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A common refrain heard from the public is that it is unfair that school teachers cannot be fired at will. This had lead to an endless amount of moaning and groaning. "If I can be fired for showing up for work ten minutes late, than why can't we fire incompetent teachers?" is a common complaint.
What most people never do is attempt to find out why this is the case. The reality is that virtually all government employees enjoy civil service or merit protection because of United States Supreme Court decisions. The Fourteenth Amendment says that "no state may deprive anyone of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law". The jobs of government employees are treated as a property interest within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Exceptions exist for the new employee who can be kept on probation for perhaps six months, but the jobs of employees who are off probation are clearly protected.
In short, if we are going to make school teachers "at will" employees, the first thing that we must do is amend the Constitution. So anyone who thinks that all we need to do is pass a law on a state level and this can be changed or "fixed" is just wrong.
More importantly, we have to have ask "would it be a good thing to do" if we could make school teachers at-will employees. I'll submit that even if this were possible it would be a monumental mistake. Here are a few reasons why:
1. The Superintendent would fire teachers just so he could give his friends jobs.
2. Teachers would be scared to death to teach anything controversial like sex education or evolution because they could be fired on a whim for doing so.
3. Teaching would become all about politics and not about teaching. It would involve keeping those over the teacher happy rather than trying to teach students
4. It would lead to less reliable and stable public schools. Parents and students would have to accept the notion that every year an entirely new group of teachers might be present in a school. Many parents choose a teacher for their children based on past experiences. There might be nothing to judge the teacher on. Under an "at will" system, teachers could be fired during the middle of a school year. This could be extremely disruptive for children who have grown used to a particular teacher.
No one really wants to keep bad school teachers on the job. However, the idea of "at will" employment is particularly unworkable in the school system. It makes very unrealistic assumptions that teachers would be hired and retained based on their actual merit. It makes the assumption its really possible to objectively measure who is and who is not a good teacher.
Until the problems mentioned in the last paragraph can be realistically solved, we have no alternative other than the current system.
1. The Superintendent would fire teachers just so he could give his friends jobs.
4. It would lead to less reliable and stable public schools. Parents and students would have to accept the notion that every year an entirely new group of teachers might be present in a school. Many parents choose a teacher for their children based on past experiences. There might be nothing to judge the teacher on. Under an "at will" system, teachers could be fired during the middle of a school year. This could be extremely disruptive for children who have grown used to a particular teacher.
I don't have an opinion on an "at will" system, but I think your concerns are a bit stretched.
Would the superintendent be accountable to no one? Wouldn't he want to have a successful school system? Parents want good teachers. Once parents know who those good teachers are, won't there be pressure on the superintendent to keep those teachers?
When I worked at a private school my reputation with parents, school board, and a higher administrator protected me from the disfavor of the kind of administrator you mention in #1. I'm not saying that kind of boss doesn't exist, just that he can't necessarily carry out his plans.
Wouldn't the friends still have to be qualified, credentialed teachers? That would also be limiting.
They were already having trouble getting teachers before this current economic crisis...w/o being given some type of job security why would most people bother becoming one?
I see all of the complaints on here from people about how much teachers and how it's so hard to get rid of them. I think that most of those are BS.
Sitting a classroom teaching people's slack-jawed precious snowflakes is not an easy job.Doing that knowing that you could be fired at any time, for any reason, makes a miserable job even less appealing.
To the people that think at will is a good idea: Are you a teacher?
Probably not.
Bascailly the same reason why could aply to any professiona really. That si no reason to keep sunsatndard empoyeees because of all the might happens.
Actually, teaching is not the same as other professions. You can put a dollar amount on what an employee who manufactures something or keeps a process running is worth. Teachers don't produce a saleable product. So the push would be to get as much as you can for as little as you can, same as industry BUT there is competition in industry for the employees hwo can produce the most because the company makes more money.
I know exactly what happens when you have at will employment for teachers. I was an at will teacher for the past two years. I started the year with 36 students in my classes, I bought my own white board markers, paper clips, paper, even chemicals for labs, etc, etc, etc... my "lab" was a regular classroom retrofitted with a sink. Teaching 36 students is hard enough. Doing labs with 36 students is impossible. They answered my complaints about class size by hiring another teacher to replace me. They said I didn't seem happy in the job.
Something else I see happening if teachers become at will employees is getting rid of seasoned teachers because they cost more. The fact is that the amount of money a teacher brings in is dependent on class size. Since class sizes are the same, from a monetary viewpoint, all teachers are worth the same. All you need is a warm body in front of the classroom who can do the job. It's not like schools get paid more if students do better.
At will employment works in industry because more highly skilled employees generate more profit for the company so they can pay them more. Teachers don't generate more money as they increase skills. They just cost more. The incentive, in industry, to develop more skills is more money and the employer supports that (to the point of paying for advanced degrees and other training) because they get more profits. At will employment won't work for teachers because there is no product you can put a $ amount on and increased skills just mean increased cost. While the end product may be better with skilled teachers, the bottom line isn't and the bottom line is the driving force.
This is why we have seniority and tenure rules. To stop the school board from looking only at the bottom line. If you don't, you'll get high turn over like is seen in charter schools. Teacher pay will come down and you'll have to leave one job for another to get any kind of raise. There is simply no incentive for a school to pay a teacher more to keep them when they can get someone else to teach the same number of students cheaper. Given there is a glut of teachers, I see wages dropping, high turn over and higher attrition from the field if they go to at will employment. Only those with skills that can't be replaced will be, somewhat, safe and even then it depends on state requirements.
Here in Michigan, you can teach high school chemistry with a general science certificate intended for middle school science. In other states you have to have a major in chemistry. I'd be safe in one of those states. I'm not in Michigan because I could be replaced by someone with a general science cert in a heart beat. I'm very highly educated and qualified but would have no job security under at will employement.
When I was an engineer, I brought value to the company. Every skill I learned made me more valuable to the company so at will employment worked.
1. The Superintendent would fire teachers just so he could give his friends jobs.
2. Teachers would be scared to death to teach anything controversial like sex education or evolution because they could be fired on a whim for doing so.
3. Teaching would become all about politics and not about teaching. It would involve keeping those over the teacher happy rather than trying to teach students
That's ridiculous. Number one is just silly. No superintendant would bother. Number two is already true - what teachers get to teach what they want? We get told exactly what to teach, what books to use, etc. There is no freedom at all. Number 3 is already true as well.
That's ridiculous. Number one is just silly. No superintendant would bother. Number two is already true - what teachers get to teach what they want? We get told exactly what to teach, what books to use, etc. There is no freedom at all. Number 3 is already true as well.
Not everyone has tenure. We don't.
But we've had two superintendents within the past 20 years who have left after sexual harassment charges were filed against them. In the most recent case, the victim and his wife, also a principal, were both subject to intimidation on the job because he rejected the superintendent's advances.
If a superintendent will do this to a principal, imagine what a principal would do to a teacher....
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They said I didn't seem happy in the job.
