– PFT General Vice President Arlene Kempin sets the records straight on the District’s plans to privatize Philly substitutes.
Arlene Kempin has a letter in today’s Inquirer challenging the District’s notion that there is a shortage of substitutes. You can read the edited letter here.
But for a more complete perspective, I wanted you to see the original version of the letter which discusses how the district has ignored the PFT and neglected to include retired teachers who are willing an able to act as substitutes in our schools:
To the Editor:
The SRC’s vote to outsource School District substitutes on June 18 compels me to share some recent history and some truths regarding the outsourcing of substitute teachers.
In the midst of the chaotic environment that School District’s management team has created, there has always been one concept that both the District and the PFT agree upon: Philadelphia’s retired teachers are a valuable resource to our schools and our students. Their experience, knowledge of the system, credentials, and willingness to serve has always been acknowledged by the union and the District.
But for the past three years, the District has blatantly and without reason blocked any new retirees from joining our substitute pool. Repeated requests—from the PFT and the individuals themselves—to allow more retirees to sign on were rebuffed. The District’s response was that our substitute pool is big enough, and we don’t need any more retirees.
In addition, the PFT has continued to stress that as long as positions were posted first for non-retirees (with a time limit for acceptance), retirees could be offered the unfilled positions without violating PSER’s regulations. This input was ignored by the District time and time again.
We must also be mindful of the dedication and commitment of hundreds of Long Term and Per Diem Substitute Teachers who had never been retired as appointed teachers from the District. Many have devoted their entire professional careers to servicing our students either on a day-to-day or long term basis.
Now we learn that the District has valued all of our substitutes so much that they must farm them out to a private company so that they may be offered bonuses for accepting designated positions. In over two years of contract talks, the District never proposed any such incentives, nor did they ever mention a shortage of substitutes.
Once again, they have ignored, disrespected, and insulted the very people that directly service our children.
Sincerely,
Arlene Kempin, General Vice President,
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers
Source – http://www.pft.org/blog.aspx?id=139
