Schools Chancellor Harold Levy is abolishing a rule that requires all new teachers to be interviewed at board headquarters in Brooklyn before getting hired.
Levy said the interview – conducted by administrators – is an added bureaucratic step that is unnecessary and time-consuming and could discourage teachers from joining the school system.
Levy said that such interviews should be done by superintendents and principals who work in districts and schools where the teachers will actually be assigned.
The chancellor is waging a campaign to help educators by eliminating red tape.
He outlined his hiring proposal to superintendents, who applauded the move.
“I see some light at the end of the tunnel regarding this bureaucratic nonsense,” said Donald Weber, superintendent of District 21, which includes schools in Brighton Beach, Coney Island and Bensonhurst in Brooklyn.
“The processing and hiring should be done at the district level or the individual schools.”
District 6 Superintendent Brian Mauro noted that teachers already undergo interviews by principals and the superintendent’s office, and there’s no reason for a third interview at central headquarters to obtain a license.
Mauro, whose district covers Inwood and Washington Heights, noted that many recruits come from Westchester and other counties north of the city, and going to Brooklyn for an extra interview is just an added nuisance.
“Occasionally, we lose somebody,” he said.
The hiring interview at the board’s offices is currently conducted by the Office of Recruitment, Personnel Assessment and Licensing.
The teachers union has long called for scrapping centrally administered interviews.
“It’s just more red tape. We’re happy to see it go,” said United Federation of Teachers spokesman Ron Davis.