Can DCPS Teachers Still Grieve Dismissal for Poor Performance After All?
by Frederick M. Hess • Jul 6, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Cross-posted from Education Week
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A few weeks ago, the Washington Teachers Union and hard-charging D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Michelle Rhee agreed to a dramatic new contract that was celebrated by reformers for giving the district much more freedom to reward effective teachers and dismiss ineffective ones. Attracting particular notice was the provision stipulating that a teacher fired for poor performance can protest only the review process itself--not the judgment.
In a New York Post op-ed, Rhee explained that this means, "The end of tenure as a 'job for life.' If a teacher is rated as 'ineffective,' she is immediately terminated from the system... Teachers cannot grieve their ratings,