Amy Bishop

Bishop was denied tenure last April at the University of Alabama--Huntsville, and she appealed the decision but it too was denied. However, despite media speculation this played a role in the killings, it was settled long before. Some witnesses believe she was focused on it, however.

When professors are denied tenure, they have a full year to find work, and it appears Bishop was going to be okay financially. Normally, being denied tenure isn't a career killer on the college level, unlike K-12 education, but in this economy, Bishop could have had trouble landing a teaching job.

Here is how the tenure process works, at least at this university:

As for the tenure procedure, Radonovich said it began for Bishop in October 2008. The six or seven steps of review start in the department and move up the ladder past the dean, the provost and to the president. There are several review committees, as well.

They consider everything from student evaluations to critiques of research from scholars at other universities. Radonovich said UAH may review 15 or 16 professors each year for tenure or other promotions. Denials generally occur by April and can be appealed.

"She appealed it," he said. "She was in the grace period." A national standard, the grace period - also known as the terminal year - allows time for professors to find work elsewhere.

In public education, a principal tells you whether you get it or not. There's no committee, nothing. One person, no matter how good, bad, ethical, unethical, has absolute power over your career. A principal doesn't even have to give a reason why you are non-renewed. You can't appeal it because until you are actually granted "tenure" or "post-probationary" status, you are an "at-will" employee. There is absolutely NO legal recourse to being canned unless you can prove discrimination or some other extremely narrow ground. If a K-12 teacher is denied a permanent contract, he or she will likely never again teach anywhere in public schools in the United States.


A report of the 1986 Massachusetts shooting of Bishop's brother Seth by Bishop:

Frazier, who was a Braintree officer in 1986, said Bishop fired three shots: one that hit a wall, one that killed her brother, and a third into the ceiling as she fled their Hollis Avenue home on foot. Bishop also pointed the pump-action gun at a passing vehicle in an apparent attempt to get the driver to stop before she was captured by police behind a business on nearby Washington Street, according to Frazier, who said his account came from one of the officers who responded.

Bishop was being booked when the lieutenant handling the booking received a call from Polio, “or possibly a captain on Chief Polio’s behalf,’’ ordering her release, Frazier said.

He said that Bishop’s mother was a town official at the time, possibly on the personnel board.

“This would not happen in this day and age, I can tell you that,’’ said Frazier. “The members of the department were not happy with the turn of events that occurred’’ in the Bishop case.