Monday, June 16, 2014

Why Teacher Tenure Is Necessary.


















The California court decision that struck down that State's teacher tenure law is already having the education reformer groups salivating in anticipation of similar lawsuits throughout the nation, including New York. According to the California judge, teacher tenure is a civil rights issues that causes school districts to dump poorly preforming teachers to instruct poor and minority students.  While I find his reasoning faulty and without merit, it does open the door for similar attacks on teacher tenure elsewhere.  It's no secret that nationwide, teacher morale is an an all time low and teacher disrespect, especially by the media, is on the rise.

Interestingly, the main issue for the judge was the extreme difficulty in terminating teachers for misconduct and incompetence and that teacher "due process rights" made it nearly impossible to fire teachers in California  Furthermore, he mentioned how California's teachers received tenure in eighteen months and few principals rejected teacher tenure due to the short time limit and fears of high teacher turnover if they did which can destabilize a school.. While I believe that the judge's decision will be reversed on appeal, let's look at t5he New York City's tenure and termination process and how it's applied to City teachers.

First, tenure is given after three years of satisfactory service and in many cases tenure can be extended for another year or two before the teacher finally achieves tenure. The latest statistics show that only 53% of teachers who were eligible for tenure received tenure while 3% were discontinued.  The rest had their tenure decision extended another year. In fact, in some cases principals wanted to give tenure only to be told by the Superintendent that the tenure request was rescinded!  Unlike California,in New York City tenure decisions take longer and is more difficult to achieve.

Second  in New York City, teachers brought up on 3020-a charges for incompetence or misconduct are much more likely to be terminated by independent arbitrators.  The latest statistics show that in 2013, 38% of the teachers who went through their 3020-a hearings were terminated and only 4% were found innocent.  The rest had fines or suspensions.  In other words, of the 133 teachers who went through their 3020-a hearings 50 were terminated and only 6 were find innocent of all charges against them. In all cases the teacher had a relatively fair hearing and their "due process rights" were protected, even if the results may not always be to one's liking.

Remember, teacher "due process rights" were necessary because school districts would practice favoritism, nepotism, ageism, racism, and use "arbitrary and capricious" actions to fire teachers, especially ones who were higher salaried and outspoken.  To go back to the "bad old days" is not only unacceptable but would hurt the students who would no longer have the benefit of highly experienced teachers with excellent classroom management skills who advocates for them and that help the students reach their academic potential.  Look at the new contract.  The DOE still believes they have the right to fire ATRs who won their 3020-a termination hearings by having the option not to offer these "untouchables" an opportunity for an interview when vacancies are available.  Giving the school districts the ability to "hire and fire" at will, will destabilize schools and hurt the very children they claim to serve.  Teacher tenure and "due process rights" are an integral part of a stable school environment and for the students to reach their academic potential.

17 comments:

Philip Nobile said...

And don't forget that allegedly incompetent teachers must now prove otherwise in future termination hearings reversing the DOE's burden of proof--except for up to 13% of the accused deemed harassed by Mulgrew's sellout regime. Not since the Magna Carta have defendants be so screwed.

Anonymous said...

To Phil,
How does one prove the negative? It is contrary to federal, state and city law. Indeed it goes against the modern democratic principles of every modern society. Is Mulgrew a reincarnation of Queen Victoria? When accused then there was a presumption of guilt and the accused had to prove otherwise. Of course, very few did. Lots of British subjects, (mostly the non-British),ended up dead. Farewell ATRs.

Anonymous said...

Very, very few will be placed. Remember only 400 out of what will be 2-3000 have been deemed capable of teaching as per "Its a beautiful day".

UrbanEd said...

Great article. One thing: The time frame is not 18 months. The time frame is 2 years. The judge claimed that it was 18 months because a district deadline of March 15. His claim is erroneous. As is his decision.
Further, up to a few months ago, the two year time frame only applied to larger districts in California. The law was just recently amended after the lawsuit began.
I know our questions naturally turn to' could it happened here?' The better question to ask is 'should have happened there?' The answer is clearly no. I am sorry to see so little of that answer in the NY blogosphere.

Anonymous said...

NOW CHAZ THIS IS WORTHY OF A RE-POST BECAUSE IT REALLY DEMONSTRATES THE NYC SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT SCENE:
High school is AWESOME. All retards, putrid administrators, disgusting environments, Plato blended learning (my personal favorite), nepotism beyond belief, no $$ in the budget (except for food), zero consequences for the students, kids placed in classes in first week of June so they can graduate (no problem, I will do you the favor, wink wink), fake meetings, moron AUSSIE teams walking around, superintendents who wouldn't be hired as a substitute 15 years ago, network leaders who failed at their schools as principals, freshly opened schools with below 25% pass rates on regents exams, office staffs that speak spanish in front of you, school aides that wear shorts below their ass (and backwards caps), special ed combo classes with no team teacher, iep's that have signatures from teachers who don't even know them, fake phone iep conferences that never take place, libraries with no librarians, school safety agents that date the students, an evaluation system that is meaningless (data scored by useless measures), MOSL measures for students you don't know, ATR's who make 100,000+ for babysitting (many of whom are being tortured), per session for friends, chapter leaders who are 23 years old, student aides doing secretarial work, community coordinators basically running schools (don't really know how this title is still around), schools with no payroll secretaries, teachers who teach 7 classes and get paid for 5, deans who teach no classes, I can go on for days but I'm getting tired typing. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE IT!!!! I'm passing the whole fukkin roster. I don't give a shit!!!!! The more chaotic, the better. I will gladly take my check and punch another notch on the belt as this shit year ends. I see ALL OF THE ABOVE and I laugh my ass off. This is a FAKE SYSTEM of degenerates with FAKE rubrics, FAKE observations, FAKE scores, FAKE everything. I am so happy it's scary. Only in a sick system like this can you actually sit back and observe the strangest things that make no sense at all. Well, 2 more weeks and like Jeffrey Canada said many, many years ago, "Teachers get paid all summer while they're off whether their whole class passes or fails". That's right you piece of shit!!!!! FUCK EVERYONE!!!!!

Bronx ATR said...

To 12:55,
What you've written is sad, disgusting and true.

Anonymous said...


Hey Anonymous 12:55 PM:

You again?

Go back to your Memorial Day BBQ, you bag. I know, you're "too good to be excessed, too smart"

Anonymous said...

Regarding TIER SIX - someone please tell me how the city expects people to remain as classroom teachers for 40 YEARS??? Tier 6 will reduce your pension if you retire before age 63 - REGARDLESS of years of service.

The average new college grad begins his teaching career anywhere between 21-23. These poor new batch of teachers are so screwed. 40 years of classroom teaching!!! Sounds close to impossible if you ask me.

Anonymous said...

The 12:55 post should be reposted throughout every blog multiple times because it's actually true. I was shaking my head when I read it because it's really going on. Very sad.

Philip Nobile said...

Mr. 12:55,
I belong to the disgusting but oh so true school of Bronx ATR. But I was disappointed by your confession of grade inflation: "I'm passing the whole fukkin roster. I don't give a shit!!!!!" You sound a lot like Norm Scott who admitted on his blog that Regents cheating was okay with him. Isn't it a social crime to pass failing students and help doom them to a life of underachievement? Any chance of checking with your conscience and submitting only honest grades this week? What do you say?

Anonymous said...

Chaz, plenty of schools I'm going to seem to have a mysterious "dress code" for teachers. These young kids look at me and ask how I'm allowed to wear jeans and a polo shirt. By the way, my jeans are very nice and my polos are tucked in nicely as well. I am far from a slob, just prefer jeans and a polo to be comfortable. These young teachers are coming in with dress clothes, shoes, ties, dresses, etc. They tell me it's the principals rules. I tell them there's no dress code. That's where the conversation ends. I believe the UFT is doing a terrible job getting out to "new" schools and informing it's members of their rights. I mean it's only dress code but it's still a violation by the principals.

Anonymous said...

lol Maspeth all in shirts and ties and all under 22 - they called in subs even when I was there as an ATR! I just laughed and slept in the teacher's room - at least I make double what they make and I have lasted twice as long!
and 12:55 is so right! great post

Anonymous said...

Hey Phillip, 12:55 here. Hope you're doing well. I had to confess to the reality (passing the whole fukkin class etc) because it's true, I did pass over 95% of my students. I wasn't pressured, but when my AP mentioned 2 weeks ago that there would be several names added to my class for the final few days of instruction, I knew what was expected of me, as they were all seniors. I did my school a "favor". Was it wrong? Yes, but I believe I'm owed a favor myself. And of course Phillip, this is what is comes down to now, taking care of one self. Did you actually want me to consider my concious? I honestly don't know if you were serious or just messing with me. I'm going to say you were messing around, no way that was a serious comment. Like anything matters? ALL FAKE!!!! Oh sorry, hi Anon 5:14 yesterday, glad to see you recognize me. Say hi to your X-wife for me. You really need to get a life. Anyway Phil, students at my school are getting credit for classes by cleaning rooms this week. You clean a room, you get a ________ credit. Have your sister I or friend do some lowsy project for you, bring it in next day for a 65. No problem. Where's my concious? Seriously Phil, you must be joking. This system is a FARSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's like saying the ATR's haveca chance if getting hired at $100,000 per year over an Ivy League 23 year old at Tier 6 bottom salary, no tenure. Who's getting hired Phil? Let me guess, the ATR right? How's my concious? It's perfectly fine at 6 figures in a fantastic school, where I can't becexcessed and it's not in danger of closing. Just bought my AP a nice ________ as an end of year gift. She loved it. Thanks Phil. Enjoy the summer. Hey, you get paid either way right? Pass/Fail huh? C'mon man, help the kids get their free ride to college.

Anonymous said...

I teach in a community college and I have to figure out what to do with all the kids you gave a free ride.

Anonymous said...

A neighbor of mine asked if I thought the NYC schools would be ok for her daughter to attend as she becomes of school age. My response as a NYC educator was "are you crazy" But, it thinking about my answer its not that the NYC schools are garbage because of the TEACHERS or counselors or other educators, no not at all there are great educators in NYC schools. The real reason NYC schools suck is because of the crappy students that attend the schools. I finally figured it out upon being asked this question. Yes the schools in NYC suck because the schools receive nothing but dirty, nasty run a muck kids who come from parents (or should I say parent) who could give a flying fck about education or this country for that matter. NYC schools are filthy with filthy kids from third world country's who bring their third world hygiene and brains with them and that is why NYC public schools suck. Stick that in your hat you filthy idiot jealous miserable reformys

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous 12:55

With all due respect, it's time to retire, before you make the front page of the NY Post. You have lost both professional and moral direction.

You need help.

Bronx ATR said...

Last day! Everyone ,but the thug brats and e4e, enjoy your summer. I was so happy I felt like urinating in the hallway, which would be appropriate for spending most of year without a restroom key!