From the comments: excessed teachers respond to city criticism

With the school year about to begin, Department of Education officials are highlighting the fact that many of the city’s out-of-work teachers haven’t tried to find new jobs.

The common response from excessed teachers is that they have made an effort, but it hasn’t paid off — they aren’t finding work. Some report that the city’s website makes it difficult to apply for open positions.

Two readers, both in the pool of teachers who’ve been excessed and haven’t found new work, commented saying that they can’t see job vacancies because the department’s website doesn’t recognize them as excessed teachers.

One possible cause of this problem could be that some principals don’t understand how to register their excessed teachers with the city. When this happens, the DOE and its website don’t recognize the teacher’s new status. 

Commenter “ATR” wrote:

This is my short experience with being an ATR. I was told in June I would be excessed in a 5 minute conversation with my principal. I was never given any official notification other than short e-mails from my principal telling me to attend various job fairs. On the Open Market it said I was not excessed.  I sent out resumes on the OM and to everyone I knew. I got one interview. I never heard back from the principal. Then I went to a hiring fair. At the hiring fair I was told by DOE I was not in excess but could enter as a “transfer.”  I got an interview with one school. I went on the interview and was told that the principal thought I had an English license, not ESL. He informed me that he had 4 open English positions but no ESL and that furthermore there were no restrictions on hiring ESL teachers. That was the last I heard. I tried to log on to the ESSS and my status is not in excess. I have no access to vacancies. I sincerely doubt that I will ever get another full time position as a teacher. I don’t believe there is any principal who will hire me even though I am highly qualified.

Commenter “Jr” wrote:

Im also locked out of the Excessed Staff Selection System, as it says im not in excess. Cant check my status, cant look at vacancies.

DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte said she didn’t think it was common for excessed teachers to be barred from seeing open positions.

“All approved excesses are able to access job openings and apply for them. If a person is having trouble logging on, the person should call HR,” Forte said.

According to the city, a majority of the teachers who are currently jobless have not gone to job fairs or applied for jobs online. The city does not keep count of how many excessed teachers who did find new work used these services.

Another commenter, a principal, wrote to say that even when she reached out to excessed teachers, none of them responded.

Nicole wrote:

We have a vacancy and have contacted every excessed teacher in the license area twice inviting them to apply. Not a single one has chosen to apply, and almost half have not even bothered to respond to our messages.