Public School Teachers and Administrators: How should we fire them?

[Smarmie Doofus]

59. Hiring and retaining good teachers is a HUGE part of it.

Last edited Sun Feb 26, 2012, 01:59 PM - Edit history (1)

>>>However hiring and retaining good teachers and getting rid of bad ones is certainly part of it.>>>>>

Getting rid of bad ones is important also, but there's no point in getting rid of 'em if we're doing nothing about retaining the "good" ones, no? Otherwise we'll just be replacing good ones w. "bad" ones.

What I see now is good teachers w. a few years in (5-7 ) leaving or making plans to leave the profession as they begin to see the writing on the wall ( to wit: "do not think of this as a career... i.e. w. pay raises, medical benefits, collective bargaining, pension.... because we are "reforming" you out of all that.&quot They don't have that much time invested and can still satrt over in a more ... shall we say... appreciated career. The teachers that are really in the bind are the ones ... 10-20 years in ....for whom it's too late to go back and for whom there is no retirement light at the end of the tunnel.

"Getting rid of bad ones" is a relatively simple matter. They're fewer in # ( Really! They are! People, as a general rule, don't want to keep working at something that they are no good at.) And there are mechanisms in place for observation, evaluation and discipline. At least there are in every system I've ever heard of.

Re. "Bad" Administrators: A better question here, it seems to me, would be "How do we get the RIGHT people to go into ADMINISTRATION for the RIGHT reasons? As it is now... from my particular vantage point... it appears that *most* admins leave the classroom 'cause admins get to come and go as they please ( mostly "go&quot , get to be "the boss" while wielding power and dispensing and withholding favors to and from the "little people".

This don't exactly add-up to be a blueprint for a healthy educational environment. But the reformer$$ are counting on the middle-level management ( school admins) to do the dirty work of destroying the teachers unions, pensions and benefits. So "administrator reform" is of course not on the media agenda and won't be until the dirty work is done.

Then......