Reply to Two of DCPS's biggest challenges going forward

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Reply to "Two of DCPS's biggest challenges going forward"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]1) Poor performers at Central Office and at the Principal's level in many schools.

2) The teachers union.[/quote]

Oh good grief.  What is your proof that the teachers union is to blame for anything.  WTU is such a weak union.  We don't have tenure.  We have the most punitive evaluation system in the country.  We have very little due process, if any.  And DCPS fires hundreds of teachers each year.  What are you talking about?[/quote]

It's so bizarre to me that anyone anywhere ever thought tenure was a good idea for teachers.  Teachers complaining about not having tenure is like me complaining about not being able to get drunk at lunch.  Of course you don't have tenure.   Why would you?[/quote]

Actually, we never did have tenure. Tenure is something that some college professors have. Teachers could always be fired for cause.  All we had was some due process. Now that has been eroded.[/quote]

Thanks for the clarification.  I guess I used the word "tenure" to refer to the due process that you mention.  A poster up-thread (apparently a teacher) wrote "now we don't have tenure" in a way that I perceived as complaining.  I may have misunderstood.

However, I've also discussed this issue at length with a teacher friend who is active in the union and is a staunch defender of what he perceives as teachers' right to a system of strict due process which, by design, makes it really tough to fire them.  According to my friend, this is to protect teachers from political retribution.   He claims that this never has caused any problems with teacher quality because it was possible to get rid of bad teachers during a probationary period.

This point of view seems absurd to me on its face.[/quote]

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