Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott yesterday proposed an overhaul of disciplinary proceedings to automatically fire teachers convicted of felony crimes and make it easier to get rid of incompetent instructors.
“Anyone convicted of a felony shouldn’t be in a classroom in front of students,” Walcott said in testimony before the state Senate Education Committee in Albany.
The Walcott plan would ease the standard required to prove misconduct or incompetence.
The chancellor also recommended that disciplinary cases be transferred from a state system of arbitrators to the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew said the Walcott plan would “stack the deck against teachers who are fighting for their rights.”