When New Haven joined a rush of teacher-poachers into Puerto Rico, was it promoting a win-win solution to islanders’ woes? Or taking advantage of their situation?
News pundits batted that question around on the latest edition of WNHH radio’s “Pundit Friday” program.
They addressed the decision by budget-strapped New Haven schools to send three recruiters to Puerto Rico to seek needed bilingual teachers — with the hopes that they will no longer have to pay a premium to fill the hard-to-find position. (Click here to read an article about that.) Puerto Rico, which has declared bankruptcy, has closed 184 schools and its pension fund is in dire trouble. So cities across the country have been sending recruiters for bilingual teachers; 200 Puerto Rican-based teachers ended up paying the $50 fee to apply for the New Haven openings.
In the past, bilingual teachers have been able to command above-average salaries because of the shortage of qualified applicants. But now cities should be able to lure them at standard pay.
Given that these are union jobs, is that still a win-win for both New Haven (given its budget challenges) and the Puerto Rican-based teachers (given their declining job prospects)?
Not so simple, argued WNHH Station Manager Harry Droz, La Voz Hispana Publisher Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, Inner-City News and WNHH daily program host Babz Rawls-Ivy, and Independent reporter Markeshia Ricks.
“Puerto Rico’s been exploited forever,” argued Droz. “Puerto Rico’s story is the Native American story” of murder and exploitation. This is the latest chapter, he and Rodriguez-Reyes argued.
Mainland recruiters are “exploiting the fact that they’re closing schools,” Ricks continued. She and Rawls-Ivy said that a better solution would be to help Puerto Rico tackle its financial woes so that teachers have the choice between a good job where they’re currently living and pursuing new opportunities elsewhere.
Click on or download the above audio to hear the full episode of WNHH radio’s “Pundit Friday,” which also tackled public-comment chaos at the Board of Education as well as the games that black girls play.