTF page. I am writing today with important information about becoming a Department of Education employee this coming school year.

As you may have heard, Chancellor Joel Klein announced today that due to likely budget reductions principals must follow new guidelines when hiring teachers for the 2009-2010 school year. Under these guidelines, at this time principals can only fill vacancies with teachers who are currently employed by the Department of Education. (There are some immediate exceptions to these hiring restrictions:  Principals may consider new candidates for vacancies in bilingual special education and for up to half of the vacancies in schools that are opening this year or have opened in the last two years.) As budgets are finalized over the summer, these hiring restrictions will be lifted for those subject areas and geographic districts where the need to fill vacancies is not being met by the existing workforce. The primary implication of this policy is that new teachers cannot be formally hired into any school-level vacancy unless and until the restrictions are lifted.

We want to reassure you that these hiring guidelines do not affect your status in the Fellowship, nor do they change the hiring process and timeline previously communicated to you.  More specifically:

Your acceptance into the Fellowship remains valid and there is no change to your status in the June training cohort, your subject assignment, or borough assignment.

In anticipation of budget reductions and a consequent reduced hiring need, we have significantly limited the size and subject areas of the June 2009 cohort as compared to prior years.

Accepted Fellows have been assigned only to those subject areas and geographic locations with the highest projected vacancies. These are the areas where we anticipate there will still be a need for new teachers and where hiring restrictions are likely to be lifted.

These guidelines limit the early hiring of new teachers; however, in general, a later hiring timeline for new teachers is consistent with past trends. While we believe most Fellows will secure a position at the start of the school year, we have created an opportunity for individuals without positions in September to remain in the Fellowship through the fall term.

As the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality is helping manage the implementation and targeted lifting of the hiring guidelines, you will have access to real-time information regarding when and where principals can consider new hires.

These restrictions do not impede your ability to continue to network with school hiring representatives and pursue vacancies that may become available at a later date. The Placement Support team will continue to facilitate school-based interviews and you may be invited to networking events.  We also encourage you to begin networking with Fellows and connecting with schools. Toward that end, we have recently posted several resources under the ‘Job Search’ tab on My NYCTF, including the Job Search Action Plan, which will keep you on track as you begin to research positions and schools. For more information about the job search process and hiring landscape please refer to the Guide to Becoming a Department of Education Employee.

If you have any questions about the job search or hiring restrictions, please do not hesitate to contact our placement support team at fellowsplacement@schools.nyc.gov or 718.935.4147.

I thank you again for your continued commitment and interest in the Fellowship and look forward to welcoming you in person on June 15th.