There is an increasing call to arms by education privateers across the nation that state legislatures should remove tenure from education. The argument has been made that tenure can lead to a school having burnt-out old teacher who can't be fired, and your child may get that teacher. As a teacher, I can tell you first hand this scenario could and has happened. However, this is not the norm. It is a rare exception. In fact, tenure is the most powerful tool teachers and parents have to ensure that students are getting the best education possible.
Tenure has been twisted and skewed by those who wish to privatize our public education system. Tenure is becoming a dirty word that parents oppose and state lawmakers are striking down in the name of “reform”. This needs to change, if parents care about the success of their children, they are going to want them to have tenured teachers.
So here is to setting the record straight.
First, what is tenure? What isn't tenure?
Tenure is simply a teachers right to due process. I have seen teachers fired, and I have seen teachers exonerated thanks to due process. A tenured teacher who had inappropriate texting conversations with a student was promptly put through this process and fired. Another tenured teacher who was accused by a student selling marijuana was put through this process a found innocent. No evidence was found,it was a baseless accusation made by a disgruntled. Tenure is not a guarantee to never be fired; tenure makes sure teachers are fired for the right reason.
Most importantly, tenure gives teachers a voice. Not just in defending themselves, but a voice in what's best for their students. Tenure allows teachers to advocate for the best practices that ensure their students success and safety. Without tenure, teachers lose this voice, and lose the ability to speak up for what their students need.
Here is a perfect example:
Last year my school wanted to implement a new literacy program to improve reading levels of struggling students. They acquired a pilot program from a company who promised they had come up with the best thing for education since No. 2 pencils. The pilot would last one year and be followed up by a $20,000 purchase of the entire program. The board loved it. Administration loved it. However, teachers in the pilot program found no evidence of improvement in students reading and writing abilities. The only noticeable result was higher levels of anxiety and frustration from these students.
With such glowing support from administration and the Board of Ed, many un-tenured teachers were nervous about reporting the programs failures. Some who did mention the failures were told basically to figure it out, because this program will become permanent next year. An un-tenured teacher is not going to push further than that. Thankfully, many of the teachers in the pilot program were tenured. They were fully empowered to fully voice their opinions and advocate against a program that was ineffective, harmful, and costly. From administration, to the Board of Ed they let their voices be heard and the school backed off, looking for another reading solution the following year. Without tenure, this would have never happened. My school would have spent $20,000 on a program that would harm students.
Parents never became aware of this. As a parent, you love your kid and want what's best for them in school. You voice concern over school budgets and standardized testing, but you only experience the tip of the iceberg of all the issues confronting your child’s education on a daily basis. That’s where teachers come in. That is why education needs tenure. A few bad teachers may slip through the cracks, but they are the exception. The reality is every day teachers are able toadvocat for your child because of tenure.