Referring to this article:
https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/1019681
TLDR is the JTEs at the BOE were complaining that the direct hire ALTs made more than some licensed Japanese teachers, so the BOE terminated their yearly contracts and went to outsourcing. The official word was to “increase the quality of Education.”
Usually in this kind of case, there are one or more “problem” teachers, and the BOE goes to the outsourcing company for an “exorcism” pre-equipped with a list of ALTs to retain and those who must not be rehired.
Those two guys there probably were there 10+ years and likely were either the problem (making too much and bragging) or failed to police their juniors from slacking and mouthing off to JTEs.
Lesson here is to keep tight as a direct hire and work as a group with your other ALTs, making sure everyone is 100% meeting expectations and providing high quality service that can’t be outsourced. Mostly ALTs lack this kind of service mindset and JTEs easily pick up on it.
by puruntoheart