Staffing the Boston Public Schools
Staffing the Boston Public Schools
Factors Shaping the Boston Public School’s Staffing Practices There were several factors that contributed to the staffing practices of the Boston Public School system. The first of these factors was the seniority based transfer rules that allowed veteran teachers who wanted to transfer between schools first bid on posted vacancies. This practice was later amended in the mid- 1980s so that three permanent teachers were able to apply to any open position. The principle was then able to select from the three senior applicants thereby allowing the principal to have more control in staffing. Senior teachers were also allowed to place a “blind bid” on a school even if there was no immediate openings. This practice was eliminated during the 1997 to 2000 teacher’s contract. These seniority based transfers also allowed veteran teachers the ability to “bump” provisional teachers from open positions. Provisional teachers were new teachers who only had annual appointments and did not become permanent teachers until after their third year of satisfactory service. The practice of “bumping” provisional teachers was later amended in 2000 contract agreement. The second factor was that delays in approving state or local budgets which meant that the schools were not able to finalize staffing allocations and offer contracts and positions to teachers until late July or early August when most qualified applicants had already accepted positions elsewhere. For instance in 2003 when the city experienced reductions in proposed state aid BPS officials had to recalculate staffing allocations while also cutting 10% from each school’s overall budget which ultimately led to BPS loosing 400 teaching positions. The third factor was the human resource system in the BPS was old, bureaucratic and dysfunctional. The human resource department in essence was unable to efficiently manage the hiring and transfer process in an efficient
Factors Shaping the Boston Public School’s Staffing Practices There were several factors that contributed to the staffing practices of the Boston Public School system. The first of these factors was the seniority based transfer rules that allowed veteran teachers who wanted to transfer between schools first bid on posted vacancies. This practice was later amended in the mid- 1980s so that three permanent teachers were able to apply to any open position. The principle was then able to select from the three senior applicants thereby allowing the principal to have more control in staffing. Senior teachers were also allowed to place a “blind bid” on a school even if there was no immediate openings. This practice was eliminated during the 1997 to 2000 teacher’s contract. These seniority based transfers also allowed veteran teachers the ability to “bump” provisional teachers from open positions. Provisional teachers were new teachers who only had annual appointments and did not become permanent teachers until after their third year of satisfactory service. The practice of “bumping” provisional teachers was later amended in 2000 contract agreement. The second factor was that delays in approving state or local budgets which meant that the schools were not able to finalize staffing allocations and offer contracts and positions to teachers until late July or early August when most qualified applicants had already accepted positions elsewhere. For instance in 2003 when the city experienced reductions in proposed state aid BPS officials had to recalculate staffing allocations while also cutting 10% from each school’s overall budget which ultimately led to BPS loosing 400 teaching positions. The third factor was the human resource system in the BPS was old, bureaucratic and dysfunctional. The human resource department in essence was unable to efficiently manage the hiring and transfer process in an efficient