100-Plus APs Need School Assignments After Jobs Were Cut
By DAVID SIMS
More than 100 experienced Assistant Principals are being placed in "excess" at the start of the new school year, reporting to schools that don't have permanent jobs to offer them.

ERNEST LOGAN: Haven't worked out the kinks.

Excessing often occurs when schools are phased out or closed, when school budgets are reduced or when student enrollment decreases. Supervisors from these schools are then placed in excess and look for permanent assignments, while continuing to report to schools doing supervisory work without any long-term commitment. A recent change in their union's contract allows Principals — who belong to the same union — to choose their APs without regard for seniority.

Laments Loss of Continuity

"They're not sitting around doing nothing, they're just not in a permanent spot. It means that next year they could be somewhere else," said Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernest Logan. Although they are paid their normal salaries, the excessing "causes a continuity issue," he said, "among Teachers and students."

"The United Federation of Teachers has thousands of these people that they call ATRs," said Mr. Logan, referring to the UFT's Absent Teacher Reserves. "And I have about 100 supervisors who are in the same category. There has not been a mechanism put in place ... to assist people in finding new positions."

Mr. Logan argued that the key problem is the lack of a centralized database, which means that Principals are often unaware of qualified supervisors in their district whom they could hire for Assistant Principal positions. "This is the third year of this," he said The ranks of Assistant Principals in excess have been increasing every year.

'Don't Know Who's Available'

While he supported giving Principals discretion in filling AP jobs, Mr. Logan said, "They need a database ... they're not aware of who is available in the district."

The provision allowing Principals to pick who would work as their top aides was part of a contract deal reached last year. "This was something that the city wanted, that the DOE wanted from its union," Mr. Logan said. But he added that the system needed both oversight and streamlining.

"This is supposed to have a labor-management committee to monitor and clean this system up, and look at the implementation of the excessing plan. We haven't quite got that off the ground yet," he said.