Teachers take flight from JFK

Teachers at John F. Kennedy High School are leaving in droves. 

Three months into the new school year, 17 teachers have left JFK, a large high school in Kingsbridge that the DOE last week proposed for phase out. The school currently employs 66 teachers, compared to 82 who worked there during the 2009-2010 school year. 

Catina Rollins, the school’s parent teacher association secretary, said she received a recorded voice message from the school on Monday, saying that said many staffers would be leaving JFK in September 2011. She was surprised to learn that some teachers are already gone. 

Of the more than one-dozen teachers who have left JFK this school year, one retired and the rest took off to work elsewhere. Last year, 10 teachers took their leave but only half transferred to another school, according to Department of Education spokeswoman Barbara Morgan. 

The school is not attracting new talent as readily as it has in the past either. Five of this year’s teachers are new to the school, down from 16 last year.

“We’re only in December,” Ms. Rollins said. “That means [the teachers] knew ahead of time what was going on before it actually got out to the parents.”

“You can’t say the school is still going to give the students the quality care that they need if teachers are leaving,” she added.

Some students interviewed after dismissal on Monday said they had noticed a marked change in staffing. 

Eleventh grader Adeba Jaber said four of her teachers had left so far this year.

“They’re all quitting,” she said. “We had a lot of subs.” 

Sophomores Darrin Harrow and Raymond Anthony said the problem wasn’t as bad in their grade. 

“None of our teachers have left yet,” Darrrin said.

But concerns about teachers leaving, going on interviews during work hours and losing interest in their current jobs were apparent at a parent meeting held on Dec. 8 to discuss the DOE’s proposal to phase the school out by June 2014.

“I heard that there is no such thing as discipline anymore,” one parent said, worried that disinterested teachers will make for more troubles inside the school.

Janice Lamarche, a Title 1 representative for the school who is also on the PTA board, said many staffers were coming to work more dressed up than usual because they had scheduled job interviews after school. 

The DOE did not respond to repeated requests for comment by deadline.

The proposal to close JFK, announced Dec. 6, is not final until a Panel for Educational Police vote in February. If it is approved, Kennedy will not accept incoming students starting next year and will be replaced by two new schools as it shrinks.

There will be a joint public hearing to discuss the possible closure in January. The DOE is taking feedback, questions and concerns regarding the proposal. They can be submitted at 212-374-3466 or hs.proposals@schools.nyc.gov.