Monday, April 16, 2018


One of the most despicable practices in the city is that of discontinuance. In case you're unfamiliar with it, it applies only to untenured teachers. A myth about tenure is that teachers have jobs for life. The truth is that teachers have jobs until and unless charges are brought and sustained. That process is called 3020a, and that process is due process. However you may feel about it, that's what has to happen in NY State to fire a teacher.

Untenured teachers don't have due process. They may be fired for a bad haircut. Of course no one really wants to be fired for a bad haircut, so untenured teachers have to be very careful about where they get their hair cut. Beyond that, they have to somehow please their principals, who may or may not be insane.  It's a tough path to walk, considering what I see.

If you're not cutting the principal's mustard on your tenure year, there are a number of options the principal can pursue. One is extension of tenure, which is always big fun. Your best friend is getting tenure and you aren't. What can you think about that? I suck and she doesn't, for whatever reason. Maybe there is something you have to do. Ask more questions. Ask fewer questions. Be nicer. Stop being too nice. Who knows? And you may or may not find out.

Of course, if you suck so much that, in the principal's view, there is no viable remedy for said suckiness, you will be discontinued. That means, for one thing, that you are fired. For another, you lose your health benefits. You'd think that would be enough. But in NYC, it isn't. There is also a mark, or a code, or something, that basically alerts anyone who thinks of hiring you that you suck. I have heard of one or two people overcoming the Scarlet Suck, but it's rare. A principal would have to really go above and beyond for that. What are the chances of you walking into a school with a Scarlet Suck on your chest and persuading a principal to hire you?

I'm thinking: not good.

There are things you can do. For example, if you have the Scarlet Suck on your chest for math, you might get an English license. I mean, just because you suck at math (like I do, for example) it doesn't necessarily follow that you suck in English. (I endeavor not to suck in English but we all have good days and bad.) Still, I have to think any new principal would see your work history and note that you sucked in this subject. That doesn't bode well for your chances of getting hired in another subject.

Now you could go out of district. I'm not sure how easily you'd get a gig in Long Island with a crappy history and no good references from NYC, but I wish you luck. You could get a charter school gig. Maybe you like hanging around the house with a school cell phone on weeknights waiting to give homework help. Maybe you like being told you will travel around and visit every student's home. For some reason, charters always need people. If you're suspended for six months without pay, or if you're discontinued, your prospects are still good at charters. Of course there's a high burnout rate, but there you go.

Here's the thing, though--discontinuing someone is draconian and unnecessary, always. Different schools have different needs. Just because I suck at this school (which, given the percentage of insane administrators, may or may not be the case), it doesn't follow that I would suck at another. Maybe one has smaller classes. Maybe one has an accent on whatever I'm good at. Maybe I learned something from experience. Who knows? Many things could happen.

But placing a mark on a teacher forever is never a good idea. School culture varies from building to building, from department to department, and from class to class. We have a Danielson rubric but if you think this means every administrator sees everything in the same way, I can easily find a bridge to sell you.

Maybe it's time we find a better way to deal with struggling teachers than ruining their lives.
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