Tenure: A Relic or a Necessity?

Years ago, I worked for a Tampa company that made parts for military turbine engines. Those engines powered jet fighters, attack helicopters, and Army tanks.

The process is known as investment casting, when specialty alloys are melted and poured into molds. For a number of years, I was the foundry supervisor over three shifts of machine operators and helpers. The machine operators melted the alloys and along with the helpers, poured the hot metals into hot molds. The helpers also prepared the molds for casting.

On a typical 8 hour shift, a machine operator could melt and cast 20 molds. A helper could assist the operator and also prepare 50 molds for future use. Pretty simple to track standard production quantities for those employees.

As for quality, the helpers were considered successful if the molds did not leak molten metals. The machine operators were considered successful if the molds completely filled with alloy and were free of slag. Pretty simple to track standard production quality for those employees.

In the manufacturing world, aside from employee behaviors and unanticipated machine failures, the effort that a person dedicates to his or her job is easy to evaluate.

Classroom instruction, on the other hand, is much less cut and dried.

Anyone reading this can tell a story about a great teacher. At every level of education, we all have a favorite teacher that gave us a spark, a direction, a reason to keep learning. I believe most every teacher in our district has the energy, patience, and skill to reach students. One the other hand, the vast minority of teachers who are ineffective, passive-aggressive, and put forth a minimum effort need to go away sooner than later. And the rule of tenure should not obstruct their departure.

As the old saying goes in Hillsborough, unless a teacher is caught hurling cocaine hand grenades down a hallway…or providing student services outside a classroom (or is that servicing students), he or she will never be fired. The process if too time consuming for any administration team….and if the union turns a blind eye….too many children suffer.

There is no longer a need for tenure as long as teachers are protected through bargaining units and through normal state and federal labor laws. There is no room to triple or quadruple protect those teachers who care not about the students they teach…or the futures they may ruin.

Last point: Do Board members Griffin and her echo Valdes know the meaning of tenure?

posted by admin @ 6:02 PM