The Connecticut Education Association has a new TV ad that’s attracting some attention because it raises the stakes for the upcoming legislative session. Will the union really be about reforming teacher tenure, as the ad suggests? How will the General Assembly justify increasing spending on education, even if it is for an important program like preschool. What will more accountability for teachers (and administrators) actually mean.
The answers to all of these questions varies, depending on who is answering the question. The union, for example, has no plans to radically change the fundamental protection of tenure, which guarantees a job for life for veteran teachers. A proposal by the association of school superintendents would eliminate this provision and replace it with a five year contract.
The campaign runs for the next two weeks:
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9 Responses to The New Teachers Union Ad Campaign
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The CEA mission statement: To advance and protect the rights of public school teachers at the bargaining table; to elevate the public teaching profession; and to promote public education before policymakers and to lobby the legislature.
Tenure does not mean a job for life. Teachers go through multiple evaluations their first four years to prove that they are effective in the classroom and all teachers must complete a large portfolio for state requirements. When they pass their first four years, they get “tenure” which is really due process. This is meant to protect teachers from political or Arbitrary reasons of termination. It actually protects the best teachers and provides a short period of time for previously QUALIFIED teachers to improve before their removal. Maybe reform should start at the top where people with limited ACADEMIC classroom experience run districts and schools. Or maybe let’s hold parents of kids who come to school unprepared or hungry more accountable. Ironically, for the amount of hours most teachers put in, their salaries come at a bargain. They are paid 7.5 hours a day for 180 days by contract. Realistically, to handle the planning, grading, data, meetings, parent contact, student improvement plans, and other school related bureaucratic paperwork teachers on average work 9 hours a day and some time on the weekends. Not to mention teachers spending their own money on supplies, food for hungry students, and rewards for improving students. The Courant really should get it’s facts straight about the problems with the state’s an America’s schools as opposed to using the misrepresentation of “tenure” as the reason the schools are broken.
Frank is right on the money. Tenure is NOT guarantee any teacher a job for life. That is a total misconception by the public. I am surprised that Mr Green has not done his homework on this issue. He should know better. Reporters are supposed to report the FACTS. Most teachers that I know work 55 to 60 hours per week. And yes, are writing lesson plans and correcting papers on weekends. The paperwork for is overwhelming. Local, state and fed.’s require more and more. Get off of their backs and let them teach for God sake. That is what they dedicated their lives to in the first place. If you want to improve education, eliminate the principal and let the teachers run the school and evaluate their own. Watch scores go up. The teacher, the HEART of the system knows what works. If society gives them RESPECT and a fair wage and decent working conditions, USA can rise to the top of the education international ranks once again.
Rick, Please eliminate my LAST NAME PLEASE
Great and revealing comments here. Please tell me how many teachers have ever lost their jobs in Connecticut after earning tenure. It doesn’t happen. Like it or not, tenure is a job for life.
It does happen in schools. Similar to other fields, teachers are given the option to give their resignations. Furthermore, if incompetent teachers are not being removed, it means their administrators are not doing their jobs to properly evaluate their performance. There is a process on the books to remove “tenured” teachers. Unfortunately, this is not the biggest problem either. The problem is not removing the bad teachers, it is retaining the good teachers. Urban and semi urban districts have trouble retaining young teachers, not because they are bumped out, but because they seek places of employment in districts that do not present the incredible challenges that urban districts pose. Hartford and Avon both have teachers that are prepared by the same education programs. One town is applauded for their test scores while the other is blamed. Teachers resign from urban districts to go to the suburbs because despite all the work they put in, their performance, union, and tenure is considered to be cause to this problem. These days poverty, inequality, and irresponsible parents are just the excuses teachers use. I am sure the parents of the 4 year old that brought pot to school in Meriden would like to blame teacher tenure. The superintendents want you to believe removing teachers is hard, but if their administrators did their jobs, this would not be an issue. But realistically, getting rid of seniority and tenure is not about removing bad teachers, its about making it easier for superintendents and boards of education to balance their books without raising taxes or making difficult choices such as removing programs that admistrators pad their resumes with. Teacher quality may play a factor after this. At the end of the day, tenure is about money. It is expensive to teach students and combat poverty in urban areas and the state has decided that it is better to cut investments in education so that we can pay 500,000 dollars per job for Jackson labs and 250,000 per job at Cigna.
REASONS FOR DISMISSAL
A teacher may be dismissed only for:
1. inefficiency or incompetence based on evaluations that comply with State Board of Education guidelines for evaluations;
2. insubordination against reasonable board of education rules;
3. moral misconduct;
4. disability proven by medical evidence;
5. elimination of the position to which he was appointed or loss of a position another teacher, as long as there is no other position for which the teacher is qualified and subject to the applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement or school board policy; or
6. other due and sufficient cause.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2002/olrdata/ed/rpt/2002-r-0469.htm
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