Mississippi's H-1B Teachers

Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 12:07 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Various prognosticators claim that there is a critical shortage of
teachers in the US. An estimate in this article said that the US will
have a shortage of over 700,000 in the next three years.

Educationists attribute the shortage to the low regard, dismal pay
scales and high turnover in the once admired profession. State and
local governments that are strapped for cash have chosen to solve this
problem by importing cheap labor to teach our kids. Many techies who
are hoping to use teaching as an alternative career will get a rude
surprise when they find out that they are once again competing against
H-1Bs.

Mississippi joins a growing number of states that are using H-1B
teachers to cut costs - and surprisingly the teacher's unions are
allowing this to occur.

Arizona teachers in Scottsdale are being fired while at the same time
an entourage of school administrators went to India to recruit H-1B
teachers. ( http://makeashorterlink.com/?G6E222595 ) When I discovered
what was going on in Arizona I sent several emails to every officer in
the local teachers union. I never received a single reply so I called
and left several phone messages to the president of the union. They
totally ignored me. I assume that's because they are either too stupid
to understand the message, or they have been bought off by the cheap
labor lobby. Teachers may be unionized but they won't be able to rely
on them for help.

A copy of my letter to the Arizona teacher's union is included
following the article below.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=127564

America calling: Techies out, Teachers in
CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2003 10:16:19 PM ]

WASHINGTON: Last week Garima Malhotra was teaching at the PKR Jain
Secondary Public School in Ambala, Haryana. This week, she will begin
instructing at Greenwood High School, Greenwood, Mississippi.

She arrived in the United States on Friday, unpacked over the weekend
in a new apartment the school had rented for her, and went to work on
Monday. No, she did not begin teaching; there was lot of paperwork to
be completed so she sat in the classes of other teachers to absorb the
atmosphere.

"So different, but it looks very nice.I am very nervous," she said in a
telephone interview from the school. "I think it will take little time
to adjust."

Malhotra, 27, is among the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of teachers
being imported from India to meet a critical shortage of instructors in
the US that according to one estimate will touch 700,000 over the next
three years.

While much of America is exercised over the loss of white collar and
technology jobs to India and Indians, there hasn't been a peep about
the teacher shortage in the US and the filling up of positions by
instructors brought in from India.

Educationists attribute it to the low regard, dismal pay scales and
high turnover in the once admired profession. According to the National
Commission on Teaching and America's Future, a third of new teachers
leave the profession within three years - and 50 per cent have left
after five years.

"No one wants to teach these days, least of all in Greenwood,
Mississippi," says Principal George Noflin, who made the journey to
India in June this year by tying up with a recruiting agency after
failing to hire locally.

It was his first visit to India and he found the heat stifling, the
poverty unbearable, the food dodgy, and the driving insane.

"But the quality of teachers.it was unbelievable," he says. He
interviewed 85 in the week he was there and hired three. A fellow
educationist from Kansas on the same trip hired three.

Noflin wants to go back for more.

Exact numbers of teachers coming in from India is not available, but
what began as a trickle now appears to be growing. Scores of local and
county newspapers are now talking about the new teachers from India.

"We desperately need math and science teachers and Indians are good at
it," Noflin says. "I interviewed several with multiple degrees and want
to get them all over."

While Malhotra, who will teach math to disabled children, arrived
Friday, Shriram Mallani (algebra) and Preetika Ranadive (geometry) will
arrive this week. They will be the first Indian teachers in
Mississippi, one of the poorest American states.

Greenwood especially is part of the Mississippi delta, a place Noflin
says people don't want to stay even if they are born here.

Teachers' pay is dismal by American standards - one reason for the
shortage - with a starting salary of around $ 25,000 annually. But
instructors with Garima's education, experience and skill can expect to
make between $ 30,000 to $ 40,000, says Noflin.

It's not great money in New York or California, but enough to get by in
Greenwood, Mississippi.

Garima Malhotra entered US on an H1-B visa, which was till recently
meant for skilled technical workers. Her husband Rajneesh, who was an
executive with Rallis India, came with her on an H-4, a dependant visa.

Because of the continuing downturn in the tech sector and job losses,
fewer tech workers are coming into US on H1-Bs and the US Congress is
considering reducing the H1-B quota from 195,000 to 65,000.

But in the meantime, the word from the US job market seems to be --
techies out, teachers in.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: AdminZaZona [mailto:Admin@ZaZona.com]
> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 1:36 PM
> Subject: Don't ignore the H-1B issue

Penny Kotterman

President, Arizona Education Association

I sent a newsletter to you and the union staff concerning H-1B
teachers. Much to my surprise I didn't get a single response. Could it
be that your union doesn't understand how H-1B will be used to
undermine it?

I have included Steve Tisza, President CWA Local 4250, on this email
because you need to know that some unions understand what is going on.
Spend some time at their website at http://www.cwalocal4250.org/ and
click on their H-1B link.

I am from Arizona and I am very concerned that teachers unions all
across the United States are ignoring this threat to their existence.
Ignoring H-1B will be your downfall.

You may not know that the yearly quota of H-1B visas is capped at
195,000 per year, BUT SCHOOLS ARE EXEMPTED FROM THE LIMIT. H-1Bs cannot
be unionized so let's just say they are the ultimate union busters.

I have a database where you can see for yourself what is going on in
Arizona's schools at www.ZaZona.com/LCA-data

Feel free to call me if you need help to use it.

I would be very interested to know if the AEA is going to fight H-1B or
just let it happen.

Rob Sanchez
www.ZaZona.com

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Rob Sanchez is board member of NAEA - www.NAEA.US

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