Guest opinion: Alabama teacher tenure law vital now - AL.com
This is a guest opinion column
Tenure for teachers in Alabama has long been problematic. Critics have for years complained that the tenure law protects incompetent teachers. To fire an incompetent teacher, principals and school boards had to go through lengthy legal processes. But now, as politics enter the classroom, those protections are crucial.
The tenure law was established by the Alabama Legislature in 1939. It was repealed in 2011 by the Student First Act. The law still provides protection to teachers against arbitrary, political termination.
Teachers in K-12 get tenure after being employed in the same school system for three consecutive years and is reemployed for the fourth year. A tenured teacher can be terminated for “incompetency, insubordination, neglect of duty, immorality, failure to perform in a satisfactory manner, and other good and just cause.”
A teacher cannot be fired based on personal or political reason of the superintendent, president or school board member.
Many objectors have said the process was too long, arduous and costly to justify trying to fire a teacher. School officials, they claimed were prohibited from being sure the teacher in the classroom was suited for the job.
And what teacher is qualified? That question raised concerns that evaluations were unfair and not based on substantial observations of the teacher in question.
But now, there is a different angle to teacher tenure. Politicians are taking on school curriculum as a cause. It’s only a matter of time until Alabama follows Texas and Florida in banning books and classroom talk about various subjects, including race relations. Pressure from politically motivated groups conservative and some parents could also play a role.
What is a teacher to do? Follow her training and skills in bringing up important topics or fear for her job if she offends a school board member or radically conservative parent or politician
We need to think of teacher tenure in a different way. In 1939, the teacher tenure law was enacted to protect teachers who voted against their school officials. Politics has always played a substantial role in education, and with the power of the Alabama Education Association under former director Paul Hubbert, protection for teachers increased along with its influence in the State legislature. Many proclaimed that the situation just made it impossible to fire an incompetent teacher.
But now, what if a dedicated teacher wants to enlighten her students about the Civil Rights era, or how to be a good person with values, especially in Alabama? Opposition has cropped up against social awareness and relationship building. Surely, the tenure law should be evoked to protect his or her job. Good teachers always want to have their students’ best interest at heart, introducing them to history and ideas to broaden their minds.
Hopefully, the much maligned teacher tenure law, will let them keep their jobs while they do just that.
Jean Lufkin Bouler is a former education reporter for The Birmingham News.
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source: https://www.al.com/opinion/2022/05/guest-opinion-alabama-teacher-tenure-law-vital-now.html
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