Why bad teachers remain in the classroom.
March 15, 2008 - The Center for Union Facts launched a national campaign this week, targeting about two dozen school districts the group says fail to get rid of poor-performing teachers. One of those districts is Lubbock (TX) Independent School District.
In Lubbock, 1,545 teachers have "term" contracts, which the center said entitle teachers "to the equivalent of criminal proceedings if the district attempts to terminate them." From 2002 through 2006, no single term-contract teacher was fired in Lubbock, the group said.Lubbock officials defended themselves by saying that bad teachers aren't fired; they usually resigned.
But allowing teachers to resign isn't good enough, a center spokesman said, adding that that allows the worst teachers to remain in the profession. When teachers resign, they move on to another school district and the problem is perpetuated all over again.
The bottom line: school districts have to pay $50,000 - $60,000 in legal fees for grievance hearings when a teacher is fired.
[TT- By contrast, there is no economic burden for the bad teacher. The union supplies a lawyer for the proceedings at no cost to the teacher.]
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The Center for Union Facts Web site
