Liberal education system wasting millions

The teachers union is trying to justifying it's waste program.
Klein: We gotta keep the rejects

Says 44 asst. principals inept


BY ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


Schools Chancellor Joel Klein


Forty-four assistant principals are so inept that no city school wants
to hire them - but they'll all have jobs when classes begin next week,
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein bemoaned yesterday.


Klein said he must waste "millions of dollars creating jobs we don't
need" - money that could be used to hire 80 teachers - because the
assistant principals' jobs are protected by their union contract and
state law.


In a letter to city principals, Klein said even though he has to find
spots for the assistant principals, he will not "force them upon you."


"I believe that is wrong for you and, more importantly, wrong for our
kids," he wrote.


"This means I have no choice but to create new jobs - jobs that I
wouldn't otherwise create and jobs that this system doesn't need . .
..," he added. "This is taxpayer money that should be paying for the
high-quality educators."


The letter was Klein's latest bid to divide and diminish the principals



union, whose members include both principals and assistant principals.
The union has been without a contract for more than three years - and
its leaders were furious to read Klein's blistering words.


"If I were one of these 44 [assistant principals], I would try to sue
the chancellor for defamation of character," said Jill Levy, president
of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. "In fact, the
union may investigate [a lawsuit] ourselves."


Levy maintained that the majority of the 44 administrators, who earn up



to $108,000 a year, have not been fired for poor performance. They have



no assignments, she said, because of school restructuring that has shut



down failing schools and broken large schools into smaller schools.


Although the city's 1,400 schools still need to hire 22 assistant
principals, none of the 44 administrators will be sent to schools where



they aren't wanted. At a cost of $5.2 million, they will get
paper-pushing jobs, Education Department officials said.


The union contract prohibits administrators from taking teaching
positions. The contract and state law also allow administrators to bump



less-senior colleagues from their jobs.


Elisa Hyman, executive director of Advocates for Children, said,
"Regardless of who's right at this point in the dispute, I think it
would be unfortunate if . . . money that could be used for teachers
were somehow wasted."


Educrats have long griped about job-protection clauses in union
contracts that have led to a "dance of the lemons" - where inept
administrators were shuffled about.


Mayor Bloomberg and Klein have made a push to take power away from
bureaucrats and give it to principals - in many cases in exchange for
agreements that allow administrators to be fired if their schools don't



improve.


"I do not want to destroy the teams that you have built . . . ," Klein
told the principals yesterday. "We need real contract reform, so we can



put an end to these kinds of harmful games."


Sol Stern, an education expert at the Manhattan Institute, applauded
Klein's stance. But Stern questioned the chancellor's concern over cost



savings.


"There's so much waste in the system," Stern said, "and all of a sudden



he's getting all upset about a few million dollars?"


'I've no choice'


Here are the highlights of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's stunning
letter to city principals:


Because I believe in leadership, I have given you, not superintendents,



final say over assistant principal selection. . . .


Today, there are 44 excessed APs [without jobs] in our school system.
These are administrators who have apparently been unable to find
positions in any of our 1,400 schools, despite the fact that we have
many vacancies . . .


If these APs cannot find work by next week, I am required, under the
[principals union] contract, to force them upon you and your colleagues



.... I believe that is wrong for you and, more importantly, wrong for
our kids.


I do not want to destroy the teams that you have built . . . I have no
choice but to create new jobs - jobs that I wouldn't otherwise create
and jobs that this system doesn't need - for excessed assistant
principals . . .


I will now spend millions of dollars creating jobs we don't need for
assistant principals ... This is taxpayer money that should be paying
for the high-quality educators - we could hire some 80 additional
teachers with this money - or other services that you and your students



need. .

.

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