Dateline Boston – David Mielke, president of the Teachers Union, was braced and fully prepared to fight back after the bombshell ruling two days ago by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu that teacher tenure laws are unconstitutional. Judge Treu found in the Vergara decision (named for the lead plaintiff) that the present system discriminates against low-income and minority students whose schools attract a disproportionate number of “ineffective teachers.” It can take as long as 10 years to fire a teacher, LAUSD Supt. John Deasy said. Judge Treu said seniority rules requiring the newest teachers to be laid off first were harmful.
TFPO: What is your reaction to the Vergara decision?
DM: First, the biggest issue I have with this decision is that it puts the spotlight on teachers as if we are the cause of all the problems we are seeing in public education. Beatrix Vergara is not struggling to get an excellent education because LAUSD can't fire her teacher. She's swimming upstream because California schools are chronically underfunded. You will recall that just a few years ago, we couldn't even keep the doors open for a full school year. CCUSD closed its doors for nine furlough days over a two-year period.
If we don't even set aside enough money to keep the schools open, isn't that a major problem?
Also, believe it or not, 50 percent of public school kids in the United States live either in poverty or just on the edge. Half of our kids qualify for the federal free or reduced school lunch program. If the zillionaires from Silicon Valley like Dave Welch who are bankrolling this lawsuit are really concerned about Beatrix Vergara, they might want to make sure our schools have enough funds to remain open. They might also want to do something about the crushing poverty that makes learning much more of a challenge for so many of our kids.
TFPO: Does this decision change anything immediately?
DM: No. The state and the teacher unions, the California Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Assn., will appeal. In the meantime, nothing changes.
TFPO: The judge certainly seemed to buy the argument that “bad teachers” are a major problem.
DM: Any time a case is heard by an individual judge, you should be worried. Ari, if you had heard the case, you might have agreed with Judge Treu, a Republican appointee. Had I heard the case, I would have ruled differently. Once we knew who would be hearing the case, we expected this outcome.
TFPO: But why should teachers have a lifetime job? Isn't that what “tenure” is?
DM: “Tenure” is a term that is used for university professors. For public school teachers, the term is “permanent status.” The way this works in California is that a new teacher goes through a probationary period of two years. During that time, he or she can be fired for any reason at all or actually for no reason at all. If we survive the probationary period, we can still be fired. What is different is that we now are entitled to a hearing. That's it, a hearing. If I am showing “Three Stooges” movies all day in my class while I'm reading the sports section (or thefrontpageonline.com), CCUSD can and should fire me. At the hearing, that termination would be upheld. It's a myth that you can't fire a teacher.
TFPO: What would happen if teachers were to lose “permanent status,” as is being suggested in this ruling?
DM: Teachers would lose their due process rights and could be fired at will. Union activists, teachers willing to fight the status quo at a school, those who want to fight for kids even if it means taking on the principal, all would be vulnerable.
Let me share a story with you. When I first started teaching at Culver Park High in 1986, the principal at the time had set aside some space as a student “smoking area.” As a health teacher, I protested. It was impossible. How can I teach about the dangers of smoking when the school provides a “smoking lounge”? Without due process protections, my job would have been at risk. With those protections, I was free to advocate for my students and their health.
TFPO: What about the part of the decision relating to seniority and layoffs?
DM: First, why would we ever need layoffs? We only have them when the state cuts funding, as it did in recent years. If California really values our kids, we should adequately fund the schools and we wouldn't have layoffs.
But in recent years as the state has squeezed our schools, we have had layoffs. Seniority takes favoritism out of the layoff equation. Also, if we didn't use the seniority system, districts would be tempted to lay off more expensive veteran teachers and keep less expensive new teachers. (A 25-year veteran teacher earns almost twice as much as a new hire.)
TFPO: Any last thoughts?
DM: Yes. First, wealthy anti-union zillionaires are leading this movement to kill teacher unions and to kill public education. Their ultimate goal is to replace public education with privately-run, for-profit, non-union charter schools. We (teacher unions ) are the only thing standing in their way. Even the President and his education secretary Arne Duncan are in bed with these corporate “reformers”.
Second, I take offense at the idea that wealthy hedge fund managers and entrepreneurs who have never even considered working as a teacher have the nerve to tell the rest of us what's best for our kids and our schools. I would suggest that those of us who work every day in our schools have a better idea as to what our kids need.
Third, the occasional tired teacher who should be counseled out of the profession is not the primary problem when it comes to teacher quality. A much more significant issue is the fact that 50 percent of our new teachers in the United States leave the profession within their first five years. The job's too tough, the pay's too low, the kids too unruly and the support too thin. Losing 50 percent of the idealistic young teachers who enter the profession is a formula for failure.
Finally, the Vergara case, if upheld, will make it easier to fire teachers. But will it do anything at all to attract and keep the best and brightest in our classrooms? Will it address the chronic underfunding of our schools? Does it do anything to address the pervasive poverty that challenges so many of our kids?
Yes, let's improve our schools. But firing teachers isn't any kind of real solution.
My prediction: this decision will be overturned on appeal.
Mr. Mielke may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org
