new teacher q & a
I have state certification in English 7-12. NYC has appointed me as a high school English teacher. Currently, I am teaching math in a middle school. Will this affect my teaching career? What can I do?
Apr 2, 2009 3:27 PM
It could affect your career. While there are no more New York City paper licenses, there are still license/appointment areas, each with a different code. (The Department of Education notified you by personal e-mail of your license/appointment area and code. At that time, you should have made sure that you were appointed in the right subject area and division level.)
You can only be appointed in an area that matches your state certificate. In your case, you could be appointed as a high school or junior high school English teacher. Ideally, and according to state and federal law, every teacher should be appointed to a position that matches his or her license area. However, since some teaching positions are harder to fill than others, newer teachers are often assigned to teach out of their license areas, even in a different division, as in your case.
Such “out of license” assignments don’t affect your salary or tenure, though you would receive tenure in your license/appointment area, not in the area you are teaching. However, your right to stay in your “out of license” position could be affected, especially if your school is planning to reduce the number of staff through excessing.
When there is an excessing situation, principals decide which license areas will be excessed. Teachers with the least seniority within a license area are the first to be excessed. However, the excessing is based on the license under which you are appointed, not on your teaching assignment or what you are teaching. So, in your case, you would be vulnerable if your principal was excessing English teachers, even though you are teaching math. What’s more, the most vulnerable to excessing are those whose teaching assignments do not match the division level of their licenses.
What can you do? First, keep in mind that excessing is not layoff and you will be working, though in a new assignment. Next, ask your chapter leader to show you the current excessing list that the DOE issued in January to find out where you currently stand. Check especially if the information is accurate. If you think there is an error, bring it to your principal’s attention right away. (Your relative standing may change somewhat by May, when the next excessing list is issued.) Also, ask your chapter leader if your principal plans to excess any teachers and, if so, in which license areas.
Finally, if you realize that you may be vulnerable to excessing, consult your chapter leader or call your UFT borough office and ask to speak to an educational liaison. Because so many teachers are assigned to teach a program that is not consistent with their license/appointment, the UFT negotiated some contract rules that provide limited protection to those in “out of license” situations. A union consultant can help determine if these rules apply in your case.
