NEW YORK, July 10 (UPI) -- New York has fired 825 city school system teachers for failing to obtain certification.
Keith Kalb, a spokesman for the Board of Education, said that the teachers knew that they had two years to get permanent licenses.
"We notified them approximately seven times since January about the need to fulfill their requirements," Kalb said. "Despite our efforts to consult and contact them, these people did not get their certification."
Many of those dismissed were teaching subjects like science or math where the city and other school systems have a hard time finding certified teachers.
Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said that turnover is a major problem in the system with half of all new teachers leaving within two years.
