homework - NYC to layoff 6700 teachers!

Click HERE to watch the video. Read the story. Answer the questions.

Manhattan, NY (5/6/2010) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg is set to announce plans to layoff 6,700 teachers when he talks to the press about the city budget later today.

The city has not seen cuts like this since the 1970s.

Under union rules, teachers are laid off according to seniority which means the newest hires will go first.

Some people think the seniority rules are good and some people think the seniority rules are bad.

People, like the teacher's union, who think the rules are good say that seniority rules are necessary to protect the older teachers from getting fired just because they make more money than newer teachers. For example, if you have been teaching for 20 years then your salary is about what 2 brand teachers would make. So the principal could fire the old teacher and keep 2 new teachers. This is not fair to the old teachers.

People, like the Mayor, who think the seniority law is bad say that there are some really good new teachers who should not get fired just because they are new in these hard times when the city is broke. They say that some of the young teachers are doing a great job and should be kept in the classroom. They say that if a school has a good young teacher who is doing a good job and a old teacher who is doing a bad job, then the principal should get to keep the person who is doing a good job.

The proposal could mean that class sizes will rise and programs like art education will be cut.

Meanwhile, NY1 has also learned that the New York City Police Department will largely be spared the budget cuts. The mayor's budget in January had called for 892 officer cutbacks in the police department but since the bombing attempt in Times Square and a rise in crime, the city has decided to keep the police around.

Questions:
1) Where did this story take place?
2) When did this story take place?
3) What do the seniority rules say?
4) Why does the Teacher's Union think the seniority rules are good?
5) Why does the Mayor think the seniority rules are bad?
6) What do you think? Are the seniority rules good or bad? Why?
7) How many teachers will get laid off?

Info and video from NY1