Second in a series
Re “Why Zeidman Was Curious About the Teacher Tenure Case”
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Former School Board President Scott Zeidman and son Brandon.
Sounding frustrated, former School Board member Scott Zeidman, an attorney/entrepreneur and father of two sons, was in the midst of discussing why he was so powerfully interested in the sizzling Vergara v. California ruling.
He wrings his hands about the stray bad teachers who come along. Recalling his experience with a 30-year veteran at Culver City High School “who did not teach us anything, who never prepared for class, but what can you do?”
Starting to lay a foundation for his thesis by asserting that 98 percent of teachers in any district are top drawer, he said that “the system of teacher tenure the system of unions, the way it all works, right or wrong, makes it very challenging.
“You can still fire people who have tenure,” said Mr, Zeidman. “It is just more challenging. But the system gives you – unless you do something egregious – a lifetime job.”
After asserting that “I am not an expert on teachers at all,” Mr. Zeidman said that LAUSD Supt. John Deasy’s claim that it takes “almost 10 years” and a bundle of money to unload a bad teacher, “is not a wild exaggeration.
“I am willing to bet that you can tell within two, three, four years which teachers don’t have it. I could not.”
Reverting to the earlier example from his Culver High days, Mr. Zeidman asks, pleadingly, what do you do with oldtimers “who have just checked out?”
(To be continued)
