EUREEKA, WE'VE FIRED MORE TEACHERS!

The July 19th Daily News revs up the anti-tenure trend by reporting MIKE TEACHES ‘EM A LESSON, TENURE DENIALS TRIPLE. In July, 2007, sixty-six teachers were denied tenure, while this year 164 met the same fate. Now that’s progress. Credit is due Joel Klein for spending millions of dollars on state-of-the-art computer systems designed to “alert the principals to who’s coming up for consideration, to remind them that this is their chance to try to block tenure if they wish.” Of course there are no incompetent administrators, sub-par principals or inept parents. PS 49 Queens Principal Anthony Lombardi, who makes his reputation by firing incompetent teachers, could not stop lauding and praising Messiah Klein for bringing new tablets down from the mountain. “This is the first time a chancellor has ever taken the bold step to demand that we have competent teachers in the classroom.

Of course Tweed still hopes “they can use student test scores to bolster future tenure decisions – something they’re currently barred from doing because of state legislation passed earlier this year.” Yes, holding on to your job will depend on your truant students mastering reading tests. Get those scores up or hit the bricks. If a student only shows up on average one day in five, it’s your fault. You did not motivate him properly to attend school. Perhaps if you asked better pivotal questions during your lessons he would have achieved perfect attendance. You’re fired.