Opinion

Teacher tenure vs. tyranny

THE ISSUE: The Department of Education’s new guidelines for granting teachers tenure.

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Michael Goodwin wonders why our teachers are allowed to have tenure (“Sanity at Long Last on Tenure,” Dec. 15).

Here’s the answer: New York City is part of an advanced Western democracy and, therefore, is a place where people enjoy basic rights.

Tenure, the right to due process before termination, is one such right.

Clearly, Goodwin would prefer that our school system become a mini-dictatorship and that Mayor Bloomberg be the ayatollah. He’s living in the wrong country.

Michael Dowd

Brooklyn

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Do you really think anything is different with these guidelines? Principals always looked at teacher’s standardized test scores and professional areas when giving tenure.

The real point is that the final award of tenure is made by the Department of Education. If DOE officials do not want a teacher to have tenure, all they have to do is deny it.

Experienced teachers are not complacent and do not take tenure for granted. I have been teaching for 13 years and find the job as rewarding and exciting as I did when I was on probation.

Mark Pohl

Brooklyn

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Why have tenure at all?

It’s virtually impossible to fire a unionized public employee as it is.

John Ilibassi

Wantagh

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The media keep harping on tenure in their relentless assault on NYC teachers.

You refuse to admit that tenure doesn’t mean that a teacher has a lifetime position. All it means is that a teacher with tenure can’t be summarily dismissed. Such a teacher is entitled to due process.

Aren’t we entitled to that in a court of law?

Ed Greenspan

Brooklyn