The Issue: A city policy of offering to adjust a poor teacher’s records if he or she agrees to resign.
***
Fudging teacher records is a disgrace (“Passing the Trash,” Editorial, Jan. 13).
How about the fact that student records are also conveniently changed? I knew of schools where teachers were told to omit negative comments about a student’s conduct.
The truth should always be told. I taught in the intermediate school system for 33 years. Each June, we received the records of the incoming students.
How do you think I felt when I read that a recalcitrant would be in my class the following September?Ed Greenspan
Brooklyn
About 90 percent of civil and criminal cases end in a plea bargain. Teacher-discipline cases are no different.
An arbitrator, judge or jury may not agree with the prosecution or the defendant, so the parties settle the case.
The teacher may be terrible, or the principal may dislike the teacher for reasons that have nothing to do with his or her abilities. An accusation is not a finding of guilt.
We live by the rule of law — the ability to defend yourself before a jury or an impartial hearing officer.
Since the change of law in 2010, teacher-discipline cases take about 100 days from the charging of the teacher to the decision.
Giving an employer the ability to fire employees who have no opportunity to defend themselves may be appropriate in a dictatorial environment, but not in a nation that treasures the guarantees of our Constitution.
Peter Goodman
Manhattan