Carib teachers serve NYC ultimatum
Published:Sunday | April 3, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The United States-based Association of International Educators (AIE) and the Black Institute have given deputy Mayor of New York Dennis Walcott and Schools Chancellor Kathie Black two weeks in which to respond to their demands.
The AIE, representing hundreds of teachers, many of them Jamaicans, says its members were uprooted from their families, lured to the US with prospects of better educational opportunities, housing assistance, and the path to permanent residency, but instead, have been victimised.
In a meeting last Monday at City Hall, Brooklyn, led by Judith Hall, chairman of the AIE, the teachers made seven demands, including discontinuance of principal letters; teacher reinstatement and restoration; adjustment of work-classification status; financial assistance for legal fees; and an overhauling of the International Support Unit.
Unsatisfied and angry
In a statement sent to The Sunday Gleaner, the Black Institute said: "Unfortunately, the meeting left the teachers unsatisfied and angry. The Department of Education took no responsibility for their actions and inactions and spent the meeting basically trying to cover their hides. They claimed to have read the report, but their lack of solutions begs to differ."
The teachers - mainly from the Caribbean - who are currently teaching in the United States, have accused the Department of Education (DoE) of breaking a host of promises to them after spending years in the New York public-school system.
"The lack of empathy from Walcott, Black, and their staff was staggering," said the Black Institute. "The deputy mayor was just short of rude and condescending, and the chancellor barely said a word other than introducing herself at the beginning of the meeting," they told The Sunday Gleaner.
According to the Black Institute, the teachers walked away from the meeting with vague promises made by the DoE .
The DoE, the Black Institute said, also agreed to collaborate with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke to generate a special designation for this select group of Caribbean international teachers.
This would enable Clarke to address Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Secretary of Labour Hilda Solis. They asked for a couple of weeks to work on these issues.
"We issued a letter to the chancellor and the deputy mayor stating that we expected a response on Monday, April 11, 2011, exactly two weeks as of the meeting. Hopefully, they will have made some progress."