Officials say it's not easy to fire a bad teacher
By: LOUISE ESOLA - Staff Writer | ∞
NORTH COUNTY ---- It takes piles of money, mounds of paperwork, and years of filing complaints to fire an unsatisfactory teacher, according to area school administrators.
The topic of employee performance and job security for school teachers will play a big role in Tuesday's special election, when voters will be asked to decide on Proposition 74. If approved, the law would make it easier to fire an unfit teacher and more difficult for new educators to get tenure, the permanent status that by law protects teachers' jobs.
Specifically, Prop. 74 would simplify the process of firing a tenured teacher by mandating that a principal would only need to file two poor-performance reviews. It would also lengthen the time it takes for a teacher to gain tenure, from the current two years to five.
A teacher without tenure can easily lose his or her job without the legal proceedings required to fire a tenured one.
Opponents say that Prop. 74 would punish teachers by allowing administrators to fire them for any reason, and that the state education code already has in place a fair method to fire a bad teacher.
Several school officials said Wednesday that the current system for firing teachers is somewhat flawed and costly, although most of them declined to say whether they favored the proposition.
"The current law says that a teacher can be released for unsatisfactory performance, but it doesn't (define) unsatisfactory performance," said James Whitlock, assistant superintendent for employer-employee relations at the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District.
Whitlock said other parts of the education code ---- a complex set of statutes detailed over roughly three dozen pages ---- are vague when it comes to firing a teacher.
"Prop. 74 defines (the reason for dismissal) as two unsatisfactory evaluations back to back," said Whitlock, who has been involved in school personnel issues since 1976, working for the California Teachers Association as a labor relations consultant for six years.
Whitlock said that when a principal seeks to fire a teacher, for such reasons as inadequate lesson plans, frequent absences, and unprofessionalism, the principal has to document specific instances of a teacher's alleged offenses.
The law then gives teachers 90 days to correct their problems, he said.
At times, the errors beget new errors, which must then be documented and result in another 90 day "shape-up notice," he added.
"It is very difficult to pin down what the teacher is doing to be an unsatisfactory teacher," he said. "It can take years."
Kimo Marquardt, the principal at Oceanside High School, agreed that terminating an employee with tenure is anything but easy.
Given the example of a teacher who uses profanity in classes, refuses to use state-mandated textbooks, and often shows up late, Kimo said it "could take years" to fire that instructor.
"Administrators are doing their job and documenting poor performance, but it takes several years of documentation," he said. "(Teachers) have due process, so we have to honor all the procedural safeguards. It would take some time to fill out the documentation for the (firing) process."
Under the law, a teacher in danger of being fired is given a hearing before the school board.
But that's not as simple as a standard court hearing, officials have said. And it often costs tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to get rid of a bad teacher, they said.
At times, dismissed teachers ---- even those who deserved to be fired ---- may hire attorneys and get their jobs back because administrators may have not accurately followed the complicated procedures, according to Dayle Mazzerella, a longtime educator.
Mazzerella, who spent more than 30 years as a high school teacher in the Oceanside Unified School District and who now works as a consultant at Oceanside High, said principals at times fail to do their homework when it comes to dismissing a teacher.
He said the Oceanside district has been entangled in legal issues, for example, because it did not follow the procedures.
In one case several years ago, he said, a teacher refused to give his students the state-mandated standardized tests and was not fired because the administration did not follow the education code.
"If principals don't follow the process, then, yes, it is almost impossible to fire a teacher," he said. "But it can be done."
Mazzerella said some teachers too often take advantage of the laws guarding their tenure.
"Tenure allows teachers to get away with things," he said. "But it's not a black-and-white issue."
Tenure has saved his job on more than one occasion, he added.
Mazzerella helped institute several controversial, yet successful, changes at Oceanside's two high schools since the 1980s.
For example, at El Camino High 20 years ago, Mazzerella was part of a team of teachers that invited lower-performing minority students to take college-level courses. Such classes were often filled with white students. The initiative served as a way to challenge minority students and to close the achievement gap. He helped do the same thing at Oceanside High three years ago.
El Camino's results, higher performance by poor and minority students, were the topic of a U.S. Department of Education forum in Washington, D.C., last year.
But initially, not everybody was happy. Parents and teachers, worried that some students were unfit for the tougher courses, complained to administrators.
"I had pretty severe disagreements with teachers and principals over the years," he said, adding that tenure can protect educators from being unfairly fired for political reasons. "Tenure saved my job."
Contact staff writer Louise Esola at (760) 901-4151 or lesola@nctimes.com.
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Sven wrote on Nov 3, 2005 6:55 AM:Administrators are complaining that it is too difficult to fire a bad teacher because it requires paperwork and a hearing before they can be terminated? If that's the case, it sounds like a case of bad administrators who don't want to do their job. Perhaps there could be ways to make it less costly, as this article claims. But Prop 74 is not the answer. Baby boomers are going to be retiring from the profession in the coming years, and we are going to need to recruit many new teachers to fill the classrooms. We should be encouraging people into joining this honorable profession, not attacking them. A teacher recently asked Schwarzenegger, in regards to prop 74: "I'm wondering if you will tell me the location of this magicland in which you are going to find a person willing to work the first year for literally zero dollars and the a subsequent five years just to find out if they're going to be held on the job?"
Donna wrote on Nov 3, 2005 7:29 AM:It must not be easy to fire a bad principal either, since there seem to be so many who hang around forever. Prop 74 gives bad principals the right to give good teachers two bad performance appraisals and then fire them, with no way to appeal the decision. That is too much power to give to bad principals. That is one reason why you should vote NO! on Prop. 74.
Michael D wrote on Nov 3, 2005 7:53 AM:Jobs for life, no matter how bad your performance, how miserable it makes you, or how many people you hurt in the process. It's the perfect socialist loser system and just what the Union bosses and Democrat legislators need so they can keep themselves in power. Dumb teachers & dumb voters keeping corrupt politicians in power.
Jamie wrote on Nov 3, 2005 10:19 AM:There is no other job that offers this kind of protection. For example, we desperatly need nurses, they are over worked and underpaid just as teachers claim they are, yet there is no protection for them, one error and they can be out the door. The perks of being a teacher are great, they don't work holidays, get ample vacation time, and have outstanding benifits. Why is it they feel they deserve a job for life with great benifits and no reasonable accountability for their performance. We need to run schools like businesses, you perform, you stay, you don't your out. No special rules for teachers, they have been on the gravy train long enough.
Michael wrote on Nov 3, 2005 10:36 AM:Any person who is performing at a professional level should not worry about their performance evals. If they were fired under political circumstances there are other remedies. Any incompetent employee, particularly one who is given the responsibility for teaching children, should be terminated.
Gilbert wrote on Nov 3, 2005 11:06 AM:As a Human Resources person who has been involved in the termination process, I agree that it is too difficult to fire a bad teacher and a bad administrator. The process needs to be simplified and made less costly. I also agree that five years is way too long to find out if you have a job. Anyone should be subject to dismissal if they don't do their job, but make the process fair for both sides so the students win the right to a better education.
Warren wrote on Nov 3, 2005 11:13 AM:Sometimes I'm embarassed by unprofessional teachers who abuse their immunity from firing. There needs to be a way of getting rid of bad teachers and our union needs to support that effort. This proposition is not the answer, however. A bad teacher cannot be defined soley by two bad reviews from a prinicpal. Principals are often vindictive against teachers who speak out on campus about any number of controversial issues. Principals may just not like a certain teacher for many different reasons. There are bad principals who don't know the difference between a good teacher and a bad one. Often times very good teachers have very difficult assignments with low performing students. There needs to be a very clear set of circumstances that objectively describes bad teachers. Our union needs to help with this process.
Robert wrote on Nov 3, 2005 1:00 PM:If Prop 74 passes, good teachers will be harassed and blackmailed by bad administrators. If you aren't willing to volunteer for extra duty without pay, if you are politically incorrect, if you are not a follower, if you believe in the wrong religion, etc. As pointed out by Warren, how are you going to define who is good or bad? How are you going to measure performance. No, evaluations are very subjective! Teachers are being singled out as the scape goat. Students are unruly, disruptive, and irresponsible. Who is to blame for this? How about looking at the media - TV, music, movies, video games, etc. that is fostering these attitudes and character? Prop 74 won't make the schools better for they are not addressing the real problems.
Susan wrote on Nov 3, 2005 2:40 PM:Why is it that teachers need special protection of their jobs? What is different about teachers than any other occupation? If tenure happens at one year or it happens at five, either way it builds a sense of security that allows teachers to be less productive once they have reached tenure. It is my opinion that there should never be tenure, just a day to day job like every other job. There are a lot of jobs that are valuable to society, I don't understand this priveledged mentality of teachers, we really don't owe you anything more than your paycheck.
Tobe wrote on Nov 3, 2005 4:55 PM:So a teacher was quoted as telling the Governor of California that a first year teacher works for "literally zero dollars"? Since the word ‘literal’ means, ‘free from exaggeration or embellishment’, that teacher is telling the Governor that they will be working for free. Now I know that’s not what that person really meant. Passion will make even good people say some strange things, but the average beginning teacher’s salary in San Diego County in 2001 was around $32,652 dollars a year, hardly 'zero' dollars. Based on the roughly 1480 hours a teacher’s works per year that would come out in the range of $22.00 an hour. A better wage then I made my first year as an Engineer five years ago.
Celia wrote on Nov 3, 2005 7:08 PM:And what do you make now, Tobe? I bet you make more after five years of being an engineer than I do five years after becoming a teacher. And why shouldn't first-year teachers be paid more than first-year engineers?
Sven wrote on Nov 3, 2005 9:07 PM:Tobe: by the first year teaching for zero dollars, the teacher was referring to the time spent student teaching. This is before having a paid contract. And by calculating their hourly wage you are discounting the number of hours spent outside the classroom grading papers, writing lesson plans, etc. Not to mention money out of their own pocket for classroom supplies. I'm guessing you didn't spend the first 5 years of your engineering career as a temp, why would you expect a teacher to? I'm married to a teacher, and am amazed at the amount of hoops our state requires them to go through to keep their job. My wife sticks with it for one reason only: her students. The bureaucracy involved only makes her concider changing careers. To those suggesting teachers have it so easy: might I suggest joining the profession? Its much more difficult than you are giving credit. I know I wouldn't last five minutes myself.
Chad wrote on Nov 4, 2005 3:02 PM:Just reading the comments regarding evaluations, etc. If every other profession in the world requires accountability in the form of objective and yes, subjective, evaluation, why does being a teacher preclude one from judgement? I know good teachers, good restaurant workers, good engineers, and any other profession one can name. The difference is that the other professions require that poor/incompetent workers be purged...teaching (the "most important job on earth") protects them.
Chris wrote on Nov 5, 2005 12:07 AM:Susan, You don't have any idea of what it's like to be a teacher in this society now. People want to blame teachers but they should consider looking in the mirror first. Education starts at home. Of course teachers need protection in their jobs. I have had a student pull a gun on me and another brought a knife to the classroom. If some parents had done their job imagine how much better society would be? Why should teachers have to put up with children who threaten and bully their way through school because of the example set by their parents. If a teacher touches a child they can loose their job. Some folks aren't living n the real world.
Sven wrote on Nov 5, 2005 7:58 AM:It sounds like Chad is referring to some sort of "Merit Pay" system of evaluating and rewarding good teachers. On the surface, this seems like a good idea. Experienced teachers like my wife might be for the idea, if it seemed like there was a workable system. But unfortunately, "Merit Pay" would cost the state a substantial amount of money to implement. With the states current financial troubles, I don't see that happening. But that's not what prop 74 is about, in any case. My wife has been teaching longer than 5 years. Prop 74 makes it more difficult to recruit and retain NEW teachers. If anything, my wife's job security will be enhanced. Our interest lies in what is best for the future of education in California. That is why we are voting NO on 74, 75 & 76.
Rose wrote on Nov 6, 2005 12:07 AM:Thank you NC Times for this commentary that you provide to help the rest of us not personally involved in Proposition 74 vote on this measure. I find myself at this point looking into Propositions 75 and 76. That's what it is all about. Involvement. How does one obtain and remain unadulterated? That is an impossible question for myself. I certainly hope more than one person is this government is asking themselves those kinds of questions on a daily basis. And if three people do it daily together. Does that make me an idealist or a fool? You have helped me think longer and harder than I have yet here.
Susie wrote on Nov 6, 2005 12:44 PM:The students of the California Public School System have for too long been cheated out of their education from unqualified teachers and administrators alike. This also comes about from the students home/environment as well. There needs to be accountability in all areas of the Public School System if our kids are to succeed. Right now, no one really cares as long as they collect their paycheck and are out the door. The few good teachers that do care are out numbered by the non-caring. We need to change this and this is a good time to start.
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