He’s an elementary school teacher. if he’s late, someone who’s supposed to be doing other work has to supervise the children in his class. In this environment, tardiness is not a small thing. While I agree completely that teachers deserve more of everything, including respect, this particular teacher does not.
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After the first fifty times, does it matter?
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As to his $90,000 salary: The school year has just begun over here in the San Francisco area and the districts are crying for teachers to fill the empty spaces. The biggest issue is that a $90,000 salary would be the smallest which would allow a teacher with a family (or maybe without one) to rent an acceptable place within about 40 miles of his/her school. Also consider that we’re talking inner city positions. In non-inner city areas, there is still a need. The problem remains that a $50,000 salary still puts the teacher in the “low income” category for rentals, forget buying.
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Unless late means he was supposed to arrive at 7:00 (kids arriving at 7:40) and he arrived at 7:03. We need a few more details.
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Disagree, part of what kids are supposed to learn is some discipline, and being on time is part of that. You don’t show up on time, then the kids should not have to either. Are they supposed to wait around for him? No way.
The only reason he should not be fired is because the school was negligent in giving this guy proper notice per his contract. In fact, the person responsible for giving him notice should have some disciplinary action taken against them for not doing their job.
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In most jobs, late is late, doesn’t matter by how much. If you’re late by a few minutes every once in a while, not usually a big deal. If you’re late by a long time once or twice, but inform your employer of said tardiness, also usually not a big deal (depending on the job, of course). But being late 111 times over a two year period - keeping in mind that a school year is not the same as a calendar year - is completely unacceptable for any job, no matter the amount of time. I agree with you, they should have detailed just how tardy he was on average, but it really and truly doesn’t matter after that many infractions, especially if there is a late policy in place as part of his job description.
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I know my kids’ school principal would give that teacher a talking to after 1 tardy and by 3, it would have been firmly dealt with. This seems like an incompetent administrator and a teacher who doesn’t care enough to get to work on time.
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Being a few minutes late on occasion happens, and is excusable. But even if it was only a few minutes, 100 times is not excusable. Bad example for kids as well.
On the other hand, the other thing that was “late” was due process, so the ruling on him remaining was correct.
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I worked in public agencies for 35 years. Somehow supervisors and managers had no idea they had to follow the contract when discipline/firing employees. It’s not brain surgery. HR should be able to guide them. Union workers blew the whistle on a supervisor who was illegally selling cars from the fleet of autos. The whistleblower was reassigned from being a mechanic to driving a bus as punishment. However, the employee then had more access to employees all over the campus. What I saw in all these years was unbelievable. Lost all respect for management.
I am a proponent of unions, we have vacation time, 40 hour work weeks, etc., all because of unions. Right-wing-whacks-job education superintendants (as we have here in AZ) cannot fire the teachers in other political parties, just because she doesn’t like or agree with them, because of teachers unions.
However, this is why people hate unions. You can’t justify keeping this guy after being late 111 times in a two year period. Don’t forget, teachers have three months off a year too. So, that 111 tardies does not equate to a 50 week work year.
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No way do teachers have off 3 months … closer to two months, in reality, and during that time, many seek extra work. Not all teachers get decent pay. Don’t forget the many hours they put in AFTER and BEFORE the school day begins. No excuse for this guy, but the administration had an obligation to deal with it before it got to this insane point.
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And this is yet another example of the type of absolute bullshit that make EVERYONE hate unions.
Do unions even realize just how this kind of bs looks like to everyone else???
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The fault isn’t with the union here, it’s with the administrator. They didn’t do anything leading up to this to try and correct the situation, which he is entitled to. The ruling was correct.
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maybe the latter excuses the former. He’s not doing his job, even if he is (and I don’t grant his self-evaluation much credibility) an excellent teacher once he arrives. Others have explained how he is falling short.
Who should be fired is the school principal, if s/he didn’t initiate progressive discipline, or somebody at the district level, if that is where the failure occurred. You can’t blame the union for protecting a teacher with 111 tardies if the school district had the right to step in after 5 or 10.
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Sorry, but based on personal experience with several unions in CT, I can say that it’s next to impossible to fire folk or lay union people off. Incompetence, petty theft, sabotage, not working with the team, etc. are not cause for termination.
And usually if someone even tries, they’re treated as next to garbage by the union folks.
Maybe the unions you’ve been exposed to have been polar opposites. Who knows. All I can tell you is what I’ve seen from first hand experience.
I run a construction company and employ lots of Union workers, and at times it is indeed frustrating some of the BS I have to put up with from them, though I am still pro-labor. Unions, like CEO’s, need a good kick in the ass, but are still necessary to protect workers.
But in this case, the school clearly should have been timely in notifying this guy. 100 times is absurd, but so is not addressing it in writing.
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Agreed. I like unions too. In theory, I fully support unionization.
But in practice and due to personal experience, the way some of them behave has soured the entire union experience for me. The things a unionized person can get away with it would never ever in a million years be tolerated in a non-unionized environment. And the unionized folk know it.
Don’t know what will correct the situation, but when I see something like this (late 111 times to the job, does not get fired), it just sets me off. PTSD I guess.
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Agreed, though that does not apply here. The school messed up by not giving written notice.
Funny, we always hear about the blue wall of silence with police, and I agree, that is huge problem. But it’s also a similar problem in all other unions. I employ union guys, and know for a fact that if a non-productive worker is sent from the hall, the foreman and supers are reluctant to complain to the hall. Same with useless shop stewards, there are lots of those (though also many good ones too, that was in no way a blanket statement).
The Administration screwed up: they didn’t follow the disciplinary protocol that is spelled out in the contract. The contract is an agreement between BOTH parties, therefore BOTH parties are required to follow it. The Union is not at fault in this case.
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Depends on where you live. NJ teachers are paid very well. I don’t have a problem with that salary. Teachers for the most part deserve to be paid well.
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