WVA Teachers Forced to Draw Numbers to See Who Keeps Their Job

[Hum]

It’s a tough time for teachers around the country, as school districts announce layoffs to counter budget cuts. But one district has a very unusual way of deciding which teachers to let go.

 

Local news reports that 70 positions will have to be cut in Kanawha County, West Virginia, due to budget problems. How did they choose whom to axe for the 2017-2018 school year? They asked the teachers to draw numbers from a hat, and teachers aren’t happy about it.

 

Rebecca Rhett, a local kindergarten teacher, told local news that 34 teachers were forced to draw a number from a hat, and teachers that drew 1-24 were guaranteed their job for the next school year. “If you drew number one through 24, you get to keep your job or a job,” Rhett said. “I was already crying before I went up because I was frustrated, so when I drew the 28 I just left”.

 

Rhett says all of the teachers there had one thing in common, their start date with the school district. Every one of them started in August of 2016. “I looked around the room and it appeared most people were very young.” Rhett said “Probably right out of college or not too far out of college.”

 

The school district says the decision was based on seniority, and that that is a part of the district code.

 

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[Emn1ty]

This strict level of seniority needs to go, it's completely counter-productive and can short-circuit the early careers of great teachers just because they've not been around very long.

[Hum]

Maybe they should try

The Lottery

by Shirley Jackson

[FloatingFatMan]

Maybe they should try doing it fairly, based on job performance?  Good opportunity to get rid of terrible teachers who've been there for decades.

[DocM]

The teacher unions would rather face certain death than use the merit system. It's seniority and tenure, period.

[FloatingFatMan]

1 hour ago, DocM said:

The teacher unions would rather face certain death than use the merit system. It's seniority and tenure, period.

Which just screws over the many excellent new teachers and leaves the dreadful old fossils teaching the kids...

 

[DocM]

16 minutes ago, FloatingFatMan said:

Which just screws over the many excellent new teachers and leaves the dreadful old fossils teaching the kids...

Pretty much. Like the old fart we had in 9th grade who was boring as hell, and picked & ate his nasal secretions during tests. Seriously.

[FloatingFatMan]

10 minutes ago, DocM said:

Pretty much. Like the old fart we had in 9th grade who was boring as hell, and picked & ate his nasal secretions during tests. Seriously.

I miss my old chemistry teacher, who liked to say "Every once in a while, you just have to blow something up!"

 

I will never forget the day he accidentally knocked a large jar full of sodium into a sink of water... Oh what fun that was...

 

[DocM]

Our HS Physics II teacher was a young, sponsored Greek immigrant who strongly believed in students building hardware and testing it as a practical application of lessons. Loved it!!

 

One day we were firing up this large Tesla coil, which worked spectacularly. So, someone says "let's fire it up with the lights off!" OK!!  Just as we light it up the Principal walks in, sees this incredible array of sparks, does a 180 and all but runs back out the door.

 

Priceless.