Is teacher tenure a myth?
My colleague Emma Brown wrote a terrific story detailing a hearing in which a tenured veteran teacher was challenging her principal’s efforts to fire her. The teacher was portrayed by Fairfax County Public School officials as incompetent and rigid. She said that her principal didn’t like her — especially after she became the school’s union representative — and wanted to get rid of.
Violet Nichols, a tenured teacher who was terminated by Fairfax County Public Schools with her attorney Steven Stone, talk about the attempts to fire her in Alexandria, VA on May 24, 2012. (Linda Davidson - TWP)
If you read the story, you may find yourself uncertain about what really happened — and the many comments on the story reveal decidedly mixed reaction. Some people thought that the teacher, Violet Nichols, was railroaded by a principal who wouldn’t let her go see her dying sister becau