St. Pete Times Daniel Ruth rips FL legislator who wants to end teacher tenure...

[madfloridian]

and take away any other rights they may have.

This columnist has a handle on the real problems in education. He is one of my favorite crusty codger columnists in Florida.

Bad idea deserves a thrashing

State Senator John Thrasher wants to do away with teacher job security and add more and harder testing.

Yet Thrasher and a bunch of his fellow truants from reality in the Florida Legislature seem bent on making it more difficult for our public school teachers to achieve tenure, easier to fire them and more difficult to — teach. Under Thrasher's proposal, current protections for classroom teachers' job security would be eviscerated and even more stringent requirements for end-of-year exams implemented and linked to educator evaluations.

At the same time, newly hired teachers, after a year's probation, would be subject to annual contracts to continue their employment. Thrasher insisted, with a straight face even as his nose grew the length of a Chilean fault line, that he was merely trying to "make sure our classrooms have the best teachers possible."

But that is so much poppycock, wrapped in fiddle-faddle, enshrouded in balderdash.

Daniel gets it about the job teachers have.

Yep, to be sure, this is a mere bagatelle of a do-nothing job — modest pay, grading papers for hours, overseeing six to seven packed classes a day, attending to parent conferences, dealing with the occasional brawl, being forced to teach to a cockamamie test. And all the while clucking Tallahassee politicians are looking over your shoulder telling you what a lousy, stinking job you're doing and threatening your livelihood.

Given all those lush fringe benefits, who wouldn't want to be a public school teacher?

He points out that few will want to work in high risk schools where one test score developed secretly by corporations that profit, graded privately by corporations that profit.....will determine everything. I think he understands that now the regular classroom grades and tests mean nothing. Yet they are the best indicator.

This paragraph sums it up.

Who would want to step into a work environment where your future is dependent on a multitude of forces beyond your control?

My appreciation to a columnist who understands and expresses the truth so well.

[flvegan]

1. Ruth has long been one of the good ones.

Not always on the right side, but always one to call out idiots.

[JCMach1]

2. Only when they apply some of the same rules to doctors and lawyers...

No one with any sense or backbone would want to stay under such professional conditions unless they are just a masochist.

[madfloridian]

4. Uh oh, you said "professional" and "teacher" in the same post.

The powers that be have worked hard to keep teachers from thinking of themselves as professionals. A college degree, the constant classes for training often paid for by us....still do not make a teacher a professional.

They managed to do that easily since no party stands up for teachers. Bought out by the same billionaire boys clubs as the GOP I guess.

[JCMach1]

9. You are unfortunately right

[madfloridian]

12. There are some things going on in our county that truly worry me.

Power plays by the usual folks, but this time they can go further because of the negative attitude toward teachers by this administration. Their grubby little GOP hands are no longer tied.

[JCMach1]

13. Exactly, First Obama embraces NCLB and then the private choice

and Charter schools movement.

Hell, at this point just go ALL Libertarian Obama and Arne and make all schools private and then 'mandate' children to go!

That's essentially where all this is headed more or less. :sarcasm:

[Orlandodem]

3. If anyone wants to teach in Florida I have some advice......DON'T!!!

Florida's legislature is so anti-teacher it's not even funny. I've never seen such scapegoating in my life. I feel like I am the target of their anger. If you know a college student studying to teach in Florida, tell them to change majors. If you know someone looking to move to Florida, don't tell them to go into teaching. I hope the NEA steps in and pour money into defeating these bastards this November.

[madfloridian]

11. You are very right. FL legislators are anti-teacher

I doubt the union nationally will do much. I think the local ones have tried at least.

[sendero]

5. "who would want"...

..."Who would want to step into a work environment where your future is dependent on a multitude of forces beyond your control?"

Welcome to the world the rest of us live in bucko. I'm 100% against tenure for public school teachers.

[tonysam]

6. Do you fucking know what "tenure" is? Of course you don't. It's obvious from your post.

It is NOT the same as college tenure. All it is is the right of a teacher to have a "due process" hearing before he or she is shitcanned.

Guess what? The hearings are rigged--ALWAYS--in favor of school districts. Why? Because the hearings are held on school property, and the "hearing officers" are typically paid for by the districts (in some states, it is the state which selects and pays for the hearing officers) and the "unions," which are typically in bed with the districts. Although the hearings are supposed to be legal proceedings, all kinds of illegal and criminal activity by school districts is tolerated, including bribery, perjury, subornation of perjury, forgery, witness tampering, you name it. A teacher can be deprived of witnesses, such as yours truly was.

What "tenure" really does is put a brake on a principal's worst impulses to fire teachers for stupid reasons, and to prevent EVEN MORE WRONGFUL TERMINATION LAWSUITS AGAINST SCHOOL DISTRICTS. Tenure protects school districts. It is in school districts' best interests that "tenure" exists.

[sendero]

10. 95% of us..

... work at the "pleasure" of our employers. We don't get a hearing, we don't get shit. Sorry if it bothers you that I'm not too upset that teachers live in the same world.

[JCMach1]

14. You ignore the fact that politicians WANT teachers to have professional credentials

Then, today, they proceed to treat them like drones.

You can't have it both ways. Either treat teachers like professionals, or go ahead and treat them like workers at McDonald's and see what happens to the quality of education.

[sendero]

15. Many of the jobs....

... I'm talking about have "professional credentials".

I'm sorry, I certainly don't think that most of our educational problems are the fault of teachers. On the other hand, I've known several bad teachers that should have been canned that were not because they have too many protections already.

Teaching is a job that requires a certain skill, aptitude and dedication like many difficult jobs. Not everybody that endeavors to teach is really cut out for the job. I don't understand why teachers need "special protections" for their jobs, their protection is like everyone else's, good performance.

[JCMach1]

16. It can be relatively easier to get a teacher out... sounds like an Administrative problem to me!

Maybe it's the administrators who need to be shown the door... Oh wait! That never happens union or not...

[madfloridian]

7. Not many jobs have such a direct impact on children and their minds.

So teaching IS quite different. It is not a 9 to 5 job, and there must be security.

What if I tell a parent something about their child's ability they don't want to hear. When we sit in conferences with counselors, principals, and sometimes a doctor's representative....we have to know we can speak honestly without repercussions.

When we give a deserved grade, enforce a penalty, I could go on....we deal with angry parents.

I had drunk parents come to conferences, get abusive to me and their child.

This is a profession dealing with how children learn, and teachers are often on the front lines trying to please parents and principals while doing what is right for the child.

[tonysam]

8. The REASON teacher firings were rare except in the most egregious cases

was NOT really because of the existence of "tenure," but the fact principals back then actually had consciences and understood the importance of staff morale not being undermined by capricious firings and the right of students to have a stable learning environment. Now principals don't give a shit if the kids have their teachers pulled away from them without any explanation whatsover. My kids were NEVER told what happened to me. I was there one day and gone the next. Hell's bells, the dipshit principal violated FMLA when she threw me out for no real reason except to get the HR head off her back. I was hardly fired "for cause," but the district made sure it covered up for this moron's illegal behavior while I am thrown out in a deteriorating job market and now 55 years old.

This district DESERVED to be sued, and it will be.

[JCMach1]

17. Well and to be fair bad administrators who don't know what their people are doing

I have met many good teachers in education...

I can count the administrators who were worth anything on one hand.