Teacher Seniority Still a Four-Letter Word to Administration -- 'LIFO'Last-in, first-out seniority continues to irk Christie and Cerf, administration issues survey on subject
For all its celebration of New Jersey’s new teacher tenure law, the Christie administration hasn’t hidden its lament for the one provision it couldn’t change: seniority protection for tenured teachers in the case of layoffs.
But it hasn’t given up on building its case.
In an unusual request, the state Department of Education last week sent a short survey to every district and charter school asking them about their layoffs of teachers -- technically called “reductions in force” (RIFs) -- over the past five years, and about the impact of seniority protection on their “ability to manage their personnel.”
The survey will “help us determine how prevalent RIFs are, who they are affecting, and how they impact retention of effective educators,” read the memo from Peter Shulman, the state’s assistant education commissioner.
“Data gained from this survey will help us better define State efforts around recruitment and