Tenured: “To Be or Not To Be”
Many people don’t fully understand what tenure means or what it takes to become a tenured teacher even though people tend to hold strong views on the subject. According to “The Scope of the Teacher Tenure Act” in North Carolina’s public schools, tenure is the protection from loss of salary. The Teacher Tenure Act specifically states that a tenured teacher can’t “be dismissed or demoted or employed on a part-time basis” because dismissal, demotion, and reduction to part time work is in fact, a loss of salary. In essence, as long as a tenured person’s salary is not reduced, the Teacher Tenure Act is not violated, which means that a principal could be assigned to teach any subject such as history as long as he maintains a principal’s salary in a teaching position. The Constitution of the United States also supports the Teacher Tenure Act under the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment states that that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, and property, without due process of law. If the board of education dismissed or demoted a tenured teacher the government is taking a teacher’s property since a teacher’s job and the salary that goes with it, is his or her property.
In order for a teacher to achieve tenure, that teacher must serve a period as a probationary teacher for about four years even though the time can vary depending on whether or not the teacher is new or had been previously tenured as a teacher. Towards the end of the school year the superintendent submits a list of names of all eligible probationary teachers to the board of education. The board of education then votes on whether or not to grant a probationary teacher tenure. If the board decides to grant tenure and the teacher is notified, the board can’t then rescind the decision. If the board of education wishes to terminate the teacher at that time, it must have grounds to do so, and they must go through the procedures required for dismissing a tenured teacher. A teacher can lose tenure if he or she “no longer performs the responsibilities of a teacher” which can happen by dismissal, resignation, retirement or moving to a non-teacher position.
In order for a teacher to achieve tenure, that teacher must serve a period as a probationary teacher for about four years even though the time can vary depending on whether or not the teacher is new or had been previously tenured as a teacher. Towards the end of the school year the superintendent submits a list of names of all eligible probationary teachers to the board of education. The board of education then votes on whether or not to grant a probationary teacher tenure. If the board decides to grant tenure and the teacher is notified, the board can’t then rescind the decision. If the board of education wishes to terminate the teacher at that time, it must have grounds to do so, and they must go through the procedures required for dismissing a tenured teacher. A teacher can lose tenure if he or she “no longer performs the responsibilities of a teacher” which can happen by dismissal, resignation, retirement or moving to a non-teacher position.
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