Teacher tenure on the table

In the coming months, look for Town Hall-style and other meetings hosted by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to address his recently proposed $128 million education reform proposal, one that includes controversial changes to teacher tenure rules.

The changes are of particular interest to the state’s 45,000 teachers.

“I’m pro-teacher, as long as that doesn’t mean defending the status quo, and I’m pro-reform, as long as that isn’t simply an excuse to bash teachers,” Gov. Malloy said last week during the speech in which he unveiled the teacher tenure proposal – part of a 163-page bill that also changes the teacher certification process.

Representatives of the state’s teacher unions – AFT Connecticut and the Connecticut Education Association (CEA) – have been meeting with Gov. Malloy’s Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor to discuss proposals, including one of their own put forth in January 2012. (See “Teachers union takes on tenure,” CT News Junkie, Jan. 3, 2012).

A spokesman for the AFT, Eric Bailey, said in a statement last week,“There’s this attitude across the country of ‘Teacher unions don’t want to see a change in tenure,’ but that’s just not true… We’ve been saying for years that we’re willing to make a change to the tenure law, but it needs to be the right way with due process for teachers… We can’t have a system in which you can fire a teacher for any reason.”

Under the current teacher tenure law it takes a minimum of 120 days to dismiss a teacher with tenure.

CEA proposes reducing this to 85 days, as well as limiting the number of arbiters from three to one.

Gov. Malloy wants teachers to apply (and re-apply) for tenure every four years. His plan also ties teacher certification to their ability to attain tenure.

For the full story, see “Teacher tenure no longer taboo,” by Christine Stuart (Feb. 10, 2012), CT News Junkie – click here .

(Excerpts used with permission, through Independent Media Network http://imnct.com )

Posted Feb. 15, 2012

Related link: Teachers union takes on tenure  http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/teachers_union_takes_on_tenure

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