UFT Claims Age Bias Factors In Teacher Hiring; Says DOE Shunning Older Staff After Displacement

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

United Federation of Teachers officials believe that some experienced Teachers searching for permanent positions are being discriminated against based on their age.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: 'Feels like ageism.'

There are about 700 Teachers in the system working as full-time substitutes who lost their jobs, not due to their performance, but because their schools were closed or downsized. While a majority of such Teachers in previous years were able to find new positions, this year many who are older with higher salaries are teaching in a no-man's land, often carrying the same class-load as their colleagues but with no permanent assignment.

Weingarten Senses Bias

"It feels to me that there is some ageism going on," said UFT President Randi Weingarten, "from a lawyer's perspective and from watching what happens to folks who are at closed and redesigned schools."

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has tried in at least three negotiating sessions to convince the union to allow him to fire Teachers who do not find permanent jobs after 18 months as Absent Teacher Reserves, or ATRs. The UFT has rejected the attempt each time, but some ATRs are worried that the Department of Education's new Teacher Performance Unit, stocked with lawyers whose task is to help Principals get rid of tenured Teachers they consider incompetent, will be used to go after them.

JOEL I. KLEIN: Itchy trigger finger.

"It's a squad to go after unqualified Teachers, and they consider a lot of us unqualified," said LezAnne Edmund, who teaches at Independence High School in Manhattan. "I think everybody is fair game."

Ms. Edmund, 62, is one of the approximately 200 teachers who became ATRs after the DOE re-structured District 79 over the summer. Although she is a reading specialist, she has taken over a social studies class, replacing a Teacher who was accused of misconduct and sent to a Temporary Reassignment Center, known as a Rubber Room. Ms. Edmund does the same job as other social studies Teachers but can be removed and sent to another assignment at will.

Utility Workers

Many ATRs are not given their own classroom, taking on the difficult task of replacing other Teachers when they are absent or filling holes as needed. ATRs' salaries are paid for by the central administration, not out of school budgets. In some cases, they can provide a badly-needed helping hand, at no cost to the individual school.

Tom Nixon got excessed last June from Tilden High School, which is being dismantled in favor of several small schools. He taught summer school and was told at the end of the session that he would have a permanent job at Tilden next year.

"The Principal said, 'We have a position for you,' and, because I'm a Dean, I thought I was saved," Mr. Nixon said.

But in the fall, he was told he would remain an ATR, too late for him to look for a permanent position. "I'm doing the same exact thing I was last year," he said.

Seeks Added Credential

The 10-year teaching veteran has all of the same responsibilities as permanent Deans, and more. He opens the school every morning before most educators arrive, and he tutors on Saturdays. He is also taking a certification exam in Special Education in December, to augment his social studies certification, to make himself "more marketable."

The union has been exploring grounds for an age discrimination lawsuit. It has also been negotiating with DOE officials over the problems faced by ATRs. In September, the agency agreed to modify the new school financing system to encourage Principals to hire ATRs. A school is now billed for the first year as if the ATR were a new hire and at 50 percent of the Teacher's actual salary in the second year. Beginning in the third year, the school must assume the total cost of the Teacher's actual salary. Salaries for Teachers can range from roughly $45,000 to $100,000, meaning a school pays much more for an experienced Teacher.

Other union proposals have not been received as favorably by DOE officials. The union has handed in a new series of proposed changes, and the agency has said it would respond with counter-proposals.

About 250 ATRs met with union officials in mid-November to hear an update on negotiations, although the union had to put in a Freedom of Information Law request to get the names of all of the ATRs in order to contact them about the meeting.

Want Seniority System

One of the union's proposals is to require Principals to grant interviews in seniority order to ATRs with appropriate licenses before new recruits are hired or interviewed. UFT officials also want to require Principals to put in writing why an ATR was not hired for a position. In addition, the union wants all job fairs, including those aimed at new recruits, to be open to the ATRs.

DOE officials said that its internal data showed no age bias. "We have no evidence of age discrimination, and the data contradicts that claim," said DOE spokeswoman Melody Meyer.

There are three main groups of ATRs: those who were excessed because of the reorganization of District 79, Teachers who were excessed because programs were terminated or enrollment dropped, and educators who lost their positions because DOE closed their school. It is the latter group that Ms. Weingarten believes is experiencing the most difficulty with age discrimination. "DOE has a real responsibility to help and assist these folks who have committed to stay with their kids until they graduate," she said. "They have done next to nothing to help them. This is the group they should be reveling, not reviling."

Internal Tension

Some of the ATRs have been campaigning for their own chapter leaders, instead of being represented by the elected leadership in their temporary school. "You have union representation at the schools you are in," said Ms. Edmund, "but it's really not your representation; you don't know them, because we're not permanent, we're a gift."

Ms. Weingarten said she was open to crafting a solution, perhaps similar to that found for educators in the Rubber Rooms, who now have liaisons elected for six months. "I'm totally open to figuring out how it should work," she said. "I'm very much into having elected representatives for constituent groups. I think that's a really good idea."

For now, the ATRs say they will continue to teach and hope that they are able to find permanent positions in the open market system. "We're willing to work, and we want to do what we're capable of doing," said Mr. Nixon. "But DOE's not doing their part to help us find a new spots."