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| Tenure; Question for Eye95 and the panel | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 9 2008, 04:46 PM (352 Views) | |
| Post #1 Mar 9 2008, 04:46 PM |
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| Being that you're a teacher and all, what are your thoughts on tenure? Is it a good thing? Is it a relic that needs to be done away with? |
Civilian
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| Post #2 Mar 9 2008, 10:38 PM |
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I have mixed feelings. Not being in a system that has tenure, I know the anxiety of not knowing whether I'll have a contract next year. When a contract is not renewed, the teacher has neither quit nor been fired. They are unemployed, but cannot collect unemployment benefits. So, I understand the need for a system whereby a teacher, after years on the job, has the security of the knowledge that they will have a job or have to be fired for cause. Unfortunately, the tenure system seems to create unfireable teachers, even when there is cause to fire them. The public school system creates too many of these insurmountable problems. That is why I advocate vouchers that would create a huge private system that would compete for the best teachers. That would create a system where teachers would be paid commensurate with their quality and demand for quality teachers would give them the security that tenure is supposed to provide. In a sentence, I don't like how tenure is currently handled. At all. Thanks for asking. |
Administrator
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| Post #3 Mar 10 2008, 05:27 AM |
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Why can't the employment of teachers be like the rest of the world? My employment is "at will" and I can be fired (and I can also leave) for any reason. I'm confused by the "contract" you talk about. Is it like football and you're a free agent and you're an old veteran who gets waived and is worried whether or not they get picked up by another team? Why can't you collect unemployment? Wouldn't that be like getting laid off? I've been laid off before due to slow business and have collected unemployment. Why would the rules be different for teachers? |
Civilian
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| Post #4 Mar 10 2008, 12:02 PM |
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Not being invited back for the next year is not being fired. Non-tenured teachers can be terminated without cause and without firing, simply by not being renewed. Since non-renewed teachers are not fired, they are not eligible for unemployment benefits. Since non-renewal of teachers is an annual process, it is not considered being "laid off." Tenured teachers cannot be non-renewed. To get rid of them, they must be fired. This has two consequences: To fire a teacher, you must have cause. It also means that the fired teacher may be eligible for unemployment benefits. I am sure the reason that unemployment benefits are handled this way is to prevent teachers from collecting unemployment every summer. That'd be nice, if we could! |
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5:57 PM May 20