If it's this hard to fire a teacher...

Readers Write 6/18 | ajc.com
After following the proceedings of the APS tribunal, I have a question for the teachers and some administrators who claimed fear for their jobs as reasons for cheating: If it is this hard to fire a teacher, even one accused of such a serious offense, why were you in fear for your job?

Ooh, that's a good question. It has an obvious answer, but I can't fault this AJC letter-writer for not seeing it: I didn't see it at first, either, until I asked an actual APS employee.

It's only difficult to fire a teacher if you go through proper channels, as the current administration is doing.

The previous administration, led by the Dirty Half-Dozen (Beverly Hall, her deputy superintendent and the School Reform Team Directors, the authors of the climate of fear and intimidation under which the APS ran), didn't feel constrained by "proper channels". They were happy to use rumor and innuendo to ensure that those not looked upon with favor faced dead-ends and mandatory "professional advancement" certifications on which their continued employment depended. (Principals and SRT directors could place a teacher in corrective training without having to prove that corrections are needed. Teachers can't refuse or challenge. And enough of those on your record become grounds for termination.)

And even if they can't manage to outright fire you, they can see to it that you get transferred to a position you'd rather quit than occupy. "Fear for your job" also means being pulled out of a school you like and assigned to one where you fear for your life. But if you say "no" to whatever crap they hand you, then they can fire you on the spot.

(I was tempted to reply to AJC's "Letters to the Editor" and make this point, but in order to do so I'd have to give the AJC my full name, address and phone number. With no guarantee that my comment would see the light of day, and no link to the question it answers if it were used.)