Most teachers at high schools in South Boston, Brighton laid off

I think the issue is that if they wait until the end of June to start rebuilding the school staff, they'll only 6 weeks to get it done and a total reboot needs more time. It's more about getting the ball rolling (I think)

City wide, but East Boston residents are basically guaranteed a seat at East Boston High if they want it and apply in the 1st round.

Not that kind of pool.

My understanding is that they still get paid by BPS but are unassigned until they get a new position within the district or find work elsewhere. A lot of these people will probably end up back at the same school but this move allows the district to more freely rearrange staffing without having to worry about existing obligations in terms of assignments, seniority at the school, etc...

I think.

Is gender being considered in terms of layoffs? Are you kidding? In k-12 education the playing field has been level for a long time.

The 'pool' is named the 'Excess Pool' where laid off teachers- both competent and incompetent- are assigned pending an employment offer/ assignment.

Trouble is many incompetent ones are foisted on unsuspecting/non-connected principals. I know of a half dozen teachers who were 'excessed' in the last 10 years, then hired, only to be excessed again when they rise to the level of their incompetence in the new setting. I think action (termination!) should be taken on teachers that are not wanted by multiple principals.

Also perfectly competent ones caught in layoffs are branded as 'Excess' - a negative connotation.

who had a series of awful teachers in school (like, abusive personalities or gross incompetence that meant their mere presence in the classroom was detrimental to the children there) I fully support making sure all teachers are competent and effective in their job positions.

That said, a huge portion of learning is the student's responsibility, and the student's family's responsibility. If a child is not ready or able to learn, due to internal or external factors, then the teacher can be competent and effective and still not make a dent in the student's learning. Obviously, there are a lot of complicated reasons for these different factors that make a child less ready or able to learn that aren't easily undone, and it is not fair to blame teachers for the failing performance from a child who's struggling because they have issues in their personal life that are beyond the teacher's ability to help.

Why would a teacher agree to teach a population of students who may be facing more challenges, if the schools are going to blame them for the challenges the students face that are well outside their control?

And what a rotten assumption on your part that the teachers are not doing their jobs.

Sorry you had a terrible experience, but I know a few of the teachers from one of the schools and they are dedicated and care deeply about the welfare of their students. Something that sadly cannot be said for some of their parents.

These kids are in bad situations and sometimes school is all they have.

To answer your question: yes, Belmont is more likely to get first pick of the top tier of "good teachers", while Lawrence is more likely to hire whoever's left.

That that Lawrence is bad at making hiring decisions. They are just less likely to attract talent.

Until the issues of poverty are addressed in our city and society at large, urban education will always experience challenges that are not seen in suburban, especially affluent, districts. BPS serves around 4,000 homeless students... 7% of our student population. 70% of BPS students come from economically disadvantaged homes. That means 7 out of 10 children experience some form of food, shelter or job insecurity. Most research shows a family's economics as the single best predictor of academic success. This isn't a simple case of bad teachers, or lazy families, these are real students who struggle without food to fuel their brains and bodies, adequate shelter for protection, heat to stay warm, money to pay for Internet or laptop to complete homework, sometimes adults to help with homework or supervision (b/c they're working 2 jobs; or can't read English). Meanwhile we have teachers who work in schools that are falling apart, lack money to provide laptops for a class of computers, students share textbooks that are 30 years old, run out of paper by the end of the year, sacrifice true teaching time to do test prep, must be the general education/special needs/English as a second language teacher (yes, BPS says you must be alll 3 of those!) and deal with students who have behavioral issues due to trauma (loss, violence, financial hardship) in schools where budgets have been slashed but Central Office still hires and works in a BEAUTIFUL $30 million dollar technologically advanced building most teachers will never see.
Until we recognize the role poverty plays in the barriers to our students trully succeeding, shame on our society. Stop blaming the teachers and work on real solutions.