To the Editor:
Re “With
Teacher Layoffs Coming, Battle Turns to Seniority Rules” (front
page, April 25):
While it would be ideal to have schools with the most effective
teachers, it is clear that so far the best thinking has not come up with
a universally acceptable method of assessment.
One then has to consider layoffs from a social point of view.
Teachers, like other academics, often give up more lucrative jobs in
favor of the security and social benefits of a teaching position. To
take this away, and break an agreement, when someone is middle-aged and
less likely to find other employment is not only unfair but perhaps also
immoral.
One alternative to layoffs is to offer two young teachers one
position and pay them accordingly. This arrangement was used
successfully in New York City in the 1970s as part of a new-teacher
training program with which I was involved.
There are sensible and sensitive ways to solve this problem without
brutality.
Alfred S. Posamentier
Brooklyn, April 25, 2010
The writer was dean of the school of education
at City College of New York, CUNY, and is now a lecturer at the New York
City College of Technology, CUNY.
Note from KBJ: How can something be unfair without being immoral? I want to be charitable to the letter writer, but I can't think of a meaning of "unfair" that doesn't imply "immoral."
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 