Tenure

Fred Snowflack's column in today's Daily Record brought up the question that was raised at the debate about tenure. I wanted to make sure everyone understood my position on the subject.

I think we could do away with tenure in Roxbury without it having any real effect. I think the vast majority of teachers in Roxbury are dedicated and professional.

As I stated on Monday, and as Fred agreed in his column, the initiative would have to be statewide. You can't have some districts offering tenure and others not.

Although some may argue, Roxbury is not overly political when it comes to the school system. There are still many towns in this state that are. A few weeks ago I went to a Candidate's Orientation, and I was somewhat shocked to hear about the kind of politics that went on in some towns. Experiences like Fred mentions in the column - where teachers were forced to campaign and could lose their jobs if they campaigned for the wrong side - are not as uncommon as some would like to think.

So I think if tenure is changed in the future, there must also be policies put in place to safeguard against this type of behavior. Not putting these policies in place could put us in a position of a shortage of young adults choosing teaching as a career - because I can't see anyone willing to wager their paycheck each time there is an election in town.