By Lolita Long, Gleaner US Editor 
Clarke
NEW YORK:
IN SPITE of the imbroglio that is swirling around the teachers who were fired last week, Caribbean advocates are hopeful that the matter can be resolved amicably.
Una Clarke, former New York City Councilwoman and now director of the Empire State Development Corporation under Governor George Pataki, is standing by willing to use her clout and contact in helping to have the issue settled.
Clarke, who is familiar with the system, having served both as teacher and legislator, says that new policies are looking at recruiting teachers from Australia, Austria, and other European countries.
A meeting is scheduled for tomorrow between lawyers representing the teachers and the Board of Education.
The Sunday Gleaner understands that immigration lawyer Winston Tucker will head the team on behalf of the teachers. While Clarke is not sitting in on the discussion, she will not be left out. She had strong words for the group Irwine Clare, Snr., Bishop Cecil Riley, Hyacinth Spence, and teacher representatives from Guyana and Jamaica who met with Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott.
"It's foolhardy for activists to try and work (only) with Walcott, and the Board of Education, they have got to understand the changing policies in education it's strategic planning," she said. "Even the cadre of persons who had the Caribbean teachers at heart are no longer there, the department has been dismantled. That's not the way things are done. The politics is not about me, but about the community.
The solution to the problem, as she sees it, "is to go after the Green card status and find out from the INS or State Department if there is special allocation to deal with the visas.
"We have to convince the Mayor and the Chancellor (of schools) of the valuable resources of the teachers. When (Mayor Rudy) Giuliani was Mayor, he had a different style of management than (the current Mayor) Bloomberg, who is more laissez-faire, but everyone must be accountable."
