Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Pennsylvania
Related: About this forum110 teachers -many young & energetic - about to be laid off by high poverty Reading School District
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=391789350 jobs are being eliminated in this poverty-striken school district, which has a huge percentage of students who are not fluent in English. 170 of those jobs are teaching positions. 110 are layoffs, with the rest being positions lost by attrition.
State law and contracts require in most cases that layoffs occur based upon seniority. As a result, then state budget cuts force major teacher layoffs, if it often the teachers who are the youngest, most energetic, most bilingual and most well trained in new methods who lose their jobs. This year, they probably won't find any other school district that will be hiring in PA. Even the richest districts are shrinking staff by attriction.
Keep in mind that school districts often went to great lengths to try to recruit motivated young people to teach in inner city students. School districts also had put much effort into recruiting minority teachers to serve as role models and teachers who are bi-lingual. All that progress is being lost. The same thing is happening throughout PA.
Excerpts:
"I didn't want to break down in front of them," Manbeck said. "These kids are losing people who believed in them when they may not have that at home." Manbeck has taught third-grade English as a second language classes for 21/2 years at 13th & Union. She said she knew her seniority ranked somewhere near the cutoff for the layoffs. When she received her notice of termination, she realized just how close.
Esme Santiago knew her three years teaching English as a second language students at the Gateway School for International Business & World Language put her close to the cutoff as well. "All of the young teachers have been nervous," she said of waiting for news of who would stay and who would go. "I didn't know exactly where I stood, so I was still holding out hope."
Santiago, 26, who grew up in Reading, was floored. Too distraught to go back to her classroom, she was allowed to leave for the day. "I was too devastated; I couldn't go back to my classroom," she said. "I was thinking about my kids. I honestly love my job. My passion is teaching kids in Reading."
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
4 replies, 2423 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (1)
ReplyReply to this post
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
110 teachers -many young & energetic - about to be laid off by high poverty Reading School District (Original Post)
JPZenger
Jun 2012
OP
msongs
(67,509 posts)1. get a job making drones. that's what our political leadership values nt
badhair77
(4,231 posts)2. Wed is PSEA lobby day
I hope some of these people can attend, unless they're too depressed to turn out. I would not blame them if they were.
MadrasT
(7,237 posts)3. I know some teachers in PA who lost their jobs a year ago...
...who are still looking for new jobs.
And now with all these additional teachers all over PA losing their jobs now... it's so awful... what are they all going to do?
badhair77
(4,231 posts)4. There is not much hope out there.
Decades ago my district eliminated some positions but those people managed to get jobs in the private sector. I don't think those opportunities exist now. It is indeed awful. Many interviewed on the local news are saying they doubt they'll ever teach again.
I'm curious to know if my former co-worker's cyberschool is eliminating jobs. In past years they had been recruiting teachers - much lower pay but same pension system.