1. Chapter 10 Tenure, Dismissal, and Due Process
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The tenure contract is designed primarily to provide a measure of security for teachers and to ensure that they are protected from arbitrary and capricious treatment by school authorities.
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Any teacher who earns tenure or continuing service status also acquires a property right or a legitimate claim to the teaching position.
Once a property right is acquired, the teacher may only be dismissed for cause.
Full due process provisions must be applied.
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Acquisition of Tenure
In a number of states, tenure may only be attained after the teacher has successfully completed three successive years during the probationary period and receives an offer for reemployment for the succeeding year.
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The probationary period is one in which the non-tenured teacher is seeking tenure.
During the probationary period, a teacher may be non-renewed at the end of the contract year without cause or dismissed during the year with cause.
In the case of the latter, the teacher must be afforded full due process rights.
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In sum, non-tenured status involves:
No expectation for employment beyond the contracted year
No right to be provided reasons for non-renewal
No right to due process
No hearing
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Dismissal for Cause
Tenure laws include grounds for dismissal in virtually all states.
While there are variations among states, these grounds normally include incompetency, insubordination, immorality, neglect of duty, justifiable decrease in the number of teaching positions or financial exigency and a statement indicating “other good and just cause.”
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Incompetency
One of the more frequently used grounds for dismissal involves charges of incompetency.
Most commonly, incompetency refers to inefficiency, a lack of skill, inadequate knowledge of subject matter, inability or unwillingness to teach the curricula, failure to work effectively with colleagues and parents, failure to maintain discipline, mismanagement of the classroom, and attitudinal deficiencies.
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Insubordination
Insubordination is generally viewed as the willful failure or inability to obey a reasonable and valid administrative directive.
In most cases, there is a discernible pattern in the teacher’s behavior which reveals that the teacher has been insubordinate.
However, there are other instances in which one serious violation may form the basis for charges of insubordination.
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Immorality
Immorality is cited in relevant state statutes as grounds for dismissal and involves conduct that violates the ethics of a particular community.
Some state laws refer to immorality as “unfitness to teach” or behavior which sets a poor example for students and violates moral integrity.
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11. Financial Exigency (Abolition of Positions)
Financial exigency occurs when the district faces a bona fide reduction in its budget which results in abolishing certain employment positions.
Positions may also be abolished when the district encounters reductions in student enrollment.
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Neglect of Duty
Neglect of duty occurs when a teacher fails to execute assigned duties.
Neglect may be intentional or unintentional based on ineffective performance.
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The courts will generally support districts that demonstrate the need to reduce their teaching force, commonly called Reduction in Force (RIF) where there is evidence that a legitimate financial problem exists and substantive and procedural due process is provided.
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Good or Just Cause
Just cause is designed to provide the district broader latitude in dismissing teachers for causes not specifically identified in state statutes.
It is not designed to allow the district to dismiss a teacher for personal, political, arbitrary or capricious reasons.
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15. Collective Bargaining
Collective Bargaining has grown in popularity and appeal in public education.
Although it has always provoked controversy, many educators view collective bargaining as a mechanism to achieve a greater role in management and operation of public schools.
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Since many of the issues involving collective bargaining center around rights of employees, terms and conditions of employment, its very nature sometimes evokes conflict and adversarial relationships between school boards and union representatives.
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Most states currently permit some form of bargaining between teachers and school boards.
These agreements may vary from required bargaining to some form of meet and confer provision.
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