The Soap Opera of Teacher “Tenure” in Louisiana and New York
I am a tenured, career public school teacher.
As such, I realize I am Public Enemy Number One to the fiscally-well-backed, non-teaching finger-pointers who call themselves “education reformers.”
If only I could be fired without recourse, American education would no longer be “failing”; the security of my country would be certain, and we would once again (??) be a world power.
I sure am one powerful loser…
…or so those attempting to slap well-paid, simplistic solutions onto either complex or nonexistent problems would have the American public believe.
Classroom teacher “tenure” has been in the news for years now, and the week of September 1st, 2014, it is in the courts in both Louisiana and New York.
Let’s start with Louisiana.
Some Louisiana Soap
In 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) fired thousands of teachers. Oh, wait– “laid off without opportunity to be rehired” for months, then permanently terminated in March 2006. In January 2014, the lower court found in favor of more than 7,000 Orleans Parish teachers for their wrongful termination. The case was appealed and will be heard on September 4, 2014 by the Louisiana Supreme Court.
OPSB claims that it did not have enough positions since the state took over most OPSB schools. Indeed, in November 2005, as a result of a special legislative session, the state swept in, changed the cut scores for “failing school” to a much higher score, and assumed control of almost all of the OPSB schools.
A common privatizing tactic: “Don’t blame me; someone else was responsible for that part.”
Piecemeal responsibility– a beauty for declaring oneself rightfully unaccountable.
The lower court said, “nothing doing”; OPSB has a responsibility to these teachers–as does the State of Louisiana.
I realize that such a mass firing would have made the likes of former DC chancellor-gone-manure pusher Michelle Rhee happy, but even she was not allowed to terminate teachers without offering a reason directly connected with job performance.
So, we’ll see what the Louisiana Supreme Court has to say on the matter. I’m thinking the millions the state wholehearted spends on shabbily-trained, temp-teacher Teach The Soap Opera of Teacher “Tenure” in Louisiana and New York | deutsch29:
