Suppose you were interviewed for a teaching position so…
Suppose you were interviewed for a teaching position soon after graduating from college and receiving your teacher’s certificate. A school district hires you and gives you a contract, a legal document that outlines the conditions under which you will work. Usually teaching contracts are renewed annually. Then, after three years of successful teaching, considered a probationary period, the school district which hired you will probably offer you tenure. Tenure is commonly referred to as continuing contract status. Each state has its own laws which indicate the requirements for tenure eligibility. The term “tenure” is derived from a Latin root “ten,” which means “to hold.” So a tenured teacher, in effect, has been given permission to hold a teaching position within a school district. Therefore, a tenured teacher will be entitled to have his/her teaching contract renewed each year. Of course, tenure does not assure a teacher will have the same teaching assignment each year. The teacher might be moved from a third to a fifth grade classroom, for example. A school district can dismiss untenured teachers after any academic year. A hearing as well as due process are rights that the untenured teacher normally has if dismissal occurs during a school year. Tenured teachers, on the other hand, are treated as ones who have earned the right to continue teaching for a school district. In order to fire a tenured teacher, then, it is necessary for the school district to justify the termination of employment by proving that some legal provision has been violated. States differ regarding what would constitute good and reasonable justification for dismissal. Some causes for termination include gross negligence, incompetence, sexual molestation of a student, and other crimes. If incompetence is charged, there is normally a requirement that the tenured teacher be given warning and afforded an opportunity to correct any perceived deficiencies before dismissal occurs. The last sentence of the second paragraph is
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