Schools can’t nix shelved teachers

THE CITY will place up to 400 unassigned teachers into vacancies at public schools whether principals want them or not, Education Department officials said Monday.

The policy takes effect in October and differs from the traditional method of staffing city schools — where principals select teachers from an open market.

The city hopes to shrink the Absent Teacher Reserve, a costly pool of roving educators who lack permanent work assignments. Teachers may be assigned to the reserve pool under circumstances that include a downsized school.

The city has sought to reduce the size of the reserve pool for years, with buyouts worth up to $50,000.

But as of April, there were 822 teachers and a handful of administrators and other staffers in the group.

Education Department officials won’t say how much the pool costs, but previous estimates put the price tag at $100,000 per year for each educator.

In the latest effort to reduce the pool, central Education Department officials, led by Randy Asher, the department’s senior adviser for talent management and innovation, will decide where the reserve teachers will be sent to teach.

If the teachers are rated effective in their first year, their jobs will become permanent.

“This is a common-sense approach to drive resources from the reserve pool back to schools,” Asher (photo) said.

“This will match schools with the qualified teachers whose skills and expertise will best serve their students, and will reduce the number of educators in the reserve pool,” he added.

City teachers union and principals union officials expressed support for the program.

But critics said the policy could place poor educators in city classrooms.

“It is shockingly irresponsible for the city to force-place hundreds of teachers of dubious quality into the classrooms of our most vulnerable students,” said StudentsFirstNY Executive Director Jenny Sedlis.