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Thursday, October 21, 2010

City and union agree to postpone teacher rating release | GothamSchools

City and union agree to postpone teacher rating release | GothamSchools

City and union agree to postpone teacher rating release

City and union lawyers agreed in court today to postpone releasing individual teacher’s effectiveness scores until legal hearings are held next month.

In a meeting held with Judge Cynthia S. Kern in New York City Civil Court this afternoon, city and union lawyers agreed to schedule a hearing on November 24 on whether the city should release the ratings with teachers’ names included. The teachers union sued the city to stop the release of the performance scores, arguing that releasing teachers’ names would violate their privacy and that the ratings are not yet complete and thus exempt from freedom of information laws.

In the meantime, the city has agreed not to release teachers’ names, but may give reporters more limited information, including possibly the data with the names redacted.

“Names you will not see until the 24th, that I can promise you,” said Charles Moerdler, a lawyer for the United