'Implies They're Incompetent'
Klein's AP Letter Has CSA Fuming

By HOWARD MEGDAL

The leader of the union representing school administrators reacted harshly to Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein's contention in a letter to Principals that he would be forced to waste more than $5 million on Assistant Principals who had no set position for the upcoming school year.

JOEL I. KLEIN: Subtle he isn't.

Mr. Klein said that 44 Assistant Principals who had been "excessed", or cut by schools for budgetary purposes, could be forced "upon you and your colleagues, sometimes bumping out the assistant principals you have carefully chosen. In certain instances, a cascade of bumps could follow, tearing up the teams that you have built over months and years. I believe that is wrong for you and, more importantly, wrong for our kids."

CSA: Letter Impugns APs

Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Jill S. Levy, whose members have been working under an expired contract since July 1, 2003, said that not only had Mr. Klein put forward a proposal during negotiations that would have continued this practice, but that his letter implied that these 44 APs were not doing their jobs.

"He gave the impression that these are incompetent people, and need to be foisted on schools," she said in an Aug. 31 phone interview. "These are people whose schools have either closed or downsized, or there was a budgetary situation. This is not because of performance." She said her union had "no knowledge that any of them had an unsatisfactory rating."

DOE spokesman Keith Kalb denied that the Chancellor's letter "spoke at all to the character of these people. It says that we're not going to force these people into your teams because of seniority." Mr. Kalb added that although the letter asked Principals to take on, if possible, any of the 44 extra APs, not one Principal had volunteered to do so.

'Won't Force Them'

"He's not going to force these APs on them," Mr. Kalb said of the Chancellor. "We're going to take them into the budget elsewhere."

JILL LEVY: 'Unfairly maligned.'

Ms. Levy said that any attempts to remove APs through excessing, rather than disciplinary procedures, would violate the law, as well as the CSA contract. "This is not following the contract, nor is it following his own rules and regulations," she said of Mr. Klein. "You mark them unsatisfactory, and move to terminate them. You don't just dump them on others."

She said the union, which has five outstanding unfair labor practice charges filed against the city already, is looking into whether any legal action can be taken against the Chancellor for "unfairly maligning these Assistant Principals."

When asked if the alternative path presented any legal problems for DOE, Mr. Kalb said, "I don't think so."

Bad Sign for Contract

The Chancellor's letter has left Ms. Levy feeling far less optimistic than just a week earlier about resolving the contract stalemate.

"I had a conversation with the Chancellor recently, and I thought we could move forward. We thought only one thing was stopping us, and that was the money issue. We were led to believe that if we could resolve the money issue, the rest would be resolvable."

The two sides met with a mediator earlier this summer after the CSA filed for impasse with the Public Employment Relations Board in March. With mediation having failed to produce a deal, Ms. Levy said her next step would be to ask for fact-finding, which she indicated the union would do by the end of this week.

Ultimately, she believes that Mr. Klein's attempt to "play superhero to the Principals and divide this union" will fail.

"This letter diverts attention away from [the] real issue," the CSA leader said. "And the real issue is not 44 APs that are in excess because of his policy, but getting his school leaders a contract that is comparable to the contract of the people they supervise."