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June 07, 2005
Article: New York's Revolving Door of Good Teachers Driven Out
After teaching at five schools and four grade levels in SFUSD within 2 years and being laid off twice, this story had a certain resonance, to say the least.
They knew from their children that there was trouble in the fifth grade at Public School 111 in Manhattan. But it wasn't until teacher conferences in late February that parents learned how badly the class had fallen apart.
By then, the fifth graders were on their third teacher in seven months. The first left before Christmas to get married. And though her departure was widely known by November, the second teacher, a substitute, Emebet Shiferraw, says she wasn't told about taking over that class until she reported to P.S. 111 in early January.
The sub left after two months, she says, because she got little support and things were not going well in class.
The third teacher, Millie Rodriguez, was pulled off her job as a reading specialist at P.S. 111 and handed the fifth grade just days before conferences. Parents were told their fifth graders would not get second semester report cards. "Ms. Rodriguez told me she was just there a week and had no work whatsoever to go on," said Reyna Soriano, whose son Elmer is a fifth grader. "I was so upset. How could this happen? They don't have report cards? Maybe they don't learn nothing."
New York's Revolving Door of Good Teachers Driven Out