New York City Department of Education – “Some People Love Teaching for the NYC Department of Education, But Others Hate It!”

Pros

1. The general terms and working conditions of teachers (at all levels) are set forth in the contract between the NYC Department of Education (DOE) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).

2 The employee benefits and pension benefits are good.

3. New York is one of the "tenure states."

4. The amount of work brought home is controllable to some extent.

5. There are opportunities for "overtime" in the form of "per session jobs" (as a club adviser, athletic coach, afterschool tutor, etc.)

6. There are opportunities for "job within a job pay" in the form of "class coverages" (where a regular teacher in a secondary school loses one preparation period to cover an absent colleague's class).

Cons

1. There is too much top-down micromanagement. There are many blogs, websites, and newspaper articles covering the NYC educational scene. Search them out on the Internet, and read them thoroughly.

2. Whether you love or hate your teaching position will be largely determined by circumstances beyond your control. What is the administration like in your school? What type of program were you given? What are your colleagues like? What are the students like? What are the parents like? What is the community like? What is the travel time like? If you drive, will you have a parking spot?

3. Management is big on "employee discipline." Some principals routinely issue critical letters in the personnel file for trivial matters.

4. The contract expired on November 1, 2009, and negotiations have not been progressing smoothly.

Advice to Senior Management

Study and implement enlightened modern management practices. Get rid of the "factory model." Stop being influenced by the large foundations and the hedge fund managers. Stop breaking up large schools into multiple small schools. Stop with charterization. Revamp the Leadership Academy so that it teaches aspiring principals how to be humane.