Over a year ago the Richland One administration requested that the school board seek the suspension of teachers’ contracts. The basis of the request was simply that the teachers had resigned while they were still under contract. In other words, the teachers had not engaged in any misconduct. I objected to this practice, but the board went along with the administration’s request. (You can read here about my concerns then.) I felt then, and feel now, that it is unfair and overly punitive. Teacher contracts are already one-sided enough. And I simply think we owe teachers more respect. Since then, the administration has not made this request, and I was hopeful that we as a district had abandoned this very unfair practice. I was wrong.
At tonight’s board meeting the administration is asking approval to seek the suspension of 7 teachers’ certificates. It is amazing to me that we would ever treat teachers—and only teachers—like this.
First, I want to make sure folks understand what this suspension would mean. If the district does request a suspension, the State Board will suspend that teacher’s license with language that the teacher’s actions constitute “unprofessional conduct, breach of contract, willful neglect of duty, and failure to comply with the provisions of a contract without the written consent of the local school board.” Every district in the state will be notified, and the teacher will not be able to teach in a public school until the state department has reinstated their license a year later (at the earliest).
Second, I want to make one thing very clear—we are not required to do this. If anyone tells you that the administration and/or school board is required to seek these suspensions, they are wrong, period. Click here to watch a video about this.
In a district where administration and board missteps—failure to pay teachers correctly and on time, close to the worst teacher retention rate in the state last year, being placed on fiscal watch, being characterized by the Court of Appeals as abusing our power relating to FOIA—are met with shrugs, here we are punishing teachers who have done nothing other than resign.
I am hopeful that the board will not continue this practice. Indeed, I would rather spend energy figuring out what we can do to keep the teachers we have.