Teacher Layoffs

This is just plain wrong. From The New York Times:

School authorities across the nation are warning thousands of teachers that they could lose their jobs in June, raising the possibility that America’s public schools may see the most extensive layoffs of their teaching staffs in decades.

Though many of the warnings may not be acted upon — school systems, their budget outlook unclear, routinely overstate likely layoffs at this time of year — when layoffs do occur, they cause a chaotic annual reshuffling of staff members. Thousands of teachers are forced to change schools, grades or subjects, creating chronic instability that educators call “teacher churn.”

“Most districts have not done layoffs for years, so they have no idea how bad this is going to be when it hits,” said Timothy Daly, president of the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit group that has studied the effects of teacher layoffs.

Even if these layoffs don’t come to be, the ramifications are tremendous. Talented young teachers, too stressed to put up with instability in our already too unstable economy, leave the profession. Teachers get shifted around from school to school, hurting school cohesion. Specialty schools – often popular choices in large, inner-city school systems – can suffer disproportionately, losing teachers that are hard to replace and causing loss of morale across otherwise committed school communities.

And of course, there are ties with parents that are ruptured. And loss of faith in a system that can only succeed if parents feel there is a good reason for them to be involved in their children’s education.

All around a big mess, reflecting our seriously messed up priorities.