Thursday, September 6, 2007

Joel Klein wants to fire me.


Last year the DoE decided to get rid of district 79 schools. They were going to close some of the programs and merge some of the programs into other schools. To do this they decided to fire all of the teachers and make them reapply for their jobs. In the process of doing this a bunch of teachers did not find new jobs. The union contract would not allow these teachers to be fired so they are now replacing per-diem substitutes in many schools. When asked about these teachers the chancellor replied that if he had his way he would fire all of these teachers.

At this point in time there are a bunch of assistant principals who do not have assignments. The new contract does not allow these APs to be fired. I know that Joel Klein's desire is that we all be fired. He can not do this at this time.

I remember reading an interview with someone from Ohio who was having his house foreclosed. He had worked in an auto factory and then the factory had closed down. He was talking about how he had done everything that was asked of him in life, worked hard, married, bought a house, had kids etc. and then the job just left him. Joel wouldn't have any sympathy for this guy. Joel would only care about the auto company being profitable.

The DoE is full of people who are not great at their jobs. I would guess that Bloomberg L.P also has a bunch of people who are not good at their jobs. The world we live in today seems to feel that these people should be cut loose. Unions are a good thing because they keep bosses from doing this.

I am not sure that this is a good way to run the world. I have fired people and pushed people out. Generally I did this to people who wanted to manipulate the system and refused to try to do good work. I had two lab assistants who complained every time I asked them to do anything and who only did the minimum all the time. These were not good workers. I do wonder what happened to them, but I do not feel sorry for them. I have also allowed people who are not good at what they do to continue working for me because they seemed to care a lot about their job. I am sure this is a weakness on my part.

I don't really get people who don't try. It may be that in some cases they are just in the wrong place or working for the wrong person.

Because I got in trouble when I went to apply for a new certificate to become an AP organization my application was sent to investigation. The reason I applied for the APO license is that the majority of jobs available call for this license. I did this in July and I have not heard anything from the DoE. In other words the DoE wants to fire me because I can not find a job on my own, but the DoE has made it impossible for me to find a job on my own. This is a real catch 65.

Of course I let the union know about this right away. Of course the union did nothing as usual. I think I don't understand what they are supposed to do.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Klein is a capitalist circa 1900...when unions were truly needed to keep some integrity in the world of work.

As Microsoft continues its domination, I wonder just how competent and successful Klein truly is. If he were treated as he treats others, wouldn't he be fired for not getting the whole job done?

Anonymous said...

Ed, do you think the DOE owes us something? I ask because people always argue "well, in the corporate world these people would just be fired." While I'm sure this is true, I'm not sure this would be fair to us teachers. However, if these people were fired I bet they'd find jobs (for the DOE) right away...I'd just like your perspective cause I think you seem to be like a pretty fair individual :o)

Anonymous said...

"Doing a good job" changes as the perspective changes. It's a big sell job. They justify their position using numbers, but what backs the numbers changes. ie. dummying down the regents

Anonymous said...

You wrote:


{material left out]
> Because I got in trouble when I
> went to apply for a new
> certificate to
> become an AP organization my
> application was sent to
> investigation.

This does not make sense. How does one "get in trouble" for applying for any license?

Why would someone who applies for a license be investigated?

> The reason I
> applied for the APO license is
> that the majority of jobs
> available call for this license.
> I did this in July and I have
> not heard anything from the DoE.
> In other words the DoE wants to
> fire me because I
> can not find a job on my own,
> but the DoE has made it
> impossible for me to
> find a job on my own. This is a
> real catch 65.


The DOE does not want to fire you because you can not find a job. The DOE, rightly or wrongly, may want you out of the system because they think you are not doing what they require.

Anonymous said...

If I remember correctly, any DoE application 9admin/supv specifically)has a check-off for whether or not the applicant has had any charges brought. It does not ask outcome. Thus, if you check yes, it follows someone may be curious.