San Francisco was left with several hundred unfilled teaching positions, in part do to union opposition to an educational charity that was hoping to fill some of the spots.
Teach for America (TFA) provides trained educators to towns that are struggling to fill teaching positions. San Francisco had an ongoing contract with the group that helped fill 15 position out of the several hundred open. United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) was at the forefront of opposing the group from having its contract renewed.
“Part of our mission is to go in and make sure all students have access to an excellent education and excellent teachers,” TFA Regional Communications Director Kathryn Phillips told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “So it is particularly egregious in a year when the district has hundreds of openings to limit principals’ ability to hire talented and diverse people.”
TFA has had a contract with the city for close to a decade. Nevertheless, the school board decided May 12 not to renew the contract, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Phillips notes she is optimistic she will be able to work with the city again once the group gets support back. She is also open to talking with the union and other critics.
“The TFA and the superintends and the HR department all decided together to remove the contract from the board agenda,” Phillips noted. “So it was never voted on because we knew that we didn’t have the support to pass it. And what we wanted to do is we really, because we really want to be teaching there, we don’t want there to be bad blood.”
The school board ultimately made the decision, but the union is believed to have been a huge influence. UESF argued students would be better-served by teachers within the communities who plan to stay for a long time. The union notes it respects TFA, but says that the group is not the best fit for San Francisco.
“The reality is that the program has a retention rate of just 17 percent,” the union wrote. “With the teachers often placed in high needs schools, TFA essentially institutionalizes teacher turnover, robbing our school communities of the stability and continuity that we desperately need.”
Phillips adds that while she understands the criticism, it makes no sense to leave students without any teachers. The union and school officials have not yet figured out how to fill all the empty positions. Schools could be forced to use permanent substitutes or even emergency standby teachers that have little to no training.
“The district will have to rely on short-term subs or long-term subs or emergency credentialed people, and those folks aren’t getting any training,” Phillips noted. “We really enjoy working with the superintendent there and the HR team is great, we’ve had support from board members in the past and we’d love to continue working with them and introducing them to our talented members.”
UESF and school board did not respond to a request for comment by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
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