Finding Out About Fired Teachers Almost as Hard as Firing Them
Last October, Honolulu Civil Beat wanted to discover how many teachers and principals in the state had been fired or disciplined for either misconduct or poor performance. Its reporter ultimately learned that 10 teachers (out of 12,000) had been fired for misconduct in the last two years. What it took to extract that information from the state Department of Education is a lesson in itself.
We originally asked for all personnel actions dealing with teachers and principals over the last five years. The department said it would not fulfill our request because it did not keep such records in the fashion in which we were requesting them.
Then we narrowed the request and asked only for the number of teachers who had been fired from the Department of Education in the past five years. Again the department said it didn’t have the information in the form in which we requested it.
Because teachers who receive “unsatisfactory” evaluations are eligible for termination, we then asked how many teachers received marginal or unsatisfactory evaluations in the 2009-2010 school year; how many of those led to a grievance process; and how many of those were ultimately terminated. The department said it couldn’t provide such a record because it didn’t maintain the data in the fashion in which we were requesting it.
Finally, in November, we asked for a summary of the written decisions related to employment misconduct that resulted in an employee’s suspension or discharge.
It was only then that the department complied, turning over in March for a fee of $170 a two-page spreadsheet that gave the school year, the date of each action, name of teacher, district, school, allegation (it was always one word: “misconduct”) and the resulting action (“termination” or “suspensions”). No details were provided about the length of suspension or the reason.
It took almost six months and $170 just to find out how many teachers had been fired. Little wonder the actual practice is so rare.
April 23rd, 2011 at 19:16
While I also find this troublesome – I think the real question that should dominate the discussion is why so few teachers are fired. As a 30 year teacher in 2 countries, I can say that reason #1 is that there are few good teachers to replace the bad ones, especially if they in poor schools and #2 an incredibly large number of incompetent administrators – this is an area that needs more scrutiny than the embattled teacher.
April 28th, 2011 at 06:41
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