New York City — the nation’s largest school district – annually faces the challenge of hiring between 4,000 and 5,000 new educators, according to Chalkbeat New York. This year, officials aim to hire 3,700 teachers above that to satisfy the state’s class size reduction law. Some 750 schools received additional money from the city for the coming year to hire extra teachers to bring more classes under state caps ranging from 20 to 25 students depending on age.
United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew is optimistic that New York will be in good shape to satisfy its legal obligation to keep 60% of classes under the designated caps.
The class size law isn’t the only new state policy in the district. A new statewide school cellphone ban prohibiting students from using personal electronic devices during the school day takes effect this school year. Hundreds of city schools have had a ban in place, and hundreds more will adopt one for the first time.
“This will literally be your first classroom management challenge,” Mulgrew told new teachers in an orientation session. “Your first day, all of you will hear from your students: ‘Why can’t I have my cellphone?’”
Schools are supposed to have plans in place to help teachers deal with students unwilling to surrender their phones, Mulgrew noted.
Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos touted the city’s efforts to overhaul literacy and math curriculum, which will expand this year. She said standardizing curriculum is a time-saver. “You are not yet trained curriculum designers,” she said at the orientation. “You are hired to teach, to assess, and to support your children … We are giving you blueprints to do just that.”
This year, the Education Department doubled the size of New York City Teaching Fellows, an expedited entry into the profession that allows new teachers to earn their certification while in the classroom.
For many teachers, seeing all their new peers together at orientation was an energizing reminder of the work ahead.
A first-year teacher named Rafael was excited to start his career as a music technology teacher at an elementary school in the South Bronx — the neighborhood where he grew up.
“It’s really fun to give back to the neighborhood that gives so much to music,” he said. “This is probably the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, getting a job I’m really going to love.”
Chalkbeat New York
