Catherwood LibraryILR School

Due to a massive influx of qualified teaching applicants to New York City schools, Schools Chancellor Harold Levy has suspended requirements that under performing schools be given the first opportunity to hire certified teachers regardless of where applicants applied. Ironically, Mr. Levy has largely attributed the wave of 4,300 applicants hired this summer---ninety percent of whom are fully certified, and 100 percent of whom will be certified within the coming year---to the victory of the city?s teachers in a hard fought battle for salaries closer to those in nearby suburban school districts. Although careful to point out that New York City teacher salaries still trail behind those in surrounding areas, United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten has reiterated what the union had argued throughout the nineteen months the teachers worked without a contract while fighting for the increases: better pay for teachers leads to better educations for children.