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Teacher Tenure -- An Analysis of CA Proposition 74
California Proposition 74, the teacher tenure initiative
proposes to change the California education code (i.e., CA law)
to make it easier to fire K-12 public school teachers.
It is being touted in California as a reform in that it claims
teachers need to work for a full five years (as opposed to 2
years) before K-12 public school teacher supposedly get "tenure"
and thereby have a "job for life" wherein K-12 public school
teachers cannot be fired, even if they are unprofessional and
poor teachers.
I am a public school teacher in So. Cal. and want to point out
we do not get tenure. This is not just a
play on words, but we actually do not get tenure.
The Governor claims that Prop. 74 is needed because (a)
the school are under-performing in significant part because of
bad teachers, and (b) bad teachers cannot be fired
because they have "tenure."
There is no such thing as tenure for K-12 public school
teachers. For the first two years of our employment, we are on
temporary, probationary status where (a) we can be
fired mid-year without cause, and (b) our contracts
expire at the end of the year unless the school district
chooses to re-hire us.
However, if we pass our evalutations for those two probationary
years and we are re-hired, we then get permanent teacher
status, which only means our contracts do not expire
every year.
Once we get permanent status, public school teachers can
be (and are) fired for the following reasons according to the
California Education Code (i.e., CA law) section 44932:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=edc&gr
oup=44001-45000&file=44930-44988
(1) Immoral or unprofessional conduct.
(2) Commission, aiding, or advocating the commission of
acts of criminal syndicalism, as prohibited by Chapter 188 of
the Statutes of 1919, or in any amendment
thereof.
(3) Dishonesty.
(4) Unsatisfactory performance.
(5) Evident unfitness for service.
(6) Physical or mental condition unfitting him or her to
instruct or associate with children.
(7) Persistent violation of or refusal to obey the
school, laws of the state, or reasonable regulations prescribed
for the government of the public schools by the State Board of
Education or by the governing board of the school district
employing him or her.
(8) Conviction of a felony or of any crime involving
moral turpitude.
(9) Violation of Section 51530 or conduct specified in
Section 1028 of the Government Code, added by Chapter 1418 of
the Statutes of 1947.
(10) Knowing membership by the employee in the Communist
Party.
(11) Alcoholism or other drug abuse which makes the
employee unfit to instruct or associate with children.
In addition, the only permanency we have to our positons is
that, if we are to be fired, we are entitled to 90 days notice
(cf. Ca Ed. Code section 44939) in which we are allowed to a
hearing to determine whether such charges are actually true.
That's it. That's the sum total of teacher "tenure."
The Governor in proposition 74 wants to extend our propationary
status from 2 years to 5 years, longer than any other civil
servant, and then wants to remove our right to have a hearing
before we are fired.
WHY?
Jarrod J. Williamson, Ph.D.
We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in
the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.
About the author:
Jarrod J. Williamson earned his doctorate in Chemical
Engineering from UCLA and currently serves in the public school
system in Southern California. He can be emailed at
bakupulu@hotmail.com and his personal blog Asphalt Adventist is
at http://www.AsphaltAdventist.blogspot.com
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