Discussion - Chapter 10: Recruitment, Tenure, Dismissal, and Due Process
Chapter 10 is important for any administrator. As a principal or superintendent, you will most likely need to evaluate staff and potentially recommend that one of your employees should be non-renewed or discharged. You will also need to be familiar with the teachers' association's negotiated agreement and potentially even advice the school board in the negotiation process. For this discussion, please discuss either: (1) whether you feel teachers and/or administrators should be able to get tenure and whether it should be based on criteria, length of time, or just automatic and why; OR (2) whether you feel teachers should be able to strike and/or be allowed to negotiate their terms of employment with the school district and why. You need not respond to any other's discussion, but you certainly can. I expect this to be based on your own personal opinion
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As Essex (2016) states “generally, state statues identify a specific date in which a probationary teacher must be informed that employment opportunities will no longer be available for the succeeding year. This notice informing the teacher of nonrenewal is normally forwarded to the teacher by certified or registered mail to the latest known address on or before a specified date. If the district fails to meet this requirement, the teacher may have gained employment for the following year. When a teacher has completed three consecutive years in the same district and does not receive timely notice of nonrenewal, the teacher may have acquired tenure by default” (p. 251). I found this very interesting that by default a teacher can gain tenure if the district doesn’t provide notice of nonrenewal in a timely manner. I understand now why the teachers in our school district are talking about how the school board haven’t discussed negotiations as of
Moreover, teacher tenure will be "reformed" so that principals and superintendents will have additional decision-making "discretion"; in other words, power will be taken from unions and given to bureaucrats within the state educational system, and tenure for teachers will be based on a new strategy that is, teachers will have earn "highly effective ratings" five out of six years to achieve tenure (Brennan, p. 2).
This case brings up to the administrators who are known as a legal representation that strive to create positive changes in educational policy and processes, that they have rights and power protected by law, but also have a duty to comply with the laws established by the district.
Removing a teacher from his or her position is very difficult to do. “Tenure benefits the state by helping to create a permanent and qualified teaching force” (Underwood, Webb 36). This makes it difficult to let a teacher go even when it is to make the school a better environment for the students. Although teachers do have the right to freedom of speech and are able to exercise their First Amendment right, that freedom is in a way limited by the school board. Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) is a great example of this. A high school science teacher was terminated by the board of education because a letter he wrote was published in one of the community’s newspapers. The letter discussed the unequal funding between academics and athletics. After
One of the things everyone looks forward to is having security. However, the job market has not been strong enough to give job security. Since the Market crashed in 2008, there has been an increase in “at will” employees. At will employment means that the company or the firm has the right to terminate your employment at any given time for any reason with or without a legit cause. At will also give employees the flexibility to quit their job as they wish without giving any notice or reason. In “Employment at Will and Due Process” by Patricia A. Wethane and Tara J. Radin expresses their views on “At Will” employment. Radin and Werhane mention several views on ethical treatment of employees, in principle and in practice, against at will employment. In this article they believe it violates certain rights that employees have, it violates the principle of fairness, and there are certain legal objections.
Because of the principal’s silence, Mr. Jones did not demonstrate a balance on his task of managing the day to day to ensure the efficiency of the operations of the school. Also, he did not achieve the task of enabling or removing obstacles that the learning community encounters to continue the learning process. Even yet, when he decided to inform his faculty he should have act as the leader that he was supposed to be. He was not a successful leader, but just a manager when he did not motivate or create synergy between them. As a team, brainstorm ideas on how to challenge the school consolidation, could have been achieved.
The text states that it is essential that superintendents and school board members communicate effectively to find the best solutions to problems. Effective communication requiring everyone to be heard in an honest and forthright exchange of viewpoints has proven to be best for children. Therefore report on Curriculum by Dr. Byron Haynes and reports on start of the year were given by Principal J. Griffin, Principal B. Cleark and Principal M.
For instance if a teacher has engaged in any type of inappropriate relationship with a student, misused funds, or has been found to be negligent in their duties they can be dismissed regardless of their tenure status. Since there have been so much opposition throughout the years, the Students First Act was developed in 2011. This act honestly did very little to change the actual teacher tenure laws. The few changes included items such as reducing the payroll time for terminated employees, eliminated individuals who have been convicted of a crime from still drawing a salary, and exempts reductions in force and partial cancellations. In the state of Alabama, after three consecutive years of teaching, tenure status is earned. But, before the first three consecutive years are completed, a teacher can be dismissed for virtually any reason and is not granted the right to know
This is important to becoming an assistant superintendent because I must first have a degree in the area of educational leadership. Second, I need to gain some experience as a building principal. I have already taken and passed the School Leader’s Licensure Assessment for Building Principals. Therefore, I am already licensed to practice as a building principal. I feel that after ample years as a building principal, at least ten years, I will be better prepared through the experiences that I will have gained to be successful in the position of
Teacher tenure is life-long job protection for teachers who have been employed as a teacher for one or more years depending on the state. The purpose of teacher tenure is to protect teachers from being fired for political or personal reasons. It also prevents school districts from eliminating experienced teachers in favor of less expensive teachers. The fundamental problem with teacher tenure is that it is given to a teacher after only one year on the job and requires little to no additional effort. The increased job security breeds complacency in many teachers who are teaching only to collect a paycheck. There is a need for teacher tenure but the program must be drastically reformed.
Every school district has board meetings throughout the school year. Unfortunately, many parents, community members, & school personnel do not attend such important meetings because they don’t realize or understand the importance of such board meetings or how informative they can be. According to Kankakee School District (2017), the Kankakee School District Board of Education is composed of seven elected members, who were elected by the citizens of Kankakee to serve a four-year term that do not receive no salary for they services, are committed to ensuring a quality of educational excellence that will enhance the opportunities and challenges facing today’s student and additional responsibilities that board members include are selection of the District superintendent, developing general polices according to wishes of the community and requirements of law, hiring school personnel based upon recommendation of the Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, adopts salary schedules, approves funds to finance school operations, must adopt and review the annual operating budget for the District, and setting the property tax levy to produce adequate funds to meet the District’s financial needs ranks among the responsibilities of the Board of Education (Retrieved from https://www.ksd111.org/domain/68). For this paper, the Kankakee School District board meeting will be used, information learned from board meeting, use of
In terms of becoming a mediator and consensus builder the authors detailed the need for principals to possess relational leadership skills in order to be able to both facilitate groups and coach others on staff in the ability to facilitate their own groups, and stressed that the key to this is the ability to effectively participate in conflict resolution (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009). The authors suggested that conflict is part and parcel of school reform and that in addition to being able to deal effectively with conflict the successful principal needs to develop the ability for bringing about consensus within the group, noting that interpersonal and intrapersonal skills were as much or more important than knowledge (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).
Tenure is a type of protection from dismissal through tenure statues. Under these state statutes, a contract renews automatically each year. School districts must show cause and have documentation to dismiss tenured teachers. Tenured teachers may be dismissed for reasons of incompetency, insubordination, immoral conduct, neglect of duty, conviction of a crime, or fraud. A teacher that is certified by the state is assumed to be competent and it is the school board’s responsibility to prove incompetency. Immoral conduct is specified in statute in many states for grounds of dismissal of tenured teachers.
Most would ask, "What exactly is teacher tenure?". Well, in short teacher tenure is a permanent job contract for school teachers. Teachers can earn tenure by proving their teaching skills over a specific number of years while working at the same school. In most cases the number of years a teacher must work at the same school is anywhere from two to seven years. After receiving tenure a teacher cannot lose his or her job without just cause, for example obvious incompetence or severe misconduct. Tenure offers job security to teachers that have successfully completed their probational period of teaching. (Heard)
My interest in pursuing a position as a school administrator for an elementary school system is to provide leadership for staff members and quality education for all students, and to become part of the world of education. The Benjamin Franklin School located in the Dallas School District serves as a growing population of approximately 1,070 students. The school offers a well-defined educational system for the students, and it has an overall student-to-teacher ratio of 17:1. In addition to the statewide curriculum standards, the school offers special education programs and classes for the gifted and talented. As a result of the school district rankings in the student’s performance, Benjamin Franklin School has become the worst in the
I’ve had quite the learning experience over the last few weeks. I had a chance to obtain valuable information and support from my principal. I learned so much about the administration role and how difficult it can be. When I began my interview, I felt overwhelmed and excited at the same time. My principal is also my mentor; she has been very supportive of me pursuing my dreams to be in administrator. As I conducted my interview I learned so much about the principal’s role. I asked my principal a series of questions. The questions were based on the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium Standards (ISLLC). My first question was based on educational programs. The educational programs at any school need balance. While we live in a test results world, there needs to be a balance of focus. I look at the type of student I want my school to produce and I surround myself with a faculty and other staffs that not only share in the mission, but also will help every student succeed. In addition, as an administrator, I need to provide my faculty and staff with the tools and resources necessary to make everyone feel successful.