City Moves Ahead to Replace Staff at 24 Failing Schools - SchoolBook As the city prepares to shut down 24 failing schools and reopen them in the fall as newly imagined institutions, close to 3,000 New York City public school teachers received letters Monday informing them that their jobs would soon be terminated and they would be put in a special pool of teachers without full-time posts. The move is part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's plan to revamp the city's poorest-performing schools by renaming them, re-staffing them and re-hauling their academic programming. At many of the schools slotted for revamping, the vast majority of students read well below grade level. The move has been hotly contested by the teachers and principals unions, who have sued to keep the schools open and are now awaiting an arbitrator's ruling, which is expected to come down before the end of the school year. Monday officials with the United Federation of Teachers said the city was acting prematurely. "No final personnel decisions involving these schools can be made until the arbitrator rules on the UFT's contention that these are sham closings," a spokesperson said in an e-mail message. In the letters distributed by principals on Monday, teachers were given detailed information on their new "excess" position, told how to access an online job search Web site run by the Department of Education and thanked for their "service to our students." They were also given contact information for the Teacher Hiring Support Center and told that if they had not secured permanent positions by September, they would be placed in a reserve pool and called upon for as needed. Madge Joxma-Gasowski, who teaches science at the Automotive High School in Williamsburg, which is slated for "turnaround," said the letter had made her feel "disposable" and "unappreciated." Ms. Joxma-Gasowski has already posted her resume on the Education Department site, but has yet to hear back from any schools. "It's very frustrating," she said. It's very uncertain. It's really scary. In addition, 179 administrators and 497 school employees received excess letters. For their part, Education Department officials say they are excited about ushering in a new era for schools which have long needed revamping, giving them opportunities to flourish under - in some cases - new leadership, and with new staffing. Despite high numbers of teachers vying for slots - so far the city says they have received 24,000 applications for 4,000 slots - at least some of the teachers already at the schools will receive their positions back. That's because, according to the city's contract with the United Federation of Teachers, at least 50 percent of the teachers deemed "qualified" who reapply for their jobs must be accepted. School-wide hiring committees - which can consist of principals, parents from the shuttering schools, union representatives, Education Department appointees and school planning committee representatives - are charged with deciding what "qualified" means and conducting interviews with applicants. Marc Sternberg, deputy chancellor for portfolio planning at the Education Department, says that the number of applicants indicate that teachers in the city are excited about helping to re-haul poor-performing schools. The turnarounds may allow the city to qualify for $60 million in federal grant money. But he recognized that for those who are being left out of the changes, it can be tough. "What we know is that this is painful for sitting teachers at the school, but that this is the single most important decision that the principal and the committee can make," he said. For Linda Rosenbury, the principal at Junior High School 22 Jordan L. Mott, a failing middle school in the Bronx that will close and reopen with a new name and revamped staff, the move is a positive one. She will be taking the helm of the new school at her site, Middle School 571 The College Avenue Academy. "We're starting fresh," she said.