NJ Teachers

Following up on Barbara Martinez's outstanding article last month, Stripping Tenure a Chore in N.J. (http://edreform.blogspot.com/2011/01/stripping-tenure-chore-in-nj.html), the Education Action Group has produced a chart that shows the "torturous, time-consuming and expensive process New Jersey schools must follow when attempting to fire a tenured teacher".  The chart is posted at: www.publicschoolspending.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/New-Jersey-Tenure-chart.pdf

 

Education Action Group has produced an eye-opening chart illustrating the torturous, time-consuming and expensive process New Jersey schools must follow when attempting to fire a tenured teacher for "inefficiency, incapacity, conduct unbecoming or other just cause."

 

EAG created this chart after consulting with James Smith, the executive director of school security for Paterson, NJ schools. We believe the chart is a clear indication that lawmakers in New Jersey and other states must seriously consider reforming and streamlining the tenure process, to make it quicker and easier to remove bad teachers from public school classrooms. 

 

Recently, Paterson schools made national news after it successfully fired a tenured special-education teacher.  The defendant was found guilty of "unbecoming conduct," which included hitting and/or punching a handicapped student.  It took Paterson officials four years and over $400,000 to successfully fire the teacher.