“HR Would Grant Tenure…”
Lost amid the controversy last week in which 75 District of Columbia Public Schools teachers wereun-fired was the casual nature with which teachers were granted tenure. From the arbitrator’s ruling:
As a matter of practice, in some years DCPS required a principal’s recommendation for permanent status, in other years, a recommendation was not required. HR would grant tenure after review of the teacher’s record. If the teacher was rated Satisfactory under the performance evaluation procedure then in effect, and had met all other requirements, HR would convert the teacher to permanent status. It would do so whether or not the principal had recommended tenure, and even if a principal recommended against tenure, so long as the teacher had a Satisfactory rating and had met all requirements.
In a system where nearly every teacher earned a Satisfactory rating, earning tenure was a mere formality. Tenure wasn’t granted by the teacher’s supervisor (in fact, it could go against their direct wishes), teachers didn’t have