Unsure assurance

February 9, 2008  --  Got something to say?
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Its good to know that Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) officials have assured Filipino teachers whose contracts have expired that they will be rehired to teach in other schools in the city. Its also reassuring that Philippine embassy officials have finally woke up to the need to closely monitor the status of teachers in that city.
However, the embassy should also look into the cases of the Filipino teachers in the Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) which is independent of the BCPSS. The BCPS has publicly announced that it would not renew the contracts of about 10 or 12 teachers because it is too expensive.

BCPS spokeswoman Kara Caulder had officially said the teachers were aware when they were hired that their visas would expire in three years. We have met our obligations, Caulder said, adding the teachers would probably have to return to the Philippines. She added the county now has a surplus of teachers in math and science.

Unless the teachers in the county schools find other school districts willing to hire them, they will become TNTs, undocumented aliens subject to deportation.

Therefore the embassy should look into their cases, too.

Robert Gaskin, the countys recruitment officer, says teachers can teach in the county for six years with temporary citizenship. After that period, teachers must seek citizenship or return to the Philippines, Gaskin said. Therefore it is imperative that the teachers visas be renewed in order to make them eligible to become US citizens.

The Teachers Association of Baltimore County (TABC) is sympathetic to the cause of the Filipino teachers. Cheryl Bost, president of TABC, said that for the past several years, the teachers union has attempted to work out the issue with BCPS but to no avail. She said each time shed address the county Board of Education, officials said it would be too costly to assist the teachers transition to the next level of the visa process.

A system must be devised so that the teachers, many of them with doctorate or masters degrees when they left the Philippines, wont have to suffer the indignity of pleading for an extension of the contract or becoming an illegal alien.

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Posted by News Team | Filed Under Editorial 

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