ATRs flock to job fairs

Miller Photography Hundreds of educators line up for interviews at the Bronx/Manhattan Excessed Teacher Recruitment Fair.

Miller Photography Angelique Pierre details her 13 years as a guidance counselor during an interview with a school representative.

Miller Photography After 17 successful years in the classroom, Anthony Montgomery waits on line for a job interview.

Teacher Anthony Montgomery surveyed in amazement the line upon line of educators waiting for interviews at a crowded job fair for educators in the Absent Teacher Reserve pool held on the Fordham University campus in the Bronx on Sept. 21.

Tall, articulate and looking very much the corporate executive in his suit and tie, Montgomery was surprised to find that the overwhelming majority of ATRs were experienced educators in mid-career now job hunting through no fault of their own just as he was.

Montgomery, after 17 successful years as an economics/finance teacher at City As School HS in Manhattan, was notified that he had been excessed three days before school ended last June. His prospects? Only four openings citywide in his license area.

The Bronx job fair was one of three job fairs that the DOE held this fall for ATRs. While all 1,800 educators in excess were required to attend the fairs, the DOE put no such mandate on schools with vacancies.

At the Sept. 21 fair for ATRs in the Bronx and Manhattan, more than 400 ATRs showed up while only 110 schools attended. At the Sept. 14 fair for Brooklyn and Staten Island ATRs, 505 ATRs showed up while only 62 schools, just two from Staten Island, were present. There were several license areas, including reading and career and technical education, for which there were no positions available. All ATRs, including school secretaries, guidance counselors and social workers, were required to attend the job fairs, but virtually all the vacancies were for teachers, those in attendance noted.

“The DOE seems to be going through the motions with these fairs rather than making a genuine attempt to match ATRs with vacancies in the system,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

Mulgrew has long maintained that Chancellor Joel Klein could resolve the crisis with “a stroke of a pen” simply by assigning teachers from the ATR pool to vacancies.

Excessed in 2007 after 13 years on the job when Walton HS closed, guidance counselor Angelique Pierre said that she has gone from job fair to job fair only to find few openings. Pierre thought she might be on track for a permanent position after two years as an ATR assigned as a counselor and college advisor at Bronx HS of Law. But in September, without explanation, the DOE reassigned all ATRs excessed prior to this year, stoking confusion and misery. So Pierre, like hundreds of others, is starting over again at yet another school.

Teacher Pauline Jones said she could never have imagined the turn that her career would take after 23 years — first as a social studies teacher and dean at IS 204 in Queens for 13 years, then as a mentor for four years until the program was disbanded, and finally a dean at MS 117, Manhattan, until it closed. Now, she said that she has become a jack of all trades, working as a per diem sub in a new school.

Miller PhotographyThe UFT was on hand for assistance and support. Ann Rosen (right), special representative for certification and licensing, and Cassie Carlo (next to Rosen), education liaison, answer questions.