California Students, Parents Sue Over Teacher Firing, Tenure Rules 399
The L.A. Times reports that a group of students and parents, fed up with what they see as overarching job security in California schools, are suing in the hopes of making harder for poor teachers to stay on the books. From the article:
"The lawsuit, filed by the nonprofit, advocacy group Students Matter, contends that these education laws are a violation of the Constitution's equal protection guarantee because they do not ensure that all students have access to an adequate education.
Vergara versus California, filed on behalf of nine students and their families, seeks to revamp a dismissal process that the plaintiffs say is too costly and time consuming, lengthen the time it takes for instructors to gain tenure and dismantle the 'last hired, first fired' policies that fail to consider teacher effectiveness.
The lawsuit aims to protect the rights of students, teachers and school districts against a "gross disparity" in educational opportunity, lawyers for the plaintiffs said." Perhaps related.
Re:Dangerous... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This is a scam (Score:2, Informative)
Re:This is a scam (Score:5, Informative)
Interestingly, Obama always supported the all-powerful teachers union in Chicago, who managed to get working conditions so good for their members that the schools had to cut the number of teaching days to afford those gold-plated teachers.
Interestingly, that seems to be completely made up.
In 2012 there were 170 teaching days for elementary school teachers. After the strike and contract negotiations there were 180 teaching days in 2013. [chicagotribune.com] High school teachers also had a 10 day increase. In both cases, the length of the work day also increased (see the same link as before).
Tenure in K-12 Tenure in higher ed (Score:2, Informative)
In higher ed, tenure is about academic freedom. In K-12 it's a misnomer. All that tenure means (and the technical name is continuing contract) for teachers is that the district has to follow due process to get rid of the louses. They can't just fire at will, which they can do if the teacher has a provisional contract. Admins simply have to do their job, but they tend to want to be buddies with the staff, or use their position to hire relatives, so quality goes to hell. That is not the union's fault; the admins just have to follow procedure and poof teacher-be-gone.
Umm no (Score:4, Informative)
A little Googling indicates the prison guard union in CA gives twice as much to Democrats as Republicans, and spends much more than that on ballot initiatives.
Re:Teachers Never Get Fired (Score:5, Informative)
He would show up 20 minutes late, shit all over the floor, and complain about the humans who tresspass in his forest.
He wasn't even trying to do his job, but I guess competence or dedication of a teacher can never be questioned.
This is a true story. Its on the internet so you know its true.
Re:My experiences (Score:4, Informative)
I'm sorry but the statement that "nothing could be done" is a lie.
If the teachers were truly ineffective or incompetent, then you should have complained to the school's administrators and insisted that your students be removed. That is your right. If they refused, then you take the issue to the school board. If that doesn't work, you file a complaint with the state (and also against the teachers license if you actually have evidence).
If you failed to do that, it indicates to me that maybe the teachers really weren't that bad. Because if you did nothing despite knowing there was a problem, you are part of it. When you find ineffective teachers you also have ineffective administrators and schools boards. You can't have one without the other.
Try it, it does not work! Re:My experiences (Score:2, Informative)
complained twice about outrageously bad teachers.
One went into screaming rages periodically with 4th graders.
One sent kids outside in near-freezing windy weather in shorts and T-shirts, had ridiculously unfair grading, harassed us with idiotic requests (all documented btw)..
Nothing happened to them. They are both still teaching.
That's in CA btw..
> When you find ineffective teachers you also have ineffective administrators and schools boards.
Bullshit. The cases above were the consequence of teacher unions. Period. Administration agreed with us in both cases, but they could not do anything....
It pretty much takes a criminal charge against a teacher to get union to cooperate with administration.....
Re:Dangerous... (Score:4, Informative)
Food for thought? No, not at all. It just shows how deeply biased you are and how tightly your blinders fit that you can't see why. Seriously, pretty much everyone has at least one completely crappy teacher and one ancient past-their-prime marking-time-to-retirement teacher over the course of the travels from K-12. We demonize the teacher's union because they enable and tacitly condone such things.
No, it's not. It goes back at least as far as when I was a kid in the 70's - long before cell phones, widespread 'drugging up', or home video game systems.
While I agree the parents should shoulder their portion of the blame, you need to get out of your echo chamber and into the real world.
I can't believe we employ any of them, honestly. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Dangerous... (Score:5, Informative)
There already is a teacher shortage across the country.
Not true at all. Most job openings for teachers attract hundreds of qualified applicants for a single position. A local job fair for teachers attracted 700 people, with a line snaking around the block. You can Google for many other examples. Teachers in California make over $70k on average [sacbee.com], get off at 4pm, get three months of vacation, and have gold-plated medical and retirement plans. Why would there be a shortage?
Re:Dangerous... (Score:4, Informative)
No, it's not. It goes back at least as far as when I was a kid in the 70's - long before cell phones, widespread 'drugging up', or home video game systems.
It goes back to at least the 1950's. Why Johnny Can't Read [amazon.com] was a national bestseller in 1955. When Sputnik was launched In 1957, teachers were blamed for letting the Russians beat us into space.
...Because most teachers max out well before that! (Score:5, Informative)
When you factor in the cost of living in CA, $70k doesn't go all that far....
But I digress. Six years ago, starting pay for a *full-time* high school teacher in my former home county of Brevard, FL, was $22k, with another $3k/yr bonus for a "high demand" science/math teacher. Since then, benefits, class sizes, and general conditions have only grown worse. The teachers I know (and I know many) routinely put in 10+ hour days, plus more weekends than not.