Fifth in a series
Re “Teacher Tenure-Testing Period Should Be Doubled, Zeidman Says”
[img]1912|right|Scott Zeidman||no_popup[/img]In maintaining that the abbreviated probationary period for public school teachers should be doubled to four years instead of two, Scott Zeidman recalled a case when he was on the School Board that he believed illustrated his claim.
“We had a teacher we wanted to get rid of,” said Mr. Zeidman.
“We had what I believed were grounds to remove the teacher,” the lawyer with a quarter-century of experience said.
“We were in a budget crisis,” he said after noting that typically strapped school districts routinely are unable to set up sufficient reserve funds for litigation cases.
“Couldn’t do it. Could not get rid of the person.
With a sigh, Mr. Zeidman said the teacher, by now, been vanquished.
“We found an alternative way to get rid of him or her, and it worked.”
He acknowledged that “alternative methods may not always work.
“If you can’t get rid of a teacher because of budget constraints, because it costs too much to do it, who is suffering?” asked the father of two school-age sons.
“I didn’t suffer as a Board member. My son wasn’t even in that school. Personally, it didn’t hurt me. But there probably were 32 kids in that class, and if that teacher is going to remain for the next five years, 160 kids are going to be damaged because the School District doesn’t have the funds, because the system is set up to cost you probably a quarter-million dollars to try for another teacher,” Mr. Zeidman said.
(To be continued)
