Oklahoma plan would make it easier to fire teachers

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Oklahoma plan would make it easier to fire teachers
By Steve Olafson Steve Olafson – Thu Mar 31, 11:23 pm ET

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla (Reuters) – An education reform bill that makes it easier for school boards to fire poor performing teachers was approved on Thursday by the Oklahoma state Senate.

The bill, approved by a 30-16 vote, now goes to the state's new Republican Governor Mary Fallin, who supports changes to Oklahoma's education system.

The measure removes the right of teachers to appeal their terminations to a state district court. It is one of several education reforms sought by Republicans, who this year have majorities in both chambers of the legislature for the first time in Oklahoma's 103-year history.

State Senator John Ford, a sponsor of the bill, said school districts are forced to spend thousands in legal fees to remove poor teachers and sometimes opted to save money by simply transferring bad teachers to low-performing schools where there is little parental involvement.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110401/us_nm/us_oklahoma_teachers

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[a la izquierda]

2. "Poor performing" huh?

A bit subjective?
I'm happy I'm moving in the summer. I feel bad for the many teacher friends I have here, though.

[christx30]

3. Yeah...

It's the teachers that are the problem. Not the administrators making $100,000 or more a year. it's the teachers that act as $4 an hour babysitters that work during the summers for almost no pay.

[alc]

4. there are bad motivations for rules like this

There are also some really bad teachers that my school district can't fire. My neighborhood has teachers, administrators, and parents who all talk about 2 teachers almost every time we get together during the school year and EVERYONE wants those teachers gone but the rules don't allow it. It would help the teacher's union image if they could come up with a good method to remove a small number of bad teachers. It would also avoid getting to situations where cities/counties/states come up with ways to remove large numbers of teachers for the wrong reasons (saving money).

[MedicalAdmin]

5. Thanks for the gossip.

Are you in a position to answer these questions? Has the district tried to fire the teachers? By what criteria are they bad?

My guess is that the reason those teachers are around still is because some administrator isn't doing their job. No teacher is fire proof. Not one.

[joeglow3]

7. If their story is true, they answered your questions

My neighborhood has teachers, administrators, and parents who all talk about 2 teachers almost every time we get together during the school year and EVERYONE wants those teachers gone but the rules don't allow it.

[MedicalAdmin]

8. How do you know that.

YOur entire post is heresay and gossip. You are just repeating something your heard that kinda mighta happened or not. Gossip = not reliable. You are posting about gossip and taking it as the gospel. Have you ever checked out the contract? The question you should be asking isn't why are there bad teachers allowed to keep their jobs, but rather why the boss isn't doing the bosses job and removing the bad teacher for cause. IF they had cause they would be able to get rid of the them. Look at the contract - it's a public document.

I've sat on boards that have reviewed this kinds of legislatiion and administrative rules (which are largely the same nationally with regional variations) and I have never seen or heard of a fire proof teacher. Every contract contains language about termination and the steps needed to achieve it. Often it is surprisingly easy.

And just as often the reason that termination is not pursued leads directly back to an administrator who either doesn't bother to take those easy steps or is just too lazy to.

[joeglow3]

10. Woah, I never stated anything as fact

Reread mine. I even made a point to say "if it is true." Call me naive, but I am not someone to immediatly assume people are liars until they prove otherwise. I think what you are saying is true in many cases.

[ret5hd]

6. if a bad teacher isn't fired, it is the fault of incompetent administrators.

unions really aren't much more than "prepaid lawyers for the defense". All the union can really do is force the administration to "follow the rules". If an administrator doesn't know how to document problems, why is this the unions fault?

[MedicalAdmin]

9. Ding, ding ding.

A good and succinct answer. Thanks for saying it much better than I did.

[joeglow3]

11. LA School district spends $3.5 MILLION to fire 7 teachers

There is no way around it: they ARE issues that need to be addressed.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/la-school-district-spent-millions-firing-just-seven-teachers-paid-50000-br