Summer 2004 Edition

Tenure For Fair Lawn's Teachers   by Mrs. Ann Lustgarten, Fifth Grade Teacher at the Radburn School   A young student in my class was sitting near my desk, reading. We heard voices in the hall. Someone said, “Oh, that’s Mrs. So-and-so. She’s retired.”  My nearby student said, “My mother hated her. She tried to get her fired. She couldn’t because she had tenure.” A few minutes passed, the student looked up at me and said, “Do YOU have tenure?” What could I think? Tenure is defined as “the term during which some position is held”. Tenure is often considered a dirty word to the public at large. Teachers, and many public employees, receive ‘tenure’ meaning that their position has certain protections, as the story above illustrates. Teachers throughout the country receive tenure only after a period of employment. In Fair Lawn, a teacher is employed for three years before becoming eligible. This sometimes takes longer if the teacher is originally hired as a long term substitute for a teacher on leave. During this period, the District is given the opportunity to observe and work with the teacher to refine his or her skills. If the teacher is deemed to meet the district standards, then, if positions are still available, the teacher is granted a contract for a fourth year of teaching. When the teacher teaches the first day of the fourth year, she or he is granted tenure rights. As a parent, BT (before teaching), I often questioned tenure. It seemed that there were some teachers who were not ‘up to snuff.’ Some teachers seemed too old, or too lazy to do their jobs well. Often a parent would go head-to-head with a teacher. Reality tells us not every person gets along with every other person. But that’s life, and learning to deal with that is part of our growing up, isn’t it? Although we may not like some of our colleagues, or bosses, or fellow committee members, we need to deal with them, right? As a teacher, with the shoe on the other foot, I began to see several things. One, importantly, was that my perception of some of those teachers was WAY WRONG! There was a teacher who seemed elderly, but was perhaps one of the most knowledgeable about children’s literature than anyone I know and brought to her students such a love of storytelling. The perspective I have, as a teacher of fifth, and earlier sixth, grade students is awesome. I hear from the students how they loved this about a teacher or that about another - the very same teachers that parents don’t know quite so well or of whom speak highly. Another thing I noticed, from my perspective inside, was how quickly parents are to blame a teacher for what goes wrong in school. When I was a child, if your parent got a call from the teacher, you were in trouble no matter what. Now, when a child comes home with a complaint, the child is almost always automatically right – the absolute opposite! The reality often falls somewhere in the middle. Both parent and teacher need to communicate with one another before it goes much further. Parents run to the principal or superintendent without taking that first step. They demand ‘satisfaction’ without exploring further. Certainly, if the parent is not pleased with the conversation with the teacher, they need to explore further, but go to the teacher first. Being a member of a union, in our case FLEA (the Fair Lawn Education Association), provides us with some protection and the benefit of having representatives acting as a single voice. It also protects the public by providing for even-handed salaries, job expectations and requirements. One person cannot be treated better, or worse, than another. There ARE provisions within the tenure laws which provide for the removal of a staff member not meeting the expectations, thereby protecting the public’s rights even further. Tenure is not such a dirty word. Tenure is a balance between job security for deserving teachers while providing procedures for removing teachers who are deemed incompetent or exhibit inappropriate behavior. It helps us keep staff members who are doing excellent jobs without being subject to the whims of a capricious public. It allows the proper channels to be followed. It protects me from that little boy who didn’t like the “C” he got on that Social Studies test! See Mrs. Lustgarten's Previous Columns Planning for the Summer  (Spring 2004) Overweight Kids (Winter 2004) Kids in the Summer (Summer 2003) Are Kids Different Today?   (April 2003) Taking Advantage of Down Time  (February 2003) Achoo:  What to Do With A Sick Child   (December 2002) Scheduling After-School Activities  (October 2002) Back To School  (August 2002) Summer With the Kids  (June 2002) PTA/PTO Involvement  (April 2002) Telling The Teacher  (February 2002)