Submitted by M.D., Sep 30, 2008 08:34

I am a black teacher that entered NYC public schools in 2003 via the NYC Teaching Fellows. I must say that within my cohort and my assigned college, there were definitely less than 20 black teachers that were selected for the Harlem area, an area primarily black and Latino. In my group of friends that I acquired in the process, I am the only black teacher still teaching and I'm in the process of moving on as well. I do think it's important that black and Latino communities have schools in which the teachers are mostly representative of that neighborhood just to show the kids successful images of themselves. NYC Dept. of Ed. must try harder to get more black and Latino teachers and work on retaining them as well.

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