Teachers chief: Bad teachers should find new jobs
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press
Updated 3:37 pm, Monday, July 22, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — Teachers who aren't up to snuff shouldn't be in classrooms and should find new professions, the head of the 1.5 million-member American Federation of Teachers said Monday.
Randi Weingarten told a gathering of her union's rank-and-file members that they should be more vigilant about their colleagues' abilities and said weak educators who don't make improvements only hurt the profession. The tough warning comes as state education chiefs have been trying to implement tougher standards for those in the classrooms and weed out teachers whose students aren't making progress.
"If someone can't teach, after they've been prepared and supported, they shouldn't be in our profession," Weingarten said to applause from more than 2,000 union members meeting here.
Weingarten's speech was a broad assessment of teachers' role in improving not just schools but also their communities. Her remarks, at time resembling a sermon and at others a politically rally, challenged educators to reclaim the promise of public education and to oppose efforts to reduce its role.
Weingarten said too often teachers are left "to sink or swim" without help from more