Teachers' seniority rights under assault in Cleveland, across the nation
By Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer
May 31, 2010, 6:00AM
View full sizeCleveland schools Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders, shown in a photo from April, wants to weaken teachers' seniority rights through current contract negotiations. Previous story
Teachers' seniority rights are under fire from public officials and policy experts who say experience and effectiveness don't always go hand in hand.
The grip seniority holds on schools has gained attention as money runs short and education leaders, including Cleveland's, slash jobs by the hundreds. Its effects also come into play as urban school districts wrestle with how to place the right teachers in schools serving low-income, or so-called "hard to serve," populations.
Cleveland schools Chief Executive Eugene Sanders has acknowledged a desire to dismantle the district's seniority system as part of difficult contract negotiations going on now. Union leaders, wary of giving up seniority rights without a trustworthy alternative, do not deny that the issue could lead to a strike.
Barring an agreement on concessions, Cleveland is set to ax 546 teachers in June. The cuts will sweep out large blocs of staff in 10 popular "innovation schools," where side agreements with the teachers union allow principals to disregard seniority in hiring, reaching outside the system if they think it's necessary. Such newer teachers will be among the first to go.
One of the innovation schools, Warner Girls Leadership Academy, a single-gender elementary school, will say goodbye to 11 of its 18 teachers. The vacancies will have to be filled from within the union.
Principal Lesley Jones Sessler puts a brave face on the situation, saying the school will persevere.
"We can still be successful," she said. "Nowhere was it written that my teachers would be protected from something like this."
But foundations that invested millions of dollars in the innovation schools