It must be the end of times, because I’m actually agreeing with Mayor Bloomberg on two separate issues — two weeks in a row.
Last week, it was fingerprinting for food stamp applicants, and now its getting rid of bad teachers.
This week, the mayor declared in his State of the City address the Department of Education needs to implement a teacher evaluation program that will get rid of those teachers that just don’t cut the mustard.
This agenda is one of his brightest moments. Why should someone who is incompetent keep his (or her) job, especially one as important as educating our children.
In the private sector, if you don’t perform up to standards, and you do that long enough, you get canned. No matter where I’ve worked, and I’ve had plenty of jobs in my lifetime, if I didn’t do what was expected of me, then I could expect to get the boot. So why should teachers be any different?
Before the angry mob of United Federation of Teachers members gather up their pitchforks and torches and start to hunt me down, I do realize there are many factors involved in providing a decent education to our children — getting rid of bad teachers isn’t the only Band Aid in town. There is also a sad lack of parental involvement, and children that are far too out of control who shouldn’t be in regular classrooms.
However, to our mayor and this columnist, the teacher is the one that takes the blame. It is the teacher that stands in front of that class every day, overcome the obstacles, and successfully teach the students.
For far too long, teachers that should not be in a classroom have been able to keep their jobs because of the omnipotent union and tenure. We all know that once the golden “T” is reached, its impossible to dislodge a teacher, no matter how incompetent he (or she) may be.
There have been rare instances where a teacher gets canned, but those instances are too far and few in between to make a dent. In most cases the Department of Education will just transfer that individual from school to school and wait for him (or her) to retire — with a pension.
It’s time for the very powerful union and Department of Education to face facts — there needs to be stricter guidelines for teachers no matter how long they’ve been on the job. And just because a teacher has been on the job a long time, it does not mean that better and more concise evaluation techniques can’t determine the effectiveness of that teacher.
The time has come for the free ride of tenure to end. If a teacher is not doing his or her job, that teacher must go — no ifs, ands or buts.
They should no longer be allowed to languish in the golden land of tenure and collect a paycheck.
Not for Nuthin’ but it really must be the beginning of the end, cause I’m almost getting to like Mayor Mike.
Jdelbuono@cnglocal.com
Joanna DelBuono's column appears every Wednesday on BrooklynDaily.com. She can be reached via e-mail at jdelbuono@cnglocal.com.
