After months of limbo, NYC early childhood education staffers to remain in their current jobs

Hundreds of NYC early childhood education staffers who had been in limbo after being told they could lose their current positions were given a reprieve for this school year, the Daily News has learned.

Instructional coordinators and social workers were notified this fall they will need to reapply for their jobs or others within the school system, while they remain on city payroll.

But after months of outrage and confusion about how exactly the transition may work, the United Federation of Teachers told members last Thursday that the city will not reorganize the early childhood division this year.

“We get to stay with our programs at least for the school year,” said an instructional coordinator from Brooklyn North. “It’s a giant relief.”

The email from UFT chapter leaders Naomi Rodriguez and Raul Garcia, obtained by the Daily News, added: “Furthermore, the DOE has agreed to visit you as you work — in schools — to learn about the value of that work before it makes any changes in the future.”

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Nearly 400 staffers received notice just before school reopened that they were part of a broader exodus of positions from central and borough offices to district offices, with the stated goal of bringing supports closer to schools.

As officials have put it, the idea was to rehire a smaller group of early childhood staffers to train program heads to work with their own classroom teachers.

But the instructional coordinators and social workers who say they were already providing direct supports to early childhood programs were thrown into a frenzy. Reports emerged of a lack of leadership and staffers sitting in offices, told not to contact preschool sites. Others left their roles for other education department gigs or outside jobs and have not been reinstated.

“We’re all playing a very terrible game of Clue,” said the Brooklyn instructional coordinator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity fearing workplace retaliation, referencing the murder mystery board game.

“They do not lead us. They do not provide us with any of the basic supports that we’ve doubled down on and scrambled to create to support programs,” she added.

While the education department maintained no one had lost their jobs and all workers were supposed to continue in their roles until further notice, the City Council took note of constituents’ accounts to the contrary — holding oversight hearings and writing letters to the agency for clarification.

By November, the teachers union held an unprecedented vote of no confidence against Kara Ahmed, who oversaw the division throughout the restructuring. The UFT had held votes of no confidence on individual principals, but usually not higher positions, a spokesperson confirmed at the time.

The email from the UFT came two days after the schools’ winter break, though the staffers said they still haven’t heard from city schools leadership.

“They were very clear to mention twice that for this year, there will be no reorganization — what does that mean for next year?” said an instructional coordinator in Manhattan. “Is this smoke and mirrors? Are they biding time?”

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