Previously Gene J. Mann spouted the Unity line how successful the Open Market Transfer System (OMTS) was. He rattled off how 4,000 educators transferred annually, compared to 300 before the OMTS was instituted. Of course, Mr. Mann, a Unity retiree in good standing, failed to mention that for veteran teachers the OMTS was a sick joke, Moreover, he also failed to mention how it ensured that untenured teachers would leave struggling schools in droves through the OMTS, resulting in high teacher turnover, and an unstable educational environment for these schools. Just look at the renewal schools where "newbie" teachers are hired only to leave as quickly as possible, ensuring their continued failure. Finally, Mr. Mann failed to provide the statistical breakdown of those teachers who obtained positions through the OMTS, based on years of experience, salary, age, and tenure. All thisI have written about previously. However, what I failed to include was why there were so many teachers (mostly untenured) who used the OMTS than before there was one?
The answer to that question is quite simple. Before the OMTS, all excessed teachers in the District had to be first placed in vacancies before the vacancies could be filled by other teachers. That significantly reduced the amount of vacancies available for other teachers to transfer to. Moreover, about 50% of the vacancies were hidden and if too many teachers left a school, the Principal could refuse to release the teacher. The combination of these three factors, excessed teachers filling a vacancy, hidden positions, and Principal refusal to release the teacher kept actual teacher transfers to a minimum. However, except for archaic or discontinued titles (typing teacher, home economics teacher, shop teacher, etc.) there were few excessed teachers in the school system.
Thanks to the terrible 2005 contract that all changed. The OMTS was developed and with disincentives like the school-based "fair student funding", it resulted in the explosion of the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR). Add that to the closing of 163 schools under the Bloomberg administration and we now have between 1,000 to 2,000 ATRs (excessed teachers) in the school system, many of them "quality teachers" who because of their age, salary, and experience cannot find a permanent position.
Before hailing the success of the OMTS Mr Mann should obtain and publish a statistical breakdown that both the union and the DOE has available but refuses to release. The reason for not releasing the information is that both are guilty of discrimination on a massive scale. If they object to my conclusion than produce the statistical breakdown and let us see the truth.