Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has urged principals to stop the practice called “passing the lemon” – giving incompetent teachers satisfactory ratings if they agree to transfer to another school.
“We need to stay committed to the quality of the teaching staff at all our schools and avoid trying to foist our problems on our colleagues,” Klein said in a memo to supervisors.
The Klein warning comes as principals prepare to rate their teachers “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory” for the school year ending next month.
Klein said principals should rate teachers honestly, and not use the difficulty of getting rid of bad ones as an excuse for passing them so they’ll move.
A tenured teacher can’t be fired until he or she receives unsatisfactory ratings in consecutive years.
Last year, less than one percent of the city’s 80,000 teachers received unsatisfacory ratings, even though a majority of students flunked standardized math and reading exams.