Open Market Transfers in NYC are open, but not open?
Something is screwy with the open market transfers. I presume the DoE is at fault, and trying to harm us. That is, in recent experience, a fairly good assumption.
(I hate that phrase, open market. It is not an open market. It is a contrived system without rules and protections to make it difficult to transfer, at the same time the DoE forces, through closings and systematic disruption, many more teachers to need to transfer).
The expired (and still in force) contract says that the open market can open any time on or after April 15, and closes August 7. Past practice was to open it soon after April 15. And we did get a little note saying that it was open. The website says it is open. But this is three weeks after April 15, and…
Teachers can log on. And see no listings. Zero. None. Not “just a few” but actually zero. And I’ve learned that principals can log on, but cannot add listings.
What’s going on?
Maybe principals are delaying posting, until they know the budget. Um, no. Principals who want to post cannot.
Question 1: Has the DoE said why it is screwing around?
Question 2: Are the postings for the newly formed schools, those “colocations” that are squeezing out closing schools, are they open? Sure enough a weird thing called The Teacher Hiring Support Center (it’s got DoE-ish lettering, but I am suspicious – someone should check if it is private) includes listings for all the new schools, with a May 13 application deadline.
Question 3: Are they delaying to force people to apply at start-up schools?
Question 4: Are they delaying to ease the crunch if layoffs happen? Friday Bloomberg will probably be announcing totally unnecessary layoffs. As a result, there may be some movement of teachers between schools.
Question 5: Are they delaying to disrupt the system? Hmm. Most people will transfer, if they have to, between April 15 and June 28 (last day of school). That’s 10½ weeks. Oops, May 13 – June 28 is 6½ weeks. Would Bloomberg tighten the schedule to make people nervous and jumpy? To make them more afraid?
The disruptive questions are 3 and 5. They match Bloomberg’s style, and his contempt for kids, for teachers, and for public education.
Those are my guesses, until and unless we get further information.
JD2718 
Thanks, JD. I eagerly await an answer.
My school has been trying to post and cannot. I also talked with one k the principals of a new school yesterday, an she told me their whole process has been delayed multiple times and that even with the May 13 application deadline, there is nothing in place yet for the next step of her process.
Something is definitely fishy here.
My school was literally just informe minutes ago that we will be able to post on Monday. I’ll believe it when I see it, but if true, we still need to find out why.
Who would know the answers to these questions? Only dark figures nested somewhere deep within the DoE? Are there not contact people to direct these questions to?
Here’s what the Principal’s Weekly says:
Open Market Hiring System – 2011 Launch
All schools / Event: May 6
The Open Market Hiring System (OMT) is now available for review by principals and current employees in eligible UFT-titles who are seeking transfer. A recorded webinar on the Open Market system is also available for you to review at your convenience. A follow-up live webinar has been scheduled for May 6 at 10 a.m. to address any questions that schools may have. Register for the live webinar.
For questions, email Tom Silleck at Tsilleck@schools.nyc.gov.
Well there’s one contact I guess.
I was going to write about this over the weekend. Typical DOE inc0mpetence or is it something worse?
The word we got from our network was incompetence: there was some problem with the Galaxy budgeting system that prevented any schools from creating the postings from a budget end.
Plausible, but less likely than malfeasance. We know these people.
It’s funny, I would make the same “I know these people” argument for incompetence over malfeasance. Either way, they’re not to be trusted.
I believe that Principals wait until their budgets are accepted and finalized before they go ahead and post vacancies. This usually occurs later on in the year, May/June.
There are always a few who post earlier – but this year – none. After I wrote this the DoE wrote principals saying that a computer glitch had occurred.
Also, it’s time for an update on open market transfers in general. I was opposed to their introduction in 2005, but in retrospect, I did not see how horrible they were going to be.
The few protections we preserved seem routinely violated and unenforceable. Are there hiring committees in each school? No. Are all vacancies posted? No.
I miss the SBO transfers.