How Teach For America recruits get preference for teaching jobs
This story takes place in Bridgeport, Conn., but the same thing is happening around the country. It’s about how Teach For America corps members are given preference over well-trained teachers in Bridgeport, Conn., where Paul Vallas remains superintendent pending a state Supreme Court decision on a lower court’s order that he leave his position because he doesn’t have the state-mandated requirements for the job. This was written by Jonathan Pelto, a former member of the Connecticut House of Representatives who now provides commentary on politics and public policy at his blog,Wait What?”, where this first appeared.By Jonathan Pelto
Paul Vallas, Bridgeport’s reform-driven superintendent of schools, revealed this week that he had hired 31 new Teach For America recruits to staff the district’s schools this year. Few, if any, of the recruits come from Connecticut and none went to a Connecticut college or university to become a teacher.
The TFA recruits come courtesy of a March 2013 deal between Vallas and Nate Snow, executive director for the Connecticut Chapter of Teach For America. Snow is also president of the board of directors of Excel Bridgeport, Inc. the corporate-funded
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