'I didn't sign up to be exploited': NYC Teaching Fellows await payment for summer training

Omena El signed up for the New York City Teaching Fellows program in search of a more stable career. El previously cobbled together work as a substitute teacher, nutritionist, and massage therapist, although making ends meet was a struggle. She was thrilled when she was accepted to the city's Teaching Fellows program, which quickly trains career-changers and recent college graduates to fill hard-to-staff positions in the city's public schools. She looked forward to building a career in the public school system that educated her.

- By ALEX ZIMMERMAN

However, as the seven-week training program winds down this week, El and many other teaching fellows have yet to receive promised stipends of up to $4,500 to cover summer living costs, according to interviews with five fellows and a site supervisor.

"I'm not able to pay that bus fare" to get to the program, El said. "I've been eating the same frozen dinners for lunch every day." She added that "I love this work, but I didn't sign up to be exploited, and I didn't sign up to work for free."

Teaching fellows across the city said they have struggled to pay their bills even as they worked long hours, learning how to manage classrooms, devising lessons, and honing their craft with summer school students. The Education Department has sent vague messages in response to fellows' concerns about the payment delays. A spokesperson told Chalkbeat in a statement that fellows will receive their stipends within the next two weeks.

The payment issues come as the Education Department is trying to ramp up hiring to comply with a state class size mandate that will require recruiting thousands more teachers than usual every year. The Education Department hopes the Teaching Fellows will be one pillar of that strategy. There are nearly 1,000 fellows this year, roughly double the number last year, officials said.