My sister-in-law is an experienced, award-winning unemployed teacher in Central N. J. Her district is bleating that they cannot find enough qualified teachers. However, they will only give her “sub” work. No wonder public education is going down the toilet. Good and experienced teachers are being casually discarded to increase profits to fund the bloated, politically-motivated school administrations.

This country is being ruined by greed.

For educational purposes only

********************************************************************** To: age discrimination/H-1B mailing list

The ITAA began its PR blitz to up the H-1B quota in early 1997. For a full year, the ITAA had the press in the palm of its hand, culminating in a 3,000-word "plant" in the New York Times in early 1998. But then things in the press started to swing in favor of the critics of H-1B, largely because Computerworld took the lead. The EE Times definitely must be given credit too, but Computerworld had a barrage of articles which were balanced in coverage.

One of the reasons for that was that a Computerworld senior editor told me that what I was saying about age discrimination and the "labor shortage" claims resonated well with him personally. His wife was an unemployed teacher in the Boston area, while the Boston press was screaming about a "teacher shortage." She had applied for teaching positions but was always rejected, because what the school districts really wanted was YOUNG new college grads.

So, view the enclosed article in that spirit. By the way, a year or so ago, the San Francisco School District got in trouble for some illegality in its hiring of H-1B teachers.

A lot of the quotes in here sound familiar: Many have advanced degrees," "We'd hire locally if we could," etc. About the only thing missing is "If we can't bring the teachers here from overseas, then we'll ship the students over overseas."

Norm

New Jersey Star-Ledger

Quest for teachers takes Newark to India 03/01/01 BY IVELISSE DeJESUS STAR-LEDGER STAFF In its efforts to fill teacher vacancies, the Newark Public Schools district is prepared to go around the world. Literally. A week from today, three officials from the district's human resources department will travel to India to try to fill some of the district's most critical shortages, in math, science and special education. The 11-day trip will be sponsored by the Teachers Placement Group, a Long Island-based agency that specializes in bringing Indian teachers to the United States. Randy Kanter, Newark's assistant superintendent for human resource services, said a recruiter and two other representatives hope to hire as many as 40 teachers from a pool of about 500 from across India. The group will hold interviews in five cities. "We are looking for all avenues to get good, qualified staff to work in the district," Kanter said. "Hopefully, we will be able to bring back some qualified folks." Newark school officials visited classrooms in the Chester school district, outside Philadelphia, which last year contracted five Indian teachers through the placement agency. "Part of our review was to see the teachers in action," Kanter said. "We went into the classrooms and saw they had good rapport and interpersonal skills and they had good command of English. Their command of their subject area was quite effective as well." A spokeswoman for the New Jersey Education Association, the largest teachers union in the state, said this appeared to be the first time a district would travel overseas to recruit teachers. "We know there are shortages. This is just a creative way to fill those slots," said Karen Joseph. Kanter said the agency will pay for the trip for Ray Coleman, the Newark schools' recruiter, but that the district would to pay the airfare for the additional two staff members. According to Kanter, the district also is currently looking into recruiting opportunities with the University of Puerto Rico. In addition, on March 31, the district will hold an all-day job fair at its Camden Middle School. Formed in 1999, the Teachers Placement Group has already placed 24 teachers in U.S. jobs, according to Michael Vanjani, a spokesman for the agency. Vanjani said the agency charges the teachers $5,000, which covers training, airfare, relocation and visa fees. He said teachers' qualifications are verified by the World Education Organization in New York and the International Consultants of Delaware. Kanter said the prospective teachers from India were ideal candidates because they speak English and many have advanced degrees. "A lot of these folks are teachers in India," he said. "They have wonderful credentials. Most have B.A.s, and master's degrees, and their subject competency is high." School officials from Englewood and Philadelphia also will travel to India next Thursday in search of teachers. Since September, Newark has hired 424 teachers. Kanter said there are now about 50 teaching vacancies and scores more for tutors and program coordinators. The district has especially critical needs in the areas of math, science and special education due to small pools of candidates from among college graduates, Kanter said. "Obviously, we would like to have them as local as possible, but if we need to we'll go anywhere we can to get them," Kanter said. "These kids need to have good, competent teachers. If we are not getting them from local schools, we'll have to go wherever we can. We'll tap every resource possible." Kanter said the district is prepared to hand out temporary contracts to prospective candidates but would have to complete background checks and verify teacher certification and immigration documents prior to finalizing the hiring process. He said all newly hired teachers would become regular employees of the district, not the agency, and could begin teaching next September. To be qualified to teach in New Jersey, teachers must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college and 30 credits in their discipline. They must also pass the National Teachers Exam. Alternate route teachers must have a bachelor's degree, pass the exam and serve 20 classroom hours under the tutelage of a teacher mentor. In a strong voice of opposition, Joseph Del Grosso, president of the Newark Teachers Union, said yesterday that he was concerned the teachers would lack the proper qualifications to teach in Newark and the understanding that they would have to become members of the union. "I don't think it solves the problem," Del Grosso said. "That's putting a bandage on the wound. The real issue is, how do we attract people in college to become teachers? That is the future of this country. The future is not in attracting teachers from other countries." Del Grosso said financial motives might outweigh sound educational decisions. "If you are the headhunter, are you necessarily looking for the best person or are you looking for a fee?" he said. "That's where I take an exception to profit-making in education. Is profit the motive, or is education?" Instead of recruiting overseas, the district should provide tuition reimbursement to existing teachers who want to become certified in math and science, Del Grosso said. Melinda Malico, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education, said the department has no jurisdiction over private teacher recruiters. Foreign hires such as these are handled by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of Labor, she said. Ivelisse DeJesus covers education. She may be reached at idejesus@starledger.com or (973) 392-4154.

-- K (infosurf@yahoo.com), March 02, 2001