Well let’s face it some of them are there for a paycheck and all that time off that they get.  I don’t believe in tenure some people get worse with time.  They need to be evaluated every year.  I am 44 years old and I went to Grand Bay Elementary.  I will never forget Ms. Winn.  If you forgot your pencil she would tell you the next time you forgot it she was going to cut your finger and make you write with blood.  But, of course who was going to listen she was “the teacher”.  She would yell at you at the top of her lungs.  But, there are some very good teachers out there and whether you have been teaching 1 year or 30 the rules should be the same.

There is/was an English teacher at MGM High School, that was just horrible. Not only would she would single out students and purposefully embarrass them, she would tell the whole class each student’s grade, and seat them in her classroom according to their grade.  Once I pulled her aside, and told her I was uncomfortable with her practices, and I’ll never forget her response. “So what? I have tenure, you can’t do jack about it.”

Good story and very true.  Also, how about bad principals?  I’ve seen some very good and very bad in the last few years.  The bad ones are allowed to basically terrorize students, teachers and any parent who won’t stand up to them.  The school board places/promotes them and won’t admit they made a mistake until there’s a public controversy or worse like at Saraland Elementary in 2005.  I’ve witnessed a principal yell at kids, call them names and loose their cool in front of students which shows they don’t have what it takes.  Principals should be calm, collective and in control.  They should wield justice without anger and lead by example. That’s what attracts good teachers.