The Bogus Issue of Tenure

I had a short, acrimonious but non-violent, confrontation with a (paid) signature collector, trying to get the elimination of tenure for teachers on the ballot. Of course, me, being me, I wasn’t satisfied to just decline his offer to sign “to improve Missouri teachers;” I let him know what I thought of the proposal and countered by asking how much he was being paid for each signature, a question he declined to answer. The issue has also recently popped up tangentially on a protracted Facebook conversation that started about the much maligned Common Core Standards. (I’ll save my commentary on that for a later, probably much later, day.)

Eliminating tenure won’t do anything except make it easy to get rid of teachers courageous enough, independent enough, to ask inconvenient questions of those in power, be they school board members, central office administrators, or principals. I can confidently claim that my teaching career would likely have been much shorter without the protections of tenure. Aren’t courage and independent thinking qualities we want in our teachers? (By we, of course, I probably don’t mean those concerned with preserving or expanding their power.)

The argument that tenure protects bad teachers isn’t really defensible if you know how the system really works. Before you dismiss my position as biased, let me ask how many tenure hearings you’ve attended. In my career I attended three. Teachers lost every one. Only one of those could even remotely be called “unfair,” and that was kind of a bizarre (self-inflicted) circumstance (and wasn’t based on competence, but a “moral turpitude” accusation that was later recanted. Still, there was enough poor judgment involved that it was hard to defend the teacher. Incidentally, when moral issues are involved, things move pretty quickly.).

Who decides if a tenured teacher is inadequate? Administration, either on its own or at the behest of the school board. Who files the charges? Administration. Who determines if the teacher has improved? Administration. Who serves as the “prosecution” at the hearing? Administration. Who hears the evidence and decides on termination? Administration (school board). Tenure, in Missouri, provides only procedural due process (there are rules that must be followed), NOT substantive due process (actually having to prove the allegations of incompetence). It’s a stacked deck: the accuser, judge and jury all represent the school administration.

I’m not defending keeping bad teachers around. Behind the scenes I helped negotiate some early exits for a number of teachers, and concurred with a principal’s decision to remove another teacher before tenure. That brings up an oft-ignored point. Administrators have FIVE (count ‘em, 5) years when they can non-renew a teacher without even giving a reason. (“Sorry, you're not a good fit. See ‘ya. Good luck.”) Surely that's plenty of time, if administrators do their jobs, to ensure that only good teachers get tenure. Good teachers are professionals with pride in their work. They don’t start phoning it in after five years, just because they earned tenure; most, in fact, continue to get better. For the few that do, see the note about the illusory protections of tenure, above.

Here’s an ironic end-note. What would protect a teacher who disagrees with, and wants to fight, the implementation of Common Core? Yep, tenure. Beware the simple answers, now and always. Also, be careful what you wish for; it may not turn out exactly like you think it should. Probably won’t.