Low bar for lifetime job in L.A. schools

[tonysam]

Comment: More lies from the stridently anti-teacher L.A. Times misinforming the public about what "tenure" really is. It isn't a lifetime job. TRUST me on that one. This article is just a cheerleading excuse for the corrupt superintendent at LA Unified to sack older, senior teachers as well as those without tenure.

Snip:

Altair Maine said he was so little supervised in his first few years of teaching at North Hollywood High School that he could "easily have shown a movie in class every day and earned tenure nonetheless."

Before second-grade teacher Kimberly Patterson received tenure and the ironclad job protections it provides, she said, "my principal never set foot in my classroom while I was teaching."

And when Virgil Middle School teacher Roberto Gonzalez came up for tenure, he discovered there was no evaluation for him on file. When he inquired about it, his school hastily faxed one to district headquarters.

"I'm pretty sure it was just made up on the spot," Gonzalez said.

There is nothing to suggest these teachers didn't deserve tenure, but the district did little to ensure they were worthy.


More if you can stand to read it


Comment: Teachers are sacked for all kinds of reasons, and once they are sacked, they can NEVER, EVER again work in public schools nationwide because of disclosure questions such as the following:

"Have you ever failed to be rehired, been asked to resign a position, resigned to avoid termination, or terminated from
employment?"

You MUST answer truthfully or risk having your license suspended. Of course if you check off "yes," and explain it, you never even get asked to an interview. It is assumed principals are always in the right, and, after all, if one district doesn't want you, why should anybody else? To hell with wrongful termination, age discrimination, sexual harassment, workplace harassment, whistle-blowing, etc. If you sue a district, other districts don't want you for you're a troublemaker.

Public education is the ONLY field where there is systemwide blackballing of workers, and it doesn't have to have anything to do with "misconduct."

If these privatizing assholes want to get rid of "tenure," and ALL teachers are "at-will" employees, then the disclosure questions need to be outlawed. Only criminal background checks would be allowed.

[stray cat]

1. Tenure is great for job security -do you think teachers would willingly abolish it

Watch how many good teachers get canned prior to reaching any good or bad tenured teachers.

[tonysam]

2. They often get canned for all kinds of stupid reasons

usually because of personality conflicts with asshole principals. New teachers are also being sacked purely for saving money on hearings and pensions.

Older, tenured teachers are being sacked to cheat them out of full retirement benefits and because their salaries are too high.

It takes a good five to seven years to get good at teaching, but these privatizers don't care about that. They want professional teachers to be paid nothing more than daycare teachers.

By the way, the "due process" hearings, which is ALL that "tenure" guarantees, are jokes, with perjury, witness tampering, forgery of documents, and bribery by school districts commonplace. Principals, however, have ironclad job security.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Our superintendent has ordered all teachers be evaluated this year

Interestingly, many of the more senior teachers are receiving scores of 'DEVELOPING'. :rofl:

[tonysam]

3. The purpose of tenure is to prevent favoritism by principals

and to prevent undercutting staff morale and provide a stable learning environment for children.

But people like you believe the bullshit that "tenured" teachers have it made.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Tenure protects teachers from the politics of education

When that crazy parent gets elected to the school board, teachers need protection.

[Catshrink]

9. Amen!

Or if that crazy parent is on the town council, etc. I have a situation like this developing now -- I caught a student plagiarizing a quarter project. turnitin.com says 61% copied, most from a popular answer site. Kid says "facts are facts" and that it wasn't copied. Right. The webite and student paper have several paragraphs exactly the same. The zero on the project didn't affect the grade -- moved her from a D+ to a D -- so it's a pride thing. Hell, if she had any pride she wouldn't have copied the damn report.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. There was a plagiarism case here in this area

The teacher flunked the kids, the parents complained and the school board ordered the teacher to raise the grades. She resigned.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/14/us/school-cheating-scandal-tests-a-town-s-values.html?pagewanted=1

[Catshrink]

11. Our school board "policy" is "wound, don't kill"

So I'll be okay in the long run. I'm appalled at the number of kids who were caught cheating in this round of final exams. I didn't notice it in my classes but I know of 12 kids nailed for it. The kids who were caught are sorry for getting caught, not about the cheating. There's something rotten in Denmark, eh?

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. And once again we see administrators at fault

so little supervised

my principal never set foot in my classroom

no evaluation

Why are teachers ALWAYS the bad guys? How can we make principals evaluate us, step foot in our classrooms and be supervisors??? Are we now responsible for supervising the principals, making sure they do THEIR jobs?!

[tonysam]

6. Supervision or lack of supervision of principals is the core problem

These "supervisors," unlike those in any private business (apart from the tiniest mom-and-pop outfits), have obscene amounts of power which they should NOT have, and it is a DIRECT result of nobody closely watching them. The problem in a nutshell is a principal can do whatever he or she wants, even if it is illegal or a result of incompetence, for if a teacher challenges a principal's actions, it is almost impossible for that teacher to win. Hearing officers are typically in bed with school districts, so outside of a few areas of the country where teachers' unions still have a little bit of clout, they rubberstamp dismissals. After all, principals NEVER do anything wrong, even if they do.

It is basically the teacher versus the entire school district bureaucracy, the latter of which has access to unlimited funds thanks to taxpayers. The teacher cannot win it in the vast majority of cases and must try and get legal assistance outside of the district. Even then, the politics infiltrates law firms and teachers may find they will get substandard representation and pittances for settlements.

[tonysam]

8. This post from Teachers.net illustrates what teachers are up against

if they go up against a school district. This post is from a teacher or former teacher in Las Vegas, but it applies to just about every school district in the country:

Many law firms both in Carson City/Reno and Las Vegas will NEVER go
up against entities like WCSD and CCSD. The reason is simple: both
of these school districts have "deep pockets" and because they can
intimidate these law firms and have also the ability to coerce
their employees. Yes, they both will make sure their witnesses will
lie. If you think that teachers will stand up to the school
district, you are absolutely naive. Even if you win, both
districts will appeal, and they will continue to do that until you
are worn out. Remember it's not their money ---- it's the money
they get from the state. After you are worn out, and your law firm
sees the handwriting on the wall, they will drop you and your
case. Both of these school districts know this game, and as result
they continue to win.

I know of a case with a teacher in CCSD who was terminated. The
principal stated unequivocally on the stand that she "violated his
civil rights." He won the case, but CCSD is still appealing the
monetary award. That was 8 years ago. He's still waiting for
compensation. BTW - the principal the following year was named
Administrator of the Year. She also received the Milliken award
for $25K. There is no justice in this world.

[donco6]

12. We have at least 3 observations, as well as monthly team visits.

Maybe this is true in LA, but LA doesn't represent every public school in America.