One of the consequences of the economic crisis has been the layoff of hundreds of Department of Education employees. And, according to a judge who ruled in favor of 530 school assistants on Tuesday, the most recent round of layoffs proposed by the city violated the rights of assistants and would be detrimental to the most vulnerable school districts.
"The record indicates that these planned layoffs disproportionately affect the poorest districts, and jeopardize the opportunity of equal education for students in the affected schools," said the judge, Carol Edmead, on October 27 at the Supreme Court in New York.
On October 15th, the judge imposed a temporary halt on the layoffs, which were going to happen on October 16th.
Documents obtained by El Diario/La Prensa show that the districts most affected by the layoffs are neighborhoods with large Latino populations like the Bronx, Washington Heights and El Barrio, with the majority of those who would be fired being Latinos.
The list of those to have been fired contains 587 names. The list reveals that while these neighborhoods face dozens of layoffs, Districts 1 and 2 that cover lower Manhattan neighborhoods (Tribeca, Wall Street, Greenwich, and SOHO) are not facing a single layoff. Other prosperous areas like Staten Island and Park Slope are also not much affected.
DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte said, "We do not focus on the ethnicity of those who are dismissed. Race is not a factor. That has to do with the old days. The rules of the union say that those who have been working for less time are the first ones to be dismissed. We simply don't have the money to pay the employees who do not have permanent positions."
The assistants who are laid off are paid by the hour. They earn around $11.50 an hour, and between $12,000 and $20,000 annually. Their duties consist mainly of monitoring children during lunch and recess, and when they leave and enter school.
The area that is facing the greatest number of layoffs is the Bronx, where 72 employees in the middle schools were selected to be laid off, 35 of them Latino (according to their names). The elementary schools in the Bronx (Districts 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12) are also facing a number of layoffs, with an average of 20 per district, in which nearly all those assistants are Latinos.
José Cenac, a 53-year-old Dominican who works as an assistant at the Bronx school P.S. 24, in Riverdale, explained that his wife and child count on the health insurance his job offers. His annual salary is less than $12,000.
"This is what bothers us," he said. "We understand that the economic situation is difficult throughout the country, but these cuts could be made to other things that are not as necessary, so that employees like us, who generally earn less, don't go to waste."
In Manhattan, layoffs also affect Latinos. In Washington Heights, District 6 is facing 45 layoffs, 32 of them Latino. In El Barrio, District 4, there are 27 layoffs, 18 of them Latino.
Verónica Montgomery-Costa, president of District Council 37 of the Local 372, the union that began the lawsuit against the city, pointed out that at in early October there was another massive round of layoffs: 150 employees, the majority of them Latino and African American.
A lawyer for the city made this comment about the ruling: "We thought that the court made a mistake by making this decision and hope that the judge will ultimately rule on the case as we requested."
