For Whom the Tenure Tolls
Editor's note: A recent Patch article asked for readers' opinions on tenure for Missouri teachers. Patch blogger Aimee Granneman saw the article and decided to address the issue from her own experience.
She said she knows everyone mentioned in the blog, and all instances are actual. She'll go into more detail in a future post, she said.
In the meantime, she's ready for comments.
"I looooove a good debate, full of fact not just opinion," she emailed Patch.
For Whom the Tenure Tolls
The year was 1968. Harriett grew up in a small town about 30 miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri.
She began her teaching career in Chicago, and after accumulating six years of teaching under her belt, she decided to move back to her hometown. She went to the superintendent of her home district who just happened to be a friend of her father's, with hopes of acquiring a shiny new job in the town she called home.
He told her point-blank, "You know Harriett, I'd love to hire you but you're Catholic, and we can't hire Catholics here...but if you drive up the road 10 miles to the town of Republic, the superintendent there is a Catholic and he might hire you."
So Harriett did just that, and she was hired. At some 20 percent less than her male counterparts. When she inquired about the pay discrepancy the reply heard was, "Why...he has a family to feed." Ancient history sure, and we've heard this same old story many times, but Harriett went on to be a stellar teacher for nearly 40 years until she recently passed away.
This, my friends, is why we have tenure and the National Education Association (NEA).
Enter the picture, Jane Cunningham, Missouri Senator of the 7th District.
Political party in this case is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, so I'm not even going to mention it. What's so important about Jane Cunningham? Well, she just so happens to be the key figure in sponsoring a bill that would remove tenure.
The bill first began requiring double the probationary period for teachers, making them work 10 years instead of five to earn tenure. Also, any layoffs would be based on merit, not seniority. Not so bad, right? Why shouldn't you have stricter rules? I mean if you're doing your job, then no problem right? That seems harmless enough doesn't it? Not so fast.
In order to get enough support for the bill, Cunningham had to remove more sweeping provisions eliminating tenure and requiring dismissal of teachers with more than two years of ineffective evaluations. This changes everything doesn't it. What about the Harriets in Missouri?
Let's look at what tenure means exactly: Prior to gaining tenure, a new teacher is evaluated at least three times a year, the final time typically near the end of the school year. This includes an interview and lots of paperwork. Two or more "walkthrough" evaluations are common where an administrator shows up unannounced to see what's going on. A good administrator knows which of the newbies need more attention and/or mentoring.
"Most districts that I'm aware of have pretty elaborate mentoring programs for newbies, and there is really no reason for a teacher to be hired who cannot do the job after three years," said Vicki Sterling Johnson, a retired and revered teacher/administrator with 26 years of experience.
Let's be real here. We can all name a teacher in our past that we thought was awful, crazy, lazy and just plain mean. Well, I hate to break it to you, 9-year-old Aimee and every other school-aged child for that matter, but welcome to the real world.
What happens when you enter the work place and you have a boss or colleague who happens to fit the same description of awful, crazy, mean, and sometimes even lazy.
Life is not full of puppy dogs and cotton candy. Most importantly, you're not going to like everyone you come in contact with. Even your boss sometimes. Chalk it up to a learning experience and here's why: The NEA also protects the innocent.
About 10 years ago, a young male teacher, we'll call him Andrew, was accused of having porn on his classroom computer. He adamantly denied it, but the district placed him on immediate 'administrative leave of absence.' It was horrible for him. Just imagine if you were innocent and this happened to you? After three weeks of inspecting Andrew's computer from one end to the other, it was discovered that the porn was downloaded on a day he was out, having been replaced, by a SUBSTITUTE.
The NEA hired an attorney to defend him. The district uttered a nearly inaudible 'my bad' after Andrew's reputation had already been tarnished. The NEA was willing to stick up for him from the beginning. What if this was your son, father or heck, your husband. Oh, and you're a stay-at-home mom on a teacher's salary. Attorney's fees? Not an option in this line of work.
Tuck the above information in your pocket for later. Enter average IQ Joe. Average IQ Joe and his multiple identical siblings, who have enough time and money can easily earn a doctorate in education. Average IQ Joe and his cronies are the people who simply just want out of the classroom. How else do you climb the ladder? Go back to school.
Tenure for THESE folks should be more frightening than tenure for the dedicated classroom teacher. Hence, Andrew, being the falsely accused classroom teacher who was under the supervision of a Ph.D. holding administrator.
You ask any superintendent and they will gladly explain how rigorous the hiring process is. All to ensure they aren't getting stuck with an ineffective teacher.
Better yet, I by no means consider myself an educator, but I have taught. Not fulltime but part time to fifth, sixth and seventh-graders. For anyone who has ever taught, this profession is not for the weary. The teaching profession is too demanding, sometimes demeaning, and stressful to enter into unless you're prepared for the job or willing to improve. But, for those embarrassing few, tenure.
And let me tell you, everyone knows who those "embarrassing" few are, including the NEA, administration, and those lucky enough to be co-workers. Very rare is that, when you are put under that microscope, no matter what profession, that you don't realize it.
Those who engage in teaching are qualified, to say the least, or become so after a few false starts. I mean, you better get your act in gear if you plan on paying back those student loans, right? I quite frankly would probably be residing at The Gray Bar Hotel right now if I had to teach full time. Bratty kids, topped by even worse parents who think their children can do no wrong. NO THANK YOU. I would rather be sent to a Turkish prison.
In conclusion, I've never been more certain of two things:
This will continue to cause a stir, therefore likely incurring a part two of this piece, and last but not least, the Dumbing-Down of Administration will more than likely be the death-knell of public education.
Until next time, Aimee...
mjf
7:24 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
"Well, I hate to break it to you, 9-year-old Aimee and every other school-aged child for that matter, but welcome to the real world."
Why don't you apply the "real world" standards to teachers, as well? Teaching is the only profession I can think of that offers anything close to the concept of 'tenure'. Missouri is an 'employment at will' state, meaning that an employee can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all (with few exceptions). That's the real world in Missouri.
In the real world of 60 years ago, a car dealership in Joplin probably wouldn't hire a salesman if he was Catholic, either. And don't even think about a job unless you are Caucasion. The bigotry you mentioned wasn't just confined to teachers in the 1960's. I hope we all agree that it was wrong, but that was the real world in 1960's Southwest Missouri.
In the real world of today, people are wrongly fired because someone else did something inappropriate with their computer, or maybe they didn't do anything wrong at all & still got fired.
In the real world of today, higher-paid employees are sometimes faced with termination & replacement if they don't take a pay cut when the market rate for their services drops. I know a pilot for a major airline who took a 40% pay cut after 9/11 and still isn't back to his old pay rate. That's with the help of his union, too. He did it because there were 1,000 other pilots ready to take his job if he didn't. That's the real world.
mormit
10:53 pm on Thursday, April 12, 2012
I don't think you know what tenure means.
I work in the private sector. I believe our good teachers deserve the protection of tenure. It allows administrators to remove bad performers. It does not protect poor performers.
TomA
8:28 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Wow, mjf, so other employees get mistreated and therefore teachers should too, because that's the "real world"? Everyone is obsessed with weeding out the "bad" teachers, as if that's what the problem with education is today. The "real world" is that if you have a job in the corporate world, it is assumed that you are capable and qualified to perform that job. Nobody is looking over you shoulder to find out if you're a bad employee. Any decent size company has policies in place regarding employees that don't perform and multiple intervention stages before they are let go, much like the tenure system works for teachers. Why? Because any decent size company wants to keep good employees, and showing up everyday feeling like you have Donald Trump breathing down your neck ready to say "you're fired" if you use the wrong sized paperclip would chase away most decent employees and be bad for the company. It's hard enough to keep good teachers, we don't need to ratchet up the environment of mistrust of educators.
mjf
9:49 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
TomA - I agree with you that school systems should implement the same policies as any decent size company would have in place regarding employees that don't perform. I just don't know of any decent sized companies that grant their employees tenure.
BJones
10:23 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Getting fired for using the wrong paperclip WOULD be mistreatment. Getting fired for poor performance is not. The education problem is partly over-comfortable teachers, yes, but is primarily a societal issue. When kids don't value school, and are forced to be there, you will have problems. When those kids' families don't value school, the problems multiply. There are bigger fixes for this.
However, since teachers (good or bad) can't address the societal problem, paying them more or paying them less has zero effect on the overall quality of education. Its easy to think that paying teachers more will improve education, but that is just a convenient fiction. Paying teachers more is (relatively) easy, and makes us feel like we're doing something. It's akin to screwing in a CFL bulb and feeling like you are saving the planet. Feels good; accomplishes nothing.
Aimee Granneman
3:12 pm on Thursday, April 12, 2012
I like what you have to say...especially about, "teachers (good or bad) can't address teh societal problem"...Teachers often more times that not use their own money to enrich their classrooms, etc. Like I stated below, the "Call to Teach" is just that, a calling. Not for the weary. It's because the vast majority want to be there and want to be doing what they're doing.
BMarshall
11:20 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
I respectfully disagree that paying teachers more or less has zero effect on the overall quality of education. A smart, talented, energetic person has a lot of career options. That person will look at all the career options and choose the one that includes pay that will allow him or her to live an acceptable lifestyle. The billion-dollar CEOs and hedge fund managers tell us this all the time - they make the big bucks because they are good and their company wants them to stay. Times have changed - there was a time when smart, well-educated, energetic women had few career options - teaching being one. So, they took those low paying positions and did a terrific job in spite of the poor reimbursement. Times have changed and those women have other, better paid options, and they have taken them. Those smartest and most energetic people who choose teaching these days do it because they love it in spite of the fact that they could make a lot better salary in a different occupation, which is great, but there are not enough of those to fill all the needed positions. The free market at work - if you want those good workers, the pay has to be at a level to compete with the rest of the job opportunities. And, some might say, unemployment rates are high, there should be loads of people competing for those teaching jobs, but, again, if we are hoping to improve education then we are hoping to hire those smart, energetic people who have a lot of employers looking for them.
Aimee Granneman
2:55 pm on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Let me begin by saying that the EEOC came in to existence since 1965, along with many other civil rights legislation, hence they should have protected Harriet. Her situation was a separate issue from tenure. But prior to NEA, a district could pay each teacher whatever salary they wished with impunity. The NEA forced districts to establish a salary schedule that became public information. Everyone is on an equal footing.....but again, the flip side is that the best teachers get no more pay than the incompetent.
The young male teacher with computer porn: had he NOT been tenured, he could have been fired on the spot. Because he DID have tenure, the administration allowed the computer gurus to do their thing that eventually exonerated him.
The doctorate degree that is becoming diploma-mill fodder is the EdD......Doctorate of Education. Sadly, SLU as well as many other Colleges and Universities, have gotten in the monetary action and are making a killing......they literally come to the students on location. There is a new class starting down here every year. Any average joe can sign on...and a couple of the current crop are former colleagues and friends of mine. Lovely people but not rocket scientists. I wouldn't want to work for either of them even AFTER they complete this program. Maybe ESPECIALLY after.....
A PH D is still worth something and more difficult to achieve. Most importantly you have to remember: Teaching is not just a career, but a VOCATION.
Clay Chesney
1:06 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
I think the great majority of our national discussion on education is totally misdirected. There are good teachers and bad teachers now and there always will be, but just firing the bad ones isn't going to solve the problem. I am going to start out by saying that all (or nearly all) teachers want to do a good job. This is human nature; when you have a task you will feel better about yourself if you do it well. The problem is that being a good teacher requires much more than knowing the material and being determined to teach it. The people skills and organization and attitudes and direction that make a good teacher are not being taught by the education programs at the universities. Some people are naturally successful at teaching but many, maybe most, are not, and need to learn HOW to teach, and the system has not recognized that. We really need a national crash research program on this. I was always distressed when my high school aged children would tell me that school was boring and they got little out of it. There has got to be a better way. Why is all the criticism directed at the teachers and not at the system and the culture that produced them?