Lucky to be a tenured teacher (with National Board Certification)

According to the NY Times, teacher hiring appears to be in dismal shape right now across the country. Here in Philadelphia, we are in the midst of a hiring freeze, most likely due to an overhiring of teachers last year and the emergence of "Renaissance Schools" - whereby most of a school's staff needs to be let go. Being protected by a union, these staff are placed at other schools throughout the district; hence, no we don't need any more teachers (but the schools who have let go of their staff do, right?).

It's all statistical shenanigans, if you ask me. At my school, we are about to go from 100 teachers to roughly 60. I can't even imagine how this thing will looks next year.

In these times of uncertainty, it's good to be a tenured teacher with skills and credentials that others don't have. It's easy as a teacher to hide out in your classroom and do your own thing, but if no one ever sees your face, if you don't make your presence known in your school, you're dead weight.

PS. The NY Times article quotes that "most of the 90 graduates" from UPenn's Ed School have not gotten jobs yet. My student teacher, Deep, however, is NOT one of them. She'll be rocking AP English down in DC!