Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday the New York City Department of Education released its plan to pay salary differentials in hard-to-staff schools.  Essentially staff with specific titles at 60 historically under-served schools in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens will receive an additional $7,200 in salary for the upcoming school year. Titles include bilingual teachers, bilingual special education teachers, bilingual guidance counselors, bilingual social workers, and bilingual school psychologists; and middle and high school science and math teachers.

The $7,200 “hard-to-staff” salary differential is part of the Mayor and Chancellor’s Bronx Plan. The plan is named to reflect the challenges many Bronx schools face, and adds resources to improve teacher retention and recruitment, reduce teacher vacancies and teacher turnover. The differential is available at 50 previously announced Collaborative Schools, and ten Bronx District 75 schools.

The complete announcement including the schools in the plan is below.

Thank you to Maryann Polesinelli for passing this on to me.

Tony

——————————————————————————————————————————

New York City Department of Education	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 9, 2019 N-25, 2018-19

CHANCELLOR CARRANZA ANNOUNCES BRONX PLAN HARD-TO-STAFF SALARY DIFFERENTIALS

 

Initiative will include 10 Bronx District 75 schools in addition to 50 previously announced Collaborative Schools

 

NEW YORK –Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza today announced that staff with specific titles at 60 historically underserved schools in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens will receive an additional $7,200 in salary for the upcoming school year. Titles include bilingual teachers, bilingual special education teachers, bilingual guidance counselors, bilingual social workers, and bilingual school psychologists; and middle and high school science and math teachers.

 

The $7,200 “hard-to-staff” salary differential is part of the Mayor and Chancellor’s Bronx Plan. The plan is named to reflect the challenges many Bronx schools face, and adds resources to improve teacher retention and recruitment, reduce teacher vacancies and teacher turnover. The differential is available at 50 previously announced Collaborative Schools, and ten Bronx District 75 schools.

 

“Never underestimate the power of great teachers and their ability to shape the lives of our students,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “The Bronx Plan is about upending the status quo and building a fairer school system. With these hard-to-staff salary differentials, we’ll be able to recruit and retain excellent teachers to ensure that all students across the city, no matter their zip code, will get the education they deserve. This is equity and excellence in action.”

 

“Great teaching is the foundation of great schools, and this innovative approach will encourage our teachers to take jobs and stay in historically underserved schools,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. “In particular, the Bronx Plan hard-to-staff differentials will help support our multilingual learners and students with disabilities, including in ten Bronx District 75 schools. The Bronx Plan advances equity now, rights historic wrongs, and helps provide an excellent education for all students regardless of their zip code.”

 

“The Bronx plan is designed to help schools find their own answers to the challenges they face, and then provides the resources to help make that happen,” said Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers. “Schools will now have a chance to use hard-to-staff differentials to help them recruit and retain teachers.”

 

The Bronx Plan, launched in October 2018 as part of the UFT contract agreement, will support a total of up to 180 historically underserved schools citywide, with an additional 120 Collaborative Schools and Hard-to-Staff Only schools to join the initiative next year. Through collaborative decision-making, teachers and principals will create specific solutions tailored to the needs of their school communities to increase student achievement.

 

The hard-to-staff differential will apply to educators who are hired or retained this spring to work at Bronx Plan schools in 2019-20. Current staff, new hires and transfers are eligible for the salary differential, which will be paid out over three equal payments with the final payment in 2020-21, to incentivize continued retention.

 

At the 50 Bronx Plan Collaborative Schools, educators in these license areas or who teach more than 50 percent in the following roles or subject areas, will be eligible for the differential and receive an additional $7,200 on top of their base teaching salary:

• Teachers in all bilingual licenses, including bilingual special education and bilingual speech
• English as a Second Language (ESL) Teachers
• General Science Teachers (Middle School)
• Earth Science, Physics, and Chemistry Teachers (High School licenses)
• Mathematics Teachers (Middle and High School)
• Bilingual Guidance Counselor, Bilingual School Psychologist, Bilingual School Social Workers

 

In ten District 75 Schools in the Bronx, Bilingual Special Education Teachers will be eligible. This represents a majority of the District 75 Schools in the Bronx.

 

Bilingual Guidance Counselors, Bilingual School Psychologists, and Bilingual Speech Teachers in district-based positions in the Bronx are also eligible. These staff work for School Districts 7-12 or 75, and support multiple schools.

 

“As a lifelong Bronx resident, the education of our community’s children has always been a top priority,” said New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. “The Bronx Plan will support underserved schools across the city and prioritize one of our greatest challenges – teacher retention.  The retention of great teachers has been proven to have a direct correlation to the academic performance of our students.”

 

“This new Bronx Plan, with $7,200 ‘hard-to-staff’ salary differentials for teachers, will give a greater chance in succeeding in their academic career by providing the necessary resources they need to combat the many difficult challenges that Bronx schools face,” said New York State Senator Luis Sepulveda. “This initiative is the right step to ensuring that our Bronx students are better prepared for their educational, professional, and personal futures.”

 

“I am pleased to see that five schools in Senate District 19, and several nearby, will finally receive much-needed attention this fall under the Bronx Plan,” said New York State Senator Roxanne J. Persaud. “While these positions are considered ‘hard-to-staff,’ our students are suffering without the support they deserve; and I commend their diligent teachers in their efforts to help them achieve success.”

 

“The Bronx Plan is a step in the right direction that focuses on increasing resources and opportunities in undeserved schools in New York City and in particular, the Bronx. I applaud the Administration for recognizing the importance of recruiting and retaining quality teachers while reducing vacancies and turnovers,” said Council Member Vanessa Gibson. “District 9 and other districts, face a high concentration of students in temporary housing and the Bronx Plan will further invest more resources and collaborative measures to ensure our students achieve academic success. By adding $7,200 on top of the base salary to bilingual teachers, guidance counselors, social workers and more, this plan will support and retain the vital educators of our students, especially within District 75 schools.  I am thankful for the six schools within my district who took advantage of being a part of the Bronx Plan and I look forward to working with Chancellor Carranza as these investments are made in our Bronx schools.”

 

“For far too long, public schools in the Bronx, specifically those in the South Bronx, have been at a competitive disadvantage,” said Council Member Rafael Salamanca. “In addition to the unfair stigmatization of our neighborhoods, our schools have historically suffered from underfunding and low teacher retention rates, among other issues. Caught in the middle of decisions made by adults are our children who are purely seeking an opportunity to enrich theirs and their family’s lives. With the creation of the Bronx Plan, however, positive change is occurring. Instituting a ‘hard-to-staff’ salary differential scale is an important step in ensuring high-level teachers and counselors remain in the schools in which they are making a difference in, while making prospective jobs in traditionally underserved schools more attractive to educators. I applaud the de Blasio Administration for taking much needed action, and look forward to working with Chancellor Carranza on behalf of students in the Bronx.”

 

The Bronx Plan is aligned to the Mayor and Chancellor’s Equity and Excellence for All agenda, which is building a pathway to success in college and careers for all students. Our schools are starting earlier – free, full-day, high-quality education for three-year-olds and four-year-olds through 3-K for All and Pre-K for All. They are strengthening foundational skills and instruction earlier – Universal Literacy so that every student is reading on grade level by the end of 2nd grade; and Algebra for All to improve elementary- and middle-school math instruction and ensure that all 8th graders have access to algebra. They are offering students more challenging, hands-on, college and career-aligned coursework – Computer Science for All brings 21st-century computer science instruction to every school, and AP for All will give all high school students access to at least five Advanced Placement courses. Along the way, they are giving students and families additional support through College Access for All, Single Shepherd, and investment in Community Schools. Efforts to create more diverse and inclusive classrooms through Diversity in New York City Public Schools, the City’s school diversity plan, are central to this pathway.

 

Below is a complete list of the schools eligible for the salary differential:

 

BRONX 

Elementary & Middle Schools 

P.S. 277

M.S. 301 Paul L. Dunbar

Soundview Academy for Culture and Scholarship

J.H.S. 022 Jordan L. Mott

P.S. 063 Author’s Academy

New Millennium Business Academy Middle School

The Highbridge Green School

MS 593

MS 594

North Bronx School of Empowerment

Leaders of Tomorrow

Pelham Gardens Middle School

P.S. 214

Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School

Fairmont Neighborhood School

I.S. X318 Math, Science & Technology Through Arts

Bronx Envision Academy

P.S. 536

High Schools 

Mott Haven Village Preparatory High School

Bronx Leadership Academy II High School

The Urban Assembly Bronx Academy of Letters (Grades 6-12)

Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Tech

Bronx River High School

The Hunts Point School

Gotham Bronx Planorative High School

Bronx Arena High School

School for Tourism and Hospitality

Kingsbridge International High School

High School for Teaching and the Professions

Fordham Leadership Academy

Academy for Scholarship and Entrepreneurship: A College Board School

Bronxdale High School

 

BROOKLYN 

Elementary & Middle Schools 

P.S. 150 Christopher

P.S. 165 Ida Posner

The Gregory Jocko Jackson School of Sports, Art, and Technology

P.S. 327 Dr. Rose B. English

Brownsville Bronx Planorative Middle School

Mott Hall Bridges Academy

High Schools 

High School for Civil Rights

World Academy for Total Community Health High School

The School for Classics: An Academy of Thinkers

Frederick Douglass Academy VII High School

Teachers Preparatory High School

 

QUEENS 

Elementary & Middle Schools 

P.S./M.S 042 R. Vernam

P.S. 043

M.S. 053 Brian Piccolo

P.S. 197 The Ocean School

Village Academy

High Schools 

Rockaway Park High School for Environmental Sustainability

Rockaway Collegiate High School

 

BRONX DISTRICT 75 SCHOOLS

J.M. Rapport School Career Development

P.S. X811

P.S. X010

P.S. X017

P.S. 168

P186X Walter J. Damrosch School

P.S. X188

The Vida Bogart School for All Children

P469X – The Bronx School for Continuous Learners

P.S. X721 – Stephen McSweeney School

Contact:  Chancellor’s Press Office (212) 374-5141