Look for the Union Libel?

An e-mail correspondent with children in NYC's public schools alerts the FLUBA to how his tax dollars are at work:

Forty-four assistant principals are so inept that no city school wants to hire them - but they'll all have jobs when classes begin next week, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein bemoaned yesterday.

Klein said he must waste "millions of dollars creating jobs we don't need" - money that could be used to hire 80 teachers - because the assistant principals' jobs are protected by their union contract and state law.

In a letter to city principals, Klein said even though he has to find spots for the assistant principals, he will not "force them upon you."

"I believe that is wrong for you and, more importantly, wrong for our kids," he wrote.

"This means I have no choice but to create new jobs - jobs that I wouldn't otherwise create and jobs that this system doesn't need . . .,"

To which the Principals Union had this response:

"If I were one of these 44 [assistant principals], I would try to sue the chancellor for defamation of character," said Jill Levy, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. "In fact, the union may investigate [a lawsuit] ourselves."