Why Are Teachers So Pissed Off?

After all, it is impossible to fire them unless they have done something egregiously wrong, thanks to the unions protecting them. I mean, isn't it true? Teachers have cushy jobs, work nine months out of the year and get big, fat pensions.

What is not to like about being a teacher?

As the fight against job security for teachers continues to gather steam, I turned to historian Jeffrey Mirel of the University of Michigan for advice. Jeff has been writing about the teaching profession for many years. He is a wise and deeply knowledgeable expert. I understand, as Jeff does, that tenure is mis described these days. University professors have a lifetime guarantee of employment when they win tenure. It is not the same in K-12 education, even though critics confuse the public by saying so. Teachers in K-12 schools do not have a lifetime guarantee; what they have is a guarantee of due process if someone wants to fire them. The right to a hearing, the right to be presented with evidence against them. When did that become un-American?

My comments:

What teachers have is not "tenure" but civil service protections that are similar if not identical to that of police and fire. As mentioned in the piece, these protections are NOT the same as college and university tenure, which is the right to a lifetime job, but only after many years of service. Those are politicized, but at least being denied it isn't a career killer the way being denied a continuing contract--"tenure"--is in public ed. One person in public ed--a principal, who is never held accountable for his or her actions, by the way--has the power to destroy teaching careers.

The notion teachers have a "lifetime job" is a deliberate attempt to undercut what few protections they actually have. It's unfortunate these protections were ever called "tenure" in the first place when they are actually civil service protections. I don't see these reformers going after protections for police and fire employees--at least not yet.

By the way, those hearings, which I know from personal experience, are straight out of Stalinist Russia. A few teachers "win" these rigged tribunals, but most do not. That's because school districts don't follow administrative law, and they don't have to. If they have a hearing officer or arbitrator in their pocket, it is almost impossible to appeal his or her decision, which is often "final." Then you have to try and find a lawyer to sue civilly on your behalf either in state or federal court, or both. It is nearly impossible for a teacher to get an attorney to sue because districts drag out the cases for years on end, and they very often fight teachers to trial and appeals. Even if a rare teacher "wins" a jury award, the judges will likely overturn it. Then you have "unions" like I had whose officials refuse to tell teachers their rights to file complaints with the EEOC or Department of Labor, both of which have very short time limits in which to file, and the statutes of limitations expire because teachers don't know their rights.

Teachers are actually the most regulated and least-protected workers in our economy, yet "reformers" want to make the situation even worse for them.

Here is an example of how "hard" it is to fire teachers.

They seldom if ever win hearings.