By Denise Jennex
It is a misconception that California teachers have tenure. They don’t! What teachers have is due process, the right to a fair hearing by an impartial decision maker. These are the same rights that all public employees currently possess.
Before the due process protections were established, a teacher’s performance was about the last criterion for his or her retention. Favoritism, politics and providing personal services to administrators and school board members were more important factors in the eyes of administrators. Veteran teachers were often fired and replaced by beginners just to save money.
Due process for public school teachers was developed and exists fundamentally as a protection for pupils to ensure their rights to a continuing program of quality education. Pupils deserve the best instruction available, in schools staffed by qualified professionals hired and retained on the basis of professional criteria. Such instruction is possible only if the employment practices of the schools are free from irrelevant or inappropriate considerations of political, social or economic bias. Because of the critical importance of academic freedom, protection from arbitrary dismissal actions, and defense against external pressures that would restrict the student’s right to learn, it is vital that procedures providing for these issues be based on the law.
Due process procedures provide definite, orderly procedures by which unsatisfactory teachers may be dismissed. It protects competent teachers from unjust dismissal and protects teachers in the exercise of their rights and duties as American citizens. Due process also encourages boards of education to place the welfare of children above the selfish interests of those political or economic groups that may seek to dominate the schools. Thus, due process is a procedure for the dismissal of teachers based on the evaluation of instruction and is related directly to the quality of teaching in the schools.
Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) will not change due process protections in anyway whatsoever. PAR merely creates an avenue for teachers to work with other teaches on professional development.