Soon-to-be closed, reorganized, revamped, renamed Lafayette High School is in big trouble. Apparently, they had to excess all their English teachers. Are they switching to Spanish? Well, no. But it looks like some of those goshdarn senior teachers (you know the ones I mean) who've been there for over twenty years can't be canned! Why not? It's that awful union contract, of course.
Chancellor Klein still can't toss people out on their butts whenever he likes. And that, of course, is awful. Here in NYC, the motto is "Children First," and we need to be able to fire teachers at the drop of a hat. How else will we prepare our children for what we most desire for them--jobs in which they can be fired for no reason? It's our job to set an example, and if we have to sell pencils on the corner to do so, well, so be it.
But there's another solution, wait, it's coming to me...here it is...no...wait...yes...I've got it! Why can't the city simply not excess the English teachers? It could keep them and those evil senior teachers on staff. I realize that's a radical notion, because it will result in reduced class sizes, which are not nearly as effective as large class sizes. I realize that it may cost more, and give the kids the dangerous impression that Tweed actually cares about them. I know what a dangerous precedent that could be.
But why not simply not excess the English teachers? There ought to be more space in a phasing-out school, so you would have places to put the additional classes that would result.
Or does the city simply have other more important things to do with its money?
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