Stop and reverse the loss of teachers of color

Stop and reverse the loss of teachers of color
by Sean Ahern

Mar 19, 2009 2:28 PM

The author is a teacher at Marta Valle Secondary School, an 8-12 school in Manhattan.

One positive change brought about by the Civil Rights/Black Liberation movement was the increased hiring and promotion of educators and administrators of color in the New York City public school system.

Today, that pattern has been reversed. According to Department of Education statistics obtained by Elizabeth Green as a reporter for the now-defunct New York Sun, teachers hired in school year 2000-01 were 25.5 percent black and 16.3 percent Latino, a total of almost 42 percent. In 2006-07, 14.1 percent of new hires were black and 11.7 percent were Latino, for a total of 25.8 percent, a dramatic decline in only six years. Given high turnover and a projected wave of retirements, over 30 years of gains may be erased in less than a decade.

Notwithstanding the welcome election of President Obama, “The Disappearing of Black and Latina/o Educators” (an apt description first coined by Sam Anderson in his 2006 interview with Sally Lee from Teachers Unite) is movement in the opposite direction, a reversal of the gains of the civil rights era. Whether by design, blind indifference, or a combination of factors “The Disappearing of Black and Latina/o Educators in the NYC-DOE” is a systemic failure at the school level to advance to a racially just society.

The United Federation of Teachers does not hire or fire. However, as educators and unionists, we have a keen and vested interest in the promotion of positive role models for the youth and working-class solidarity in New York City. We must establish a close collaboration with the parents and communities of color whose children comprise over 80 percent of the student body in the New York City public school system.

For these reasons “The Disappearing of Black and Latina/o Educators in the NYC-DOE,” which touches on all of the above, merits a concerted response from the UFT, a demand to stop and reverse the loss of teachers of color.

A resolution calling for a committee of inquiry on “The Disappearing” was passed by the UFT’s Economic and Social Justice Committee in October 2008 and forwarded to leading bodies and the Delegate Assembly. Its passage by the UFT Delegate Assembly will hopefully provide support and impetus to those ready to intervene in the hiring process, raise awareness among the membership and place the matter on the City Council and public agendas as well.

UFT members participate on School Leadership teams and on C-30 committees which retain some voice in hiring decisions (however diminished that role may be after two terms of mayoral control). It should be noted that while New York City has had “Disappearing Black and Latina/o Educators,” other large cities have managed, during this same period, to increase the percentage of teachers of color.

The causes for such disparity and the remedies needed to stop and reverse “The Disappearing” in New York City will be likely topics of the committee's inquiry.

School-based administrators, parents and teachers together can keep the hiring door pried open for diversity under any system of governance if they set this as a goal. Together we can keep the dream alive for ourselves and the youth in New York City by an unequivocal, affirmative response that says in effect: New York City schools need more, not fewer, dedicated teachers and administrators of color!

The members and leaders of the UFT are in a key position to make a difference and open a new chapter fitting for a new era. We can build trust between adults and we can model truly collaborative and democratic behavior through affirmative actions. A grassroots democracy is an object lesson of lasting importance spurring great creativity and initiative.

It is the “Change We Can Believe In.” It is the change we need.

LINK: http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/speak/stop_and_reverse_the_loss/