Teachers need tenure because without the assurance of a due process hearing before termination, they would be at the mercy of far too many competing interests.

Why do teachers “need” tenure while no professional has tenure?

(Teachers aren’t professionals. Professionals are personally liable for acts and omissions.)

UCLAdavid, I’m not sure tenure and unions are as closely related as you make them out to be. As I said, I live in a “right to work” state, and we have tenure.

If we could be sure that we all had good administrators all the time, then good teachers wouldn’t need tenure or unions. But we don’t.
We need those things to have some protection from being dismissed without cause or mistreated during employment.

Even with what “tenure” grants, you can still be fired for incompetence or failure to perform your job duties. Adminstrators like to pretend their hands are tie by tenure and unions, but really often, they are just don’t want to do the work that would be involved with terminating a bad teachers. They don’t want to do the kind documentation that would be required.

I understand that there are times when I need the union. Last year at my school, a teacher was threatened with a lawsuit by a parent. If the administrators threatened to (or will) get rid of me, I understand that is when I need the union. I also understand that I need the union to keep my pay sufficient and my benefits. I never said that there was no point to a union.

However, the problem with tenure is that when you have a bad teacher, why should it take years to get rid of that teacher? 2 years ago, a bad teacher at my school finally retired and fellow teachers complained about him for 20 years and at 2 schools. Students complained about him; teachers complained about him; parents complained him; he even was asleep when an administrator came in. Why did it case of retirement to finally get rid of the guy?

If a school suddenly got rid of a good teacher, you would hear complaints from parents and fellow teachers to back that teacher up. I think 2 unsatisfactory reviews in a row should be enough to get rid of a teacher with cause. Of course, if the administration is out to get that teacher, the union should of course fight it.

Finally, at most important, the big issue is putting kids in a classroom with a good teacher. With the current tenure process, you have kids in a classroom with horrible teachers who aren’t learning a thing.

How did that happen? The times indicated they were there earlier than mine, but they weren’t.

Sincerely, I’m glad you are having such a good experience, but I think you are wrong that good teachers don’t need unions. Some administrators don’t back teachers even when the teachers ARE right.

(I know of an excellent teacher who when the parent complained about the teacher sending her daughter to the office for dress code violations, was told just to ignore the child’s dress. It wasn’t that the administrator thought the parent was right; he just thought that doing the right thing was too much trouble. I also know of a school where when they wanted to bring in a new football coach, approached all of the social studies teacher to see who might be talked into leaving. Had the teachers not had tenure, I think they just would have fired someone.)

Especially at the worst schools, incompetent, crazy, or good ol’ boy administrators are more common than any of us want to think.

Additionally, because I work in a “right to work” state, I’m aware of some things that you may be taking for granted that your union is doing for you.

In a non-collective bargaining situation, the expectation of additional duties you can be compelled to take to take on is essentually endless. Additional work, duties, and expectations that couldn’t reasonably be completed during the contract day get added all the time. Unless there’s a hard and fast state law, there are no restriction on the number of students you might have to teach or the classes within your certification area you could be asked to teach (which is really only a problem when desirable classes are given to less able teachers at the whim of administrators). When a colleague is absent, you can be pulled from planning to cover for them without any compensation (which again isn’t a problem once in a while, but when the school can’t get subs because the working conditions stink, becomes a problem. Unless you are willing to personally go in and quote state laws about planning time to the administrator who evaluates you, there’s not much an individual can do.)

Sorry for the rant. I hate the political positions that the unions take, and I wouldn’t like be forced to work in a closed shop. Some of the protections about additional duties that unions demand seem to keep people from offering innovative programs that they would choose to do for free. It’s not that I think unions are great.

It’s just that I think it’s a mistake to say that good teachers don’t need unions. Being a good teacher if you have bad administrator isn’t going to help.

I’m not sure, but I believe there’s a law in California(or maybe nationally?) that permits you to demand a refund of that portion of dues which go toward political activity. It might not make much of a difference, but every little bit helps.

I couldn’t disagree with you more.

At all.

Good teachers do need tenure. Just because you’re a good teacher according to your current administration doesn’t mean you won’t upset or step on the shoes of the next administration. Teachers in schools are permanent, administrators are temporary– they are the ones that are shuffled around at a moment’s notice, and it is the teachers that grow roots in their schools and into their community.

Back to my original point:

What happens when you upset the new administration, through no fault of your own and now they’re out to “get you”. There are great administrators and there are bad ones; unfortunately you only have three years teaching and seem a bit naive in your post. Tenure was something that was fought for by your union, not given. Respect tenure and respect the job your union does, regardless of your political views.