Dearborn Teachers Union, District React to Teacher Tenure Bills

The passage of a group of bills that would drastically change the way teacher tenure works in Michigan public schools sent a shockwave through teachers’ unions in the state Thursday–and to some extent, Dearborn is no different.

Chris Sipperly, the president of the Dearborn Federation of Teachers, said the vote in favor of the bill package was more or less expected, but disconcerting all the same.

“It makes me sad to no end that this has occurred, but I’m not surprised because it’s a Republican House,” she said. “I am shocked that they weren’t even willing to look at the proposal put forth by the American Federation of Teachers that addressed all of their concerns about tenure.”

Teacher tenure–a framework meant to make sure teachers are fired with cause–was implemented in Michigan schools more than 60 years ago. Critics of tenure, however, say that the provisions make it difficult to terminate teachers who do not perform up to standards.

Also according to the bills that are now making their way through the state Senate, long-standing contractual provisions in most districts that implement layoffs by seniority would be reversed, allowing districts to use other methods to trim their workforce.

Big Changes

State Rep. George Darany (D-Dearborn), who voted against the package, said the bills are part of a larger partisan attempt to dilute hard-won working conditions for public employees that won’t address serious problems in some Michigan Schools.

“I am very concerned about the teacher tenure package that passed the house because this is once again a Republican attack on our educators under the appearance of 'reform,'” Darany said in a statement. “While the tenure system may need alteration, making it easier to fire good teachers and attacking workers' rights is not the way to go about this.”

Though it’s not known when the bills will be taken up in Michigan Senate, a Republican majority in the Senate and support for reform from Gov. Rick Snyder means the bill will likely become law.

Specifically, the bills would lengthen the probationary period of a teacher from four years to five years for tenure. However, teachers with three continuous years of positive evaluations can be fast-tracked for tenure.

Evaluations would be partially based on student test data; and performance based on the evaluations would be the driving force behind layoffs, relegating seniority to a minor consideration.

Sipperly said the tests alone could have a chilling effect on teachers’ willingness to teach more challenged student populations, such as poor students, who often require more time and effort to educate.

“Students have a lot going on that has nothing to do with the teacher,” she said. “There’s a recession, there are problems at home. These are things teachers deal with every day."

Other concerns teachers have expressed are the fact that older teachers could be targeted for layoff because they earn more money, and that layoffs or firings would become arbitrary on behalf of administrators, said Sipperly.       

Dearborn’s Process

Dearborn Public Schools employs over 1,200 teachers and educates 18,500 students.

David Mustonen, the spokesperson for the district, said the potential effect of the bills’ passage–if indeed they become law–will likely not change how teachers are evaluated in Dearborn.

“The Senate has not looked at this, and I don’t think it’s anywhere near being law,” he said.

“We do have a process by which teachers are evaluated," he added, "and mechanisms in place to help them become more successful.”

Those mechanisms can include mentoring from a more experienced teacher, and working with the teacher on corrective behavior, Mustonen said. He said the teacher’s union was involved in the devising an assessment plan with the district.

One thing that he does not see happening in the district is evaluating teachers solely on student test scores.

“Students bring a lot of issues into the classroom with them, and you can never, never evaluate a teacher on test scores alone,” Mustonen said. “A lot of what we already do is in line with what the governor wants.”

Darany said tenure is one way to protect teachers from swaying winds of politics.

“Teacher tenure is not a job for life,” he said. “It is only a method to ensure good teachers are protected from personal and political grudges.”