I love the blog jd2718 (even though my blog, this one, is not ever listed), and hope that the "Do Not Apply" article is updated (the article below was posted in 2009). The comments give a great look at principals and how they treat teachers!
Betsy Combier
Do Not Apply
LINK
What New York City schools are so horrible, so career-ending, so abusive (esp of teachers, but also of students) that we should protect new members by advising them to stay away?
We (teachers and our unions) should make this information available to new teachers. But doing it is hard. The problems must be severe to make this list. But they are out there.
* Does the school have assaults on teachers that go unreported? Do students get away with bad stuff without consequences, or minor consequences?
* Does the principal get rid of people (plural) mid-year? Fabricate charges? Get their licenses lifted?
* Do routine requests for help or repairs get ignored?
* Do teachers walk around scared? Do you see adults getting yelled at by administrators on a regular basis?
* Do most teachers talk about leaving? And do more than half leave each year?
Which schools, folks, which are so bad that no one should apply? This list is a work in progress. It would be great if you could supply the names of other schools at other levels and in other borough. E-mail me (this blogname at gmail dot com). Explain why the school belongs on the DNA list. Please be as specific as you feel comfortable. Provide additional commentary about why a school already on the list belongs (or does not belong)
Bronx High Schools
1. Bronx Aerospace HS (+) (in the Evander building) (follow up)
2. Eximius College Prep HS (near Crotona Park) (follow up)
3. Discovery HS (in the Walton building)
4. Fordham HS of the Arts (in the Theodore Roosevelt building) (only DNA school on the UFT’s “Principal in Need of Improvement list” as of 3/1/09) Rally – rally – rally.
5. HS for Performance and Stagecraft (no longer in the Truman building)
6. Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology (in the Theodore Roosevelt building)
7. Bronx High School of Science [follow up with details of special complaint]
8. Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy
9. Pablo Neruda Academy for Architecture and World Studies
Bronx Middle/Elementary Schools
1. The Bronx Green Middle School (in the MS135 building, on Wallace, D11. Look how pretty the official website is, an amazing contrast with reality)
2. PS/MS4 Crotona Park West (D9, just below the Cross Bronx)
Manhattan High Schools:
1. *HS of Art and Design
2. *Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis HS
3. *Life Sciences HS
4. *MLK HS of the Arts and Technology
Here are some links to articles about “Do Not Apply” schools:
Do Not Apply (the original article)
Urban Assembly Media comes off the list
Thanks for the plug. It DOES need to be updated.
ReplyDeleteBut it was as much for new Fellows as it was for transferers - and there will be so few Fellows... and not so many transferers.
Also, as people start or transfer, the choices will be much more limited. In fact, a disproportionate share of the openings will be at truly horrendous places.
Now, it is still worth identifying them as such, but I do not know the extent to which putting the information out there can actually protect teachers. If they need a job, or are desperate to transfer, what else can they do?
Again, thank you