Attacks on the Teaching Profession Continue
HB 478 by Representative Simone Champagne who represents Iberia and Vermilion Parishes is purportedly an attempt to keep the best teachers in the classroom when teacher layoffs are necessary. (Click on the bill number to see the bill) It would do away with all seniority rights of teachers in determining the teachers selected for layoff and would instead use the teacher's ranking on the new Act 54 evaluation system. This means that the teachers ranking lowest on the evaluation system would be the first to be laid off. To the average observer, this may seem to be a fair and logical method for determining which teachers will stay and which will go in the event of a layoff. But let me explain the serious pitfalls of such a system.
Suppose a school system experiences a drop of student enrollment because maybe a large employer in the area shifts operations to another state causing many families to move. Suppose the local Superintendent determines that four teachers must be laid off from grades 3 through 5 out of a teaching staff totaling 25
Suppose a school system experiences a drop of student enrollment because maybe a large employer in the area shifts operations to another state causing many families to move. Suppose the local Superintendent determines that four teachers must be laid off from grades 3 through 5 out of a teaching staff totaling 25