Judge Says City Must Reinstate Teachers at 24 Struggling Schools – SchoolBook

Judge Says City Must Reinstate Teachers at 24 Struggling Schools – SchoolBook:

Judge Says City Must Reinstate Teachers at 24 Struggling Schools

by Beth Fertig

A state judge has declined, for now, to suspend a ruling that allows up to 4,000 city teachers to go back to their jobs at 24 struggling schools.
Judge Joan B. Lobis of the New York State Supreme Court refused the city’s request for a temporary restraining order on the ruling by an arbitrator, Scott Buckhheit. He found that the city had violated the union’s contract by requiring the teachers to reapply for their positions at new schools opening this fall in the same buildings.
The judge scheduled a full hearing on the matter for July 24.
“We are optimistic that the court is going to uphold the arbitrator’s decision, and in the meantime we expect the D.O.E. to follow the court’s order,” said Adam Ross, an attorney with the United Federation of Teachers.
The city did not issue a response following the brief hearing.
Maxwell Leighton, a lawyer for the city, had argued for a temporary restraining order by telling Judge Lobis that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by wading into matters of education policy. He noted that the state’s education commissioner already approved of the city’s plans to improve the schools — which the state labeled