Hmmm… the nuances of understanding recruiting and hiring issues.
It hasn’t been the case that there has been a shortage of ESL teachers in NYC, but a lack of ESL vacancies declared by principals. If there was a hiring need, the NYC Teaching Fellows would have recruited, trained, and certified more than a handful of ESL teachers the last few years. But they haven’t.
The DOE central administration gave the power to principals to budget for and schedule these services on their own and many chose to schedule positions in other subject areas. The policy decision is now to hold principals accountable for hiring right rather than just take back this authority.
For years NYC has opened school with close to zero openings and lots of certified ESL teachers in the recruitment database who didn’t find jobs. So is that a shortage?
