Friend claims that teacher tenure enables child abuse [View all]

[alp227]

On facebook a friend of mine who's a libertarian posted an NYT article about the Vergara v California lawsuit re teacher tenure and commented that teacher tenure enabled an epidemic of child abuse at the LAUSD. I looked it up and found this LA Daily News article from May 2013:

In the past, the misdeeds detailed in the teachers' files would likely have earned the offender a disciplinary memo, maybe a week's suspension, perhaps a transfer to another school.

Today, they're grounds for firing.

Under the zero-tolerance policy that Deasy enacted after the Miramonte Elementary sex-abuse scandal erupted in February 2012, the school board has voted to dismiss more than 100 teachers for misconduct, and accepted the resignations of at least 200 others who were about to be terminated. Nearly 300 additional teachers accused of inappropriate behavior remain "housed" in administrative offices while officials investigate the complaints.

In Jan. 2013, the LAUSD was sued over allegations that ADMINISTRATORS deliberately were dismissive of complaints about teachers abusing students.

What's really messed up is even in super progressive California, people are buying into the anti-teacher union myths no matter what party they're in. As someone who's been involved in education activism at the state university I go to, I know the reality is opposite of what the Bill Gates/Michelle Rhee/Joel Klein types have been putting out. I think it's an uphill battle to debunk the most common myths about teachers' unions or pretty much any labor union:
- Teachers unions cover up for teachers who abuse kids (in reality unions protect teachers the same way defense attorneys protect accused criminals...it's called due process!)
- Teacher tenure doesn't allow ineffective teachers to be fired
- Test scores are the final authority of how good a teacher is