RandiWeingarten

Thanks for asking this question so we can permanently debunk this myth. Teacher unions represent teachers. And it’s management (e.g. principals, school boards, superintendents) who hire and evaluate teachers and grant tenure – not teachers unions. But underlying your question is how to ensure that every student has a good teacher.

So what we try to do as teacher unions is to make sure teachers get the support they need from day one to do their jobs. We also make sure that they are treated fairly. And that means that if they are struggling, they should get help. That also means that shouldn’t be fired for patronage, cronyism, age, political affiliation, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.

But what it also means that if teachers can’t do their job, after some help, they shouldn’t be there.

Tenure should be about fairness and not an excuse for managers not to manage or an inadvertent cloak of incompetence. But we want to make sure that all kids have great teachers and that teachers have the support they need to do their jobs.

About four years ago, we stepped up and started working with affiliates and districts across the country to create meaningful, comprehensive evaluation systems that were about better feedback and continuous improvement.

Once you have really good evaluation systems, it’s never a concern about teachers being treated fairly (having tenure). It’s always an asset.

Take a look at the system in New Haven, CT. Kristof from the NYT had a good write-up about it - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/opinion/kristof-the-new-haven-experiment.html?_r=0.