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Health & Fitness

Are We Putting Our Teachers at Risk?

Public school teachers are currently under the microscope; what constitutes sufficient reasons for dismissal?

I have been following a number of stories from around the country concerning individual teachers being singled out by parents for removal. The teachers in question are not receiving the wrath because of professional incompetence, but for issues that may be clearly political as well as for lifestyle choices.

With the unlimited access to information, parents and students alike are monitoring their teachers as never before. In several of the cases the teachers drew criticism because they foolishly posted comments on Facebook and others were singled out because of twitter comments. One case involved a female English instructor who criticized the laziness and dimwittedness of students. This resulted in over 200 complaints to her school district administrators. Her future is being decided as I write. With Wisconsin in the midst of deciding the future of public school teachers, this trend of citizen complaints bode ill for teachers.

Teachers, attorneys, public officials, social workers, etc. are held to an old common law practice of moral turpitude. For many it was contained in either their employment contracts or their licenses. Even for those who are not covered by contractual or licensing moral turpitude clauses, there are unwritten community standards, which if violated, could lead to their dismissal. This concept that is very gray in nature and changes in public perception can lead to targeting teachers, as whole or selected individuals. Currently there is nothing to protect teachers from being targeted for action by people who are politically motivated to see certain teachers lose their jobs.

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What constitutes violations of moral turpitude? Does being a union activist meet the criteria? What about a teacher who is openly gay or is “outed”?  How about a teacher who is involved in extramarital affairs or a DUI? The one issue I am worried about is the teacher who is demanding and has high expectations for their students and the students retaliate? I don’t think there is any question about a teacher caught up in illegal activities should be dismissed, but how much of a teacher’s private life should be out of bounds to public scrutiny?

Without collective bargaining agreements, school districts must build into their handbooks’ policies and procedures with very stringent, specific and clear criteria outlining what constitutes violations of conduct and moral turpitude. This should not be done without the teachers input. Shorewood has done the right thing in allowing their teachers an opportunity to participate in the process of writing the handbook. Greenfield, on the other hand, has made a mistake by not allowing teachers to participate.

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We as citizens, who are these valued public servants' ultimate employer, must assure that we protect our prime educational resource, the dedicated public school teacher. If we don’t treat them fairly and with respect, we will begin losing the good ones and have a difficult time attracting quality teachers. If that happens, everyone loses.

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