PTS and Seniority

March 05, 2011

Tenure is the single most misunderstood aspect of a teacher's career. I have constantly been attacked because of this — at the supermarket, at weddings, at weekend getaways.

What people think:

1. Teachers can never be fired.

2. Any teacher who has been there for more than 10 years is a bad teacher and needs to go, but union thugs protect them and this hurts our kids.

3. New is always better than old.

Reality:

1. Teachers can be fired.

When you are first hired as a teacher, the administration can walk into your room at any point in the first 90 days and ask you to never come back.

During your first three years, you are considered non-PTS (professional teacher status). At the end of each of those years, regardless of good evaluations, you can be let go. If the administration decides that you are not a good fit for the school, you pack your bags and move on.

After your third year, you gain professional teacher status. What this ensures is that an administrator has to have just cause to remove a teacher.

Just cause can be anything from poor performance based on several evaluations all the way to criminal activity. The union is there to make sure that the rules are followed and that the cause is actually just, but if done correctly by the administration, the teacher goes.

A teacher has to maintain their certification.

This is done by continuously taking classes, workshops, and seminars throughout their career.

If a teacher allows this certification to lapse, he or she can be removed from the classroom and replaced with a certified teacher. If there is no certified teacher available, a waiver may be granted, but this does not ensure that teacher with a job in the future.

2. With age comes wisdom and knowledge.

I have seen teachers in their 60s who still have passion for what they do. They believe in their students, maintain high standards, and get the best they can out of everyone. "Burnout" is not a common as is perceived and usually happens earlier in a career rather than later.

Veteran teachers serve as mentors, team leaders, and work on committees to improve the schools. They are an inspiration, a shoulder to cry on, and motivation to keep going even in the darkest times. They've seen it all 10 times over and know that it eventually gets better.

3. New teachers struggle, too.

A new teacher coming in has very little, if any, experience in a classroom outside of student teaching. It is much different when you're put in a room alone.

New teachers often have issues with classroom control and discipline. They haven't developed the skills yet and don't have the "tool box" to deal with every situation.

A teacher's tool box includes the tricks and tips that you learn over the years to deal with difficult students and classes. They are what works for you — everyone's tool box is different and it comes with experience.

New teachers are also developing their own curriculum and lesson plans. This takes hours of hard work, and the plan might not be successful at all.

So, what should you do? Go back and fix it, right? But what about tomorrow's lesson? It took me three years to be comfortable with who I was as a teacher and what was going to work in my classroom. In fact, my first year, I was only a chapter ahead of my students.

If you ask most teachers to be honest, they'll probably admit to that as well.

True, new teachers are well versed in the latest theories of child brain development and fancy classroom practices, but you learn quickly that the real world is not like the college classroom.

Students don't know that your lesson was supposed to work; they just know that you're stupid and they shouldn't have to try anything new because they don't like it.

There is a role for seniority in education. Our veteran teachers should be respected for their wisdom and experience instead of vilified because of their endurance.

By CHRIS SAULNIER

Chris Saulnier is president of the Acushnet Teachers Association