NYC Department of Education Budget Cuts

It comes as no surprise that the department of education has again fallen short on funding. The mayor and the chancellor aren't kidding with these cuts. They're specifically targeting teachers in their first 3 years of service for lay-offs.

I just wonder if these kids realize that if these 15,000 cuts in teachers goes through that the odds of me coming back are slim to nil. I mean it's a bold statement to make that the answer to the budgetary question is the removal of the newest teachers in the system.

I've been getting into other classrooms trying to get a better idea of what other teachers do in their classes. Some are pretty good, while others are consistently pretty bad. It amazes me how tenure works. Keep anybody who's willing to stay in the system longer than 3 years.

So if the 15,000 teachers are cut, some schools will disappear entirely! Because some schools were started using fellows, so to make these broad cuts targeting new teachers means that some schools are just going to disappear and get absorbed by neighboring schools.

I sometimes wonder if NYC is really THAT bad. We always seem to complain about the teaching conditions but that's compared to what we've personally experienced in our lives. I wonder what similar schools are like in the deep South, inner-city Los Angeles, or the mid-west. I'll bet it's scary in their own ways...

I don't know what I'm going to do after this year. I'll have my masters. I'll be done with the Fellows. I may be let go from the department of education due to these budget cuts. If I don't get cut I may choose not to go back. I haven't decided. I guess I'll let the DOE decide for me whether or not I'm going to come back...

Ahh well... Let the mulling continue...