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Proposal would end tenure for teachers in the future

By Christy Millweard

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) - A group in Missouri is petitioning to amend the state's constitution to prevent teachers from earning tenure in the future.

Marc Ellinger is the attorney to file the petition with the Secretary of State's office Tuesday. He says he represents a group that wants education reform, made up of teachers, educators, and business people. He says the reason they want to bar tenure, is because of schools that have lost accreditation, and this group says they're seeing those schools fire newest teachers first, and not letting the best teachers stay. The group says because of tenure.

The group needs between 147,000 and 160,000 signatures to put it on the November ballot.

Dr. Mike Cowan, the principal at Cape Girardeau Central High School says tenure alone, doesn't stop a school leader from letting a teacher go.

"The great misconception out there is once a teacher becomes a tenure teacher that he or she can rest on his or her laurels, and not advance, and not invest, and not be as diligent in doing his or her duties everyday, can that happen, absolutely that can happen, post-tenure, just as it can pre-tenure," said Cowan. "The reality is that tenure teachers cannot be dismissed but I'm telling you Christy, that is a myth. I have dismissed tenure teachers. It's a little more complicated, it's a little more complex, it calls for a higher order of documentation, and well it should."

He says if a teacher isn't performing up to standards, that should fall on administrators to take action.

"If indeed tenure teachers are not being dismissed, that is the fault of weak school leadership," said Cowan. "That is not the fault of the tenure law, that is because school leaders are not executing the tenure law adequately."

Cowan says it's important for teachers to have tenure because of unjust situations.

"There have been situation, after situations in schools, where teachers have been dismissed unjustly, and tenure does give some protection to that," said Cowan. "Again, a teacher who is not performing can be dismissed, but it calls for a higher level of documentation on the department supervisor, and that is exactly as it should."

Cowan also says there's an expectation in education now for teachers to continue their own education while still teaching. He says tenure is important for teachers so they know they still have a job to pay for that education.

The petition suggests evaluating teachers on student performance measured with objective criteria, but Dr. Cowan says that's harder than it sounds to actually measure. He says there are teachers that don't teach subjects on standardized tests like music, physical education, or gifted programs, that would be difficult to analyze in this way.