VISA-RELATED problems may have forced the New York City Board of Education to suspend international recruitment of teachers, halting the exodus of several hundred teachers annually from around the world to New York classrooms.
"We are no longer doing international recruitment," said an official from the New York Board of Education who did not give her name when contacted by The Gleaner yesterday.
But Irwine Clare, managing director of Carib-bean Immigrant Services in New York, said his offices had heard the story earlier this year but maintains that the visa issue is not the reason for the slowing down of teacher recruitment.
"We shouldn't confuse visa-related issues with what is happening now. What is happening now is because of budgetary constraints," said Mr. Clare. "Right now the board is facing a major wage dispute with the teachers union here. What you are seeing is politics, it has nothing to do with visa-related issues."
Mr. Clare pointed out that the U.S. will always be recruiting teachers from overseas because they are still facing a serious shortage.
