Judge rules Dept. of Education can release names, job rankings of public school teachers « pechenka

A Manhattan judge ruled Monday that the Department of Education can release the names and job rankings of more than 12,000 public school teachers.

The decision by Justice Cynthia Kern is a blow to the United Federation of Teachers, which tried to block the DOE from making the internal ratings system public.

The union has argued the data is flawed - and releasing wrong information to the public could destroy careers.

In a 10-page decision, Kern noted that the union's concerns over privacy are outweighed by public interest in how teachers perform - and pointed out that the courts have repeatedly held that the release of job-related information is not an invasion of privacy.

"This information is of interest to parents, students, taxpayers and the public generally," Kern wrote. "Although the teachers have an interest in these possibly flawed statistics remaining private, it was not arbitrary and capricious for the DOE to find that the privacy interest at issue is outweighed by the public's interest in disclosure."

The judge did not order the DOE to release the information; instead, she ruled the city has the right to make it public.

The UFT filed suit in October after the city said it planned to release the controversial data in response to Freedom of Information Law requests from several news organizations, including the Daily News.

A spokesman for the union had no immediate comment, saying officials were reviewing the decision.

10/01/11 · 0 comentarios · Autor: pechenka · Más sobre: judge , rules , dept , of , education , can , release , names , job , rankings , public , school , teachers

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