Excessed APs Still Wandering And Wondering

By HOWARD MEGDAL

In the wake of Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein's decision not to move 52 excessed Assistant Principals into public schools, the question of just where the APs were headed remained a mystery as classes began last week.

JILL LEVY: Stands up for APs.

Role to Be Named Later

"As the Chancellor said, he will not force Principals to take them; if they cannot find jobs they will report to regional offices and such," DOE spokesman Keith Kalb wrote in a Sept. 7 e-mail, which also noted the increase from an initially reported figure of 44 excessed administrators.

When asked what their duties were likely to be, he responded, "Regions will find work for them to do."

The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, which represents the APs, said it had no information about the likely whereabouts or activities of the employees.

The CSA would not release the names of schools which had excessed APs, nor the names of any of the individual administrators affected. The union did point out that none of those involved had received an unsatisfactory rating.

Of the extra APs, 14 were from 10 schools that were closed. Another six came from five schools described by CSA as "in the process of being phased out." Nine were victims of seven schools being "downsized," and another eight were forced out as a result of five schools being "reorganized." The union said that no information was available on the remaining extra administrators.

CSA Raised Issue

The CSA said that the union had 23 discussions with DOE on this issue alone, and union president Jill S. Levy wrote to Mr. Klein about it in July. Many of the excessed APs were not notified of their status until just before the start of the school year.

But the Chancellor said in a letter to Principals late last month that he chose a different path for extra APs, rather than "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."

In an interview earlier this month, Ms. Levy criticized Mr. Klein for giving "the impression that these are incompetent people, and need to be foisted on schools."

Mr. 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."