Under the reign of Klein and Bloomberg Principals have control over how their budgeted money is to be spent. I know of one high school in the Bronx that is not using any of its money to hire subs when a teacher is out. All the kids are being sent to the auditorium and someone takes their attendance. I wonder what is going to happen with all the money that is being saved? Hopefully it will be put to some good use to benefit the students of that school.
One of the innovative things Principal's have found to do with their new money is to hire old, retired, Assistant Principals and favored teachers in an F status position. F status hires back retirees to fill positions that supposedly cannot be filled by teachers in the system. Mentoring is a common way this is filled. In my school a woman who just retired has returned to do just that. Although she is a brilliant woman and was an excellent teacher, her only teaching for the last five years or so involved teaching three advanced placement classes. How she is equipped to help a new teacher deal with classroom management issues I will never know. AP's, long retired, are also starting to reappear to fill these jobs. We even had an ESL teacher mentoring math and science.
So, for a recap of the state of our schools today--ATRs are filling the buildings but are not being allowed to have classes their own, teachers are being paid to teach a sixth class instead of hiring new teachers or giving the ATRs classes of their own and money is being given out to F status people to do jobs that most likely have nothing to do with the education of our children. I give Klein, Bloomberg and the Principals a big F for F status.
16 comments:
Amen to this story.
You left out the F-status daily salary which is around $250/day.
That is double a sub's daily salary.
Our F-status person is also a former teacher and personal friend of my admin. If I told you what she does 2 days a week, you would be pissed off (more than usual).
I would love an F-status job once or twice a week, but it's "who you know" that gets you in. We had another F-status person who everyone loved. Problem was she was not a good friend of the admin, so out she went to make room for the friend.
I would have no qualms with F-status if it weren't for the ATR problem.
I was itching to do a story about F status employees on my blog, but didn't want to run the risk of being recognized. One of our F status teachers is so damn worthless, I swear that she is kept on payroll for the sole purpose of being a spy. It took us awhile to catch on, but now we all avoid her like the plague.
Isn't the F-status salary pro-rated on the annual salary a person would be making?
I'm sure I would never get hired as an F-status person, even if I was the best person for the job. I don't kiss any a**!
I think F-Status salary is a set dollar amount- along the lines of a per diem sub, only with FULL medical benefits.
Our F status people all have some close personal (usually familial) ties to someone high up in the district.
Ours have same ties.
F-Status is a set amount of money, and they cannot work after they make a certain $ amount.
While the teachers are upset, no one brings this subject up at the SLT budget meetings. A sub makes half the amount of F-status, so why not hire the same person for half the amount? Because no one wants to get the admin mad.
That thing about no subs being hired is just gross...what a blatant waste of time. I'm lucky that my student teacher has her sub license and that when I need to be out this year, I'll be able to leave my kids in the hands of someone who knows them and who knows how to teach...not throw them in an auditorium or leave them for one of the sketchy human beings who showed up at my school last year after the new sub registry started.
F status people get benefits if they work 3 or more days a week.
It is true that many are playing the roles you point out.
It is not only retirees. One teacher had a young child and the school offered her a 3 day a week teaching gig. Another one does a half day every day. These were for a year or two. They both came back full-time.
These were in elem schools.
Norm is correct that you do not need be a retiree to get the position.
But it does seem unfair for one person to be making so much money--after pension, or while still in the system--and work less time.
Some F-status employees are deserving of the position, but I would bet most are just "pets".
I don't know anyone who has the job that is not a pet.
In my school we have three F staus people. One has got to be a millionaire! She is tier one. It aggravates the ca ca out of me! First of all I heard the going rate of pay is 289$ a day. Also ,two of the women have better offices than I do, and I swear I don't really know what they do. When I brought this up to Queen Bee at a meeting about the invisible budget that I am supposed to see as C.L. she made some kind of lame excuse as to why this one particular women was F status. Three years in a row already after her "RETIREMENT".We myself and other staff memebers often comment on how sad it is that she doesn't enjoy her millions. We can't figure out why she would want to continue to "work". I, however see it as an example of how people are allowed to double dip, do God knows what, and take funds that could be used in the class for technology or even another teaching position. It is very true that with ATR's unable to gain employment F status people are holding positions that should be filled by every day teachers who need the permanent job. Just another example of the b.s. croney system in the DOE! Of course, my principal went back and told these teachers what I said about the situation. Now I have to endure more dirty looks! Too bad , someone has got to grow some balls and tell it like it is. Guess I won't be having a F status job when and if I make it to retirement!
Did you bring it up during the SLT meeting? How to parents feel about it? Our teachers on SLT (includling my CL) are too afraid to bring it up.
Principal wines and dines the parents on the SLT. They would never do or say anything against him.
I don't see very many positions for F Status school secretaries. I worked for a Principal for 24 years where I did a lot of typing and took minutes. Now, the few F Status secretarial positions are mostly payroll. The DOE should really advertise vacancies for F Status Secretaries.
Just for clarification, a sub must be attached to an absent teacher in order to be paid. If the job is an out of classroom position (small group instruction, math coach, mentoring etc), a sub cannot do it. However, an ATR can. What I don't understand is why would there be benefits attached to a job that is reserved primarily for retired or former teachers. Don't they already have benefits?
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