Teaching, Etc.

A couple of teacher discipline cases in Oregon worth noting here:

A former Medford School District teacher who was accused of being too "touchy feely" with students including giving students "Indian burns" had his license revoked by the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission in Salem.

He had quit the district, but the board had fired him despite the fact it was illegal.

This other teacher I actually went to high school with. It is a hell of a way to end a career to show such poor judgment as to let a relative use a weight room with kids around when this guy was accused of sexual crimes with children although it was actually a sting operation by cops in Clackamas County.

The relative's arrest was big news in Oregon although I paid little or no attention to it, let alone knowing my former classmate had any involvement with this guy.

This teacher had previously blown the whistle on some administrators, going so far as to report them to TSPC, and while normally I would side with a teacher because administrators can be such corrupt bastards, in this case, well...the teacher screwed up.

He had about 30 years in with this school district, so I would think he has long since retired from teaching. He certainly won't teach again now that his license was suspended for six months.


But hey, why have such things as due process? A billionaire-financed astroturf outfit, Students Matter, is trying to destroy "tenure" and seniority rights under the guise of minority student protections. What a bunch of liars. Both concepts are outgrowths of civil service laws which ostensible prevent cronyism and firing for the hell of it because a supervisor doesn't like you regardless of whether it is legal. Of course they can do it anyway by rigging administrative law in their favor. But those protections, as flimsy as they are in reality, help to make principals think twice about their actions.

This is what happens when people who have no clue about education try to take control of it.

By the way, it IS "constitutional" to have tenure--it is "due process" which is in the constitution, and teachers, like other public employees, have a right to a job because it is considered a property right.

More discussion here.

Teachers actually have civil service protections--not tenure, in reality, because that is lifetime employment as in higher education which doesn't exist in K-12--the same as police and fire.