How to Fire an Incompetent Teacher

Reason ^ | October 2006 | John Stossel

[vamoose]

I heard a story about this years ago on NPR, I think. A researcher tried to get the number of NYC schools central office employees for weeks and could never get a real good number from anyone. He called the Catholic Schools central office and asked the person who answered the phone how many were employed there. "Let me count." 30 seconds later he had his answer.

Remembering this I did a google search an came up with the info I posted from this USAToday article. It's near the end.

Schools take a lesson from big business

[VOA]

Thanks for the link to the USA Today article. Looks really good.

[Sir Gawain]

-

[grey_whiskers]

"Cheers" was my line!

Well, then...

Great minds think alike, and so do ours. :-)

Cheers!

[Anti-Bubba182]

If those people were paid on the basis of results they would owe money. Public education in the US is a racket. The public and the kids pay.

[pray4liberty]

District Administrators are no better, and some of them deserve to be fired too.

[Chode]

whatdya wanna bet that most of the incompetents were HIRED that way???

it's not usually an acquired skill...

[eeevil conservative]

Careful!

Next thing you know- the damg Congress Critters will want to create their own UNION!

(Instead of the NEA they will call it the MSM...)

[Criminal Number 18F]

UCLA management professor William Ouchi points out that... New York City... public schools have... a central office staff of ... 25,500.

Jesus! There are only 40,000 cops in NYPD!! 25,500 HQ weenies in NY's failed schools?!? That's twice the size of the 101st Airborne Division!

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[swmobuffalo]

"Have a Bible planted on the teacher's desk?"

In New York maybe but not here. My husband and a number of his colleagues have Bibles on their desks. The kids have even been known to pick them up and read them. They've even been know to have discussions regarding Biblical subjects!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[xkaydet65]

As a NYC school teacher I have to admit I've seen incompetence in my 20 years, BUT when Joel Klein tells me he'd let a school principal run his law firm then I'll consider taking advice from a lawyer about education. About the only thing I want to hear from Joel Klein is what was really in Vince Foster's suicide note. Must be important because Hillary got him this gig with Bloomberg.

All of them are making bucks on the new curriculum provided by America's Choice, a nice quasi Euro Socialist outfit that sells its wares to any school district it can bamboozle. Its doctrine is flim flam feel good Euro Socialist crap. Oh and one of Clinton's cabinet dwarfs, Robert Reich has been a major honcho for this outfit for years.

As far as Stossel, he's made a living being a gadfly and I truly respect his triumph over stuttering, but when he makes good on his promise to teach a month in a tough city school I'll listen to what he has to say.

[airborne]

How to Fire an Incompetent Teacher

First you have to find a cannon large enough to fit the teacher into... ;^)

[Dark Knight]

District Administrators are no better, and some of them deserve to be fired too.<<

Been a shop steward. Unions only win these cases when management types are worsely incompetent than the teachers they "wish" would be fired. If they knew the rules, documented the problems, documented the failure to address the problems after being counseled, applied just cause etc. which are things managers are supposed to know, they would not have the trouble they have.

That's why some of the most effective public sector managers come from the unions. They know the rules.

DK

[patton]

I tought in a maximum security prison for a couple of years, would that count? ;)

[durasell]

Because some people benefit from government schools far beyond their personal out-of-pocket cost



That used to be the case. Now, with very few exceptions, it's a get-what-you-pay-for world. Education is expensive. Not everyone or every community can afford it, a fact that is causing quite a bit of confusion and will in time may re-define the country.

[RavenATB]

"As far as Stossel, he's made a living being a gadfly and I truly respect his triumph over stuttering, but when he makes good on his promise to teach a month in a tough city school I'll listen to what he has to say."

So, to expand on your logic, public school teachers should keep their mouths shut about politics until they've held a few elected political offices, should not speak about guns unless they own a few, should not complain about health care until they've practiced medicine, and...well, I could go on...

[durasell]

well, I could go on...




You probably shouldn't. Citing the inverse really isn't logic. It's not even an argument in most cases. In fact, it's the kind of thing that will earn you a swirly if you tried it on a high school debate team.

[RavenATB]

"Education is expensive. "

Public education is expensive...especially in light of what you get in return for the investment.

However, there are a lot of private schools that do much better with far less. The Catholic school I used to send my first-born to charged us less than $2300 a year, while per-student costs in the public high school in the same town was three times as much.

My two youngest attend a private school that charges less than 1/3 the average cost per student in US public schools.

[RavenATB]

Actually, it is logical. Its ridiculous for teachers to disregard the opinions of anyone other than someone who has taught in the classroom in regard to the subject of education. And, I say that as someone who used to be a public school teacher.

These "no-nothings" pay your salary, they teach kids in their own homes, and many of them know as much or more about how to properly educate children than the average public school teacher. In fact, considering the pathetic performance of public education over the past generation, the last person who should have credibility speaking on how best to fix the situation is someone whose spent a lifetime "working" in the system.