Teachers Group Looks to Make It Easier to Fire Teachers (MI)

March 30, 2011

It takes an average of nine months to go through the process of getting rid of an ineffective teacher, and the head of a state union that represents school employees says that’s too long.

"That’s not fair to anybody," said David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan. "It’s not fair to the school district. It’s not fair to the students. And it’s also not fair to the teacher."

The AFT-Michigan issued a proposal Tuesday to improve teacher quality through more effective evaluation and due process.

Hecker said the tenure process can be streamlined by as much as 40%, in part by reducing the amount of time teachers have to file an appeal; how long an administrativ e law judge has to complete a hearing, and the time given attorneys to file briefs. Also, having more than one administrative law judge to hear the cases would make the system more efficient, he said.

The proposal comes at a time when the Michigan Teachers’ Tenure Act is a hot topic in Lansing. Three bills have been proposed this year that would either repeal the law or alter it.

One bill would require teachers who receive unsatisfactory evaluations to be reviewed annually until performance is satisfactory. Now, tenured teachers have to be evaluated only once every three years.

The other bill would, among other things, bar a probationary teacher from achieving tenure if he or she has not been rated as effective.

The bill to repeal the act was introduced Feb. 10 by state Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Brighton. The current system, Rogers said, is so involved, many administrators opt not to get rid of teachers.

He hadn’t seen AFT-Michigan’s proposal Tuesday afternoon, but said he would be willing to consider it "as long as something gets done."

If Michigan’s teacher tenure laws are repealed, Rogers said, teachers would still have the same job protections that other labor employees have.