The Brian Lehrer Show

One caller corrected her location from Washington Heights to “Hudson Heights”. I guess the Real Estate market has successfully renamed one of our city neighborhoods!!!

Just an anecdote. I went to Bronx High School of Science, one of the city's "elite" public schools, and graduated in the mid-90s. I recently saw one of my old history teachers at the airport working for TSA (Transportation Security Administration), presumably to make more money. That's a sad state of affairs...

Hi,

How much money does NYCDOE spend on SpecialEducation? How many students receive these services?

Any diffenrences in the funding, usage, provision of such services in other large school districts in the country?

I trying to find out in the field of Physical Therapy and Occupational therapy there are Assistants who could be used but NYCDOE uses only the Therapists who cost more? What justification does NYCDOE provide for this?

May I request Elaine Rivera to contact me for I have lots of queries.

Thanks

Thanks

In response to some of the comments regarding why some teachers are collecting a salary without teaching. My mother was a tenured NYC public school teacher for over 16 years. She contracted a debilitating condition that made it almost impossible for her to climb stairs. Her Principal was quite unsympathetic and refused to give her a class on the ground floor. She showed up for work every day although she was no longer given any kids to teach. This went on for her last school year and in the end she was forced into early retirement. The public school system in the city is a farce and it continually forces out experienced qualified teachers who put up with overcrowded classrooms that are falling apart.

The teachers who are highly experienced, and so at the higher end of the pay scale will be the first target of many principals who need to fill classrooms at the lowest possible cost.

Many teachers in the pool of unplaced teachers are victims of this problem.

The best way to cut the budgets would be to eliminate the Assistant Principal positions (who make $120,000+) and replace them with department coordinators, who are teachers with a reasonable incentive pay and reduced classroom teaching schedules exchanged for two hours of administrative time per day. This was the practice in the past and it would improve overall teaching quality as well as reducing school budgets.