Districts Targeting Teacher Seniority In Union Contracts

By Jeff Archer

The qualifications Meira Levinson brought with her to the Boston public schools this school year speak for themselves: an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League college, an Oxford doctorate in political theory, and three years' experience teaching at an Atlanta middle school.

And yet the 8th grade social studies teacher at McCormack Middle School also is something of a sitting duck.

Because Ms. Levinson, 29, is still considered a "provisional" teacher in Boston, a veteran educator in the system could, under terms of the local teachers' contract, transfer into her school and take her position, leaving her to...