Moor vs. Moor: Teacher Tenure

VICKY LAM
Staff Writer

Teachers hold the valuable position of expanding the knowledge of students nationwide. In order to keep this position, tenure laws exists. The tenure policy is the shield granted to teachers after a certain amount of probation time, preventing them from being fired.

With the recent Vergara vs. California case (ending with favor towards educators) that reached the Supreme Court, tenure and the efficiency of teachers are being questioned. Teachers need stable protection against the possibility of being laid off. Statistics from the Federal Reserve Economic Data database shows a sharp decline in teachers being hired, with over 300,000 teachers laid off within a range of three years. Much of these dismissals were done without proper evaluation as well. This relays the message that educators may be hanging by a thread at any time, and may be cut down from their jobs at any moment.

Tenure is the extra padding that is needed to survive within a public sector career. Job protection is a constitutional, basic right all workers deserve. Without it, a biased and obstinate claim could easily spell the end of a career. However, even tenures have its loopholes; it cannot grant total immunity. Teachers with tenure proven of inefficiency, incapacity, or just cause may ultimately be fired. Bad teachers will not be so easily defended by tenure, but those who actually prove competent will.
Teachers must turn their focus on educating students rather than to the potential threatening dismissal note hanging over their heads. If an educator is truly abusing his or her privilege, thorough evaluation of quality of teaching and students’ academic succession should be the first step. Complete erasure from the start is not. A chance to see the true value a teacher holds always remains absolute, and tenure is that exact chance.

JACQUELYN LOI
Opinions Editor

According to Education, the average amount of years required to obtain tenure is three years. However, this is simply not an adequate amount of time to assess an educator’s full potential. Even if a teacher performs satisfactory during the time of assessment, he or she may fail to reach certain teaching requirements after granted tenure. This results in teacher who do not take their jobs seriously and responsibly to be exempt from consequences.

Furthermore, the current process of tenure makes the termination of an educator extremely difficult. According to the Huffington Post, it is purposely difficult to fire a tenured professor. The probationary period averages three years for community colleges and seven years at four-year colleges. A study by the New Teacher Project found that over 86 percent of school administrators did not pursue dismissal of teachers due to the cost and the money. This causes poor performing teachers to stay in their jobs simply because the cost of terminating such teachers is far too complicated, which ends up compromising a student’s education. In a time where the educational preparedness of America is of high value, this is something that should not be taken lightly.

MOOR graphic by CORLY HUANG