Really Arne Duncan?

[dsc]

This is part and parcel of why so many teachers didn't vote for Obama in the primaries.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/10/teachers-tenure-judge-education/10291991/

The USA's two largest teachers unions vowed to challenge a judge's decision Tuesday that declared tenure and other job protections unconstitutional for California teachers. The case could reverberate across the USA as other states look to overhaul their systems for hiring, paying and retaining teachers.

Ruling in a case brought by nine California students, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu said the current system discriminates against minority and low-income students in K-12 classrooms, saying there was "no dispute that there are a significant number of grossly ineffective teachers currently active in California classrooms."

snip

The unions' reactions put them at odds with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who said the nine student plaintiffs are "just nine out of millions of young people in America who are disadvantaged by laws, practices and systems that fail to identify and support our best teachers and match them with our neediest students."

Duncan said the ruling "is a mandate to fix these problems." In a statement, he said he hoped the ruling would help "build a new framework for the teaching profession that protects students' rights to equal educational opportunities while providing teachers the support, respect and rewarding careers they deserve."

end of quote

Let me be blunt here. Without tenure you won't have gay teachers in small towns, you won't have teachers willing to hold athletes accountable in class, you won't have teachers who stand up to abusive administrators. Teachers will be fired for belonging to the wrong political party, the wrong church, the wrong race, or a host of other ridiculous reasons.

[busterbrown]

1. Can not teachers be fired after Tenure?

Except there has got to be ample reason?

Isn’t that the real point of tenure?

[dsc]

3. yes

Now to be fair, I do think giving tenure after only two years might be a bit fast but all tenure is, is due process before one is fired.

[TBF]

2. They want to break the unions -

ALL the unions. Schools, post offices, any business out there. We know the result of this because we saw it prior to 1920 - extremely low wages, no job security, child labor, no weekends off, etc.

The only surprise is why people are falling for it.

[BuelahWitch]

5. Yep, that's it.

Teachers and Postal Service Workers have a big old target on their backs, and neither political party will come to their aid.

[msongs]

4. Obama spokesperson Arne Duncan bragging about race to the top again nt

[Iris]

6. Where are "the best teachers" Arne?

Do they even exist? Will the exist in the next decade after people like you have made education a field that no self-respecting person would enter.

[TBF]

8. They are the ones who will take $2.00/hr. nt

[Iris]

9. Yes. They'll be an excellent addition to the "I want summers off with my family"group.

[n2doc]

10. Yep. Those TFA'ers who last 2 years max before bailing. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

7. He hates us for embarrassing him over his new testing scheme

I'm proud to be from a state and in a union that has been a pain in his ass for the whole road.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. This is exactly why I'm an independent and will only vote for candidates who fight this crap.

Any candidate that hopes to get my vote will have to get rid of Arne Duncan, Race to the Top, Common Core, stop tying federal funding to state test score, and start increasing federal and state funding to public schools. Any candidate unwilling to do these things will not get my vote.

[neverforget]

12. Unions stand in the way of privatizing public education.

There is a lot of money to be made off the backs of our nation's kids.

[madfloridian]

13. Without tenure teachers are at the mercy of students, parents, and principals.

They can be dismissed if a child says the teacher hurt their feelings. Imagine a staffing for a child with emotional problems whose parents are in denial? Sitting there are the principal, guidance counselor, other specialists and the parents are blaming everything on the teacher.

Without tenure teachers will be afraid to refer students for help, to do anything but breathe in and out.