Letter: Schools don't consider maturity
Dania Hall, with her lawyer, Kevin Grennan at Kevin's office in Garden City, Oct. 1, 2014. Dania, who got her first teaching job in 2002 at age 56 in North Bellmore, has established a legal basis for her age discrimination lawsuit against the North Bellmore School, which denied her tenure two years later. Credit: Johnny Milano
Kudos to Judge Pamela Chen for allowing the age bias lawsuit filed by Dania Hall against the North Bellmore school district to move forward ["Judge allows age-bias suit," News, Oct. 2].
In my experience, school districts across Long Island advertise teaching positions, but rarely hire or interview teachers older than 40 for tenure track positions. The "over 40s" are instead relegated to the non-tenure track positions.
When districts cut budgets, the nontenured teachers are the first to be laid off. The ironic part of this age discrimination is that in many cases, the older job candidates are women who have changed careers after raising families, and they may possess unique perspectives both from their former careers and from child rearing. These candidates, with backgrounds rich from experiences that enhance their teaching qualifications, are summarily rejected.
Industry experts agree that the most creative workplaces are ones that contain a mix of workers that span the ages. Workforces composed only of older or younger people lack perspective. School districts could invigorate their teaching staffs by considering older candidates.
Annie Mendelson, Great Neck
Editor's note: The writer is a Long Island high school teacher.
