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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Senate panel is considering whether changes are needed to make it easier to get rid of incompetent teachers.
Sen. Paul Thurmond contends the formal evaluation process for dismissing teachers in "continuing contract" status can take several years, essentially robbing children of a good education. A new system for evaluating teachers' effectiveness, taking effect statewide this school year, could lengthen the dismissal process due to delays in student testing results, according to testimony from state Education Department officials.
"That's a lot of children negatively impacted by someone identified very quickly that they can't perform," said Thurmond, R-Charleston.
But teacher advocates and attorneys said the current process works.
Attorney Al Nichols noted teachers must be in a classroom between three and seven years before receiving "continuing contract" status that provides termination rights.
"They have to earn it," said Nichols, who has represented teachers. "If our school administrators are properly doing their jobs and assessing talents, they can weed out folks who aren't competent without any hearing process whatsoever."
The Senate panel, created in the off-session to study teacher issues, only took testimony Tuesday. Another meeting is scheduled later this month.
True tenure doesn't exist in South Carolina's public schools. Dismissing a continuing-contract teacher starts with notification of a formal evaluation over the upcoming school year. Teachers who don't pass that evaluation can appeal to their school board. If that hearing doesn't go their way, they can take their case to court, though that step is rare.
State schools Superintendent Mick Zais recommends giving district superintendents the final decision over a teacher's dismissal. He says school board members can base decisions on friendships, rather than a teacher's capabilities.
Zais said hearings too often become a trial of the principal, who must defend accusations of not properly supervising the teacher, so principals are reluctant to start the process.
If the board overturns a principal's recommendation, "when that teacher returns to the classroom, they operate with impunity because any follow-up is branded as retribution," he said.
He said getting a quorum of school board members together for a hearing can also be difficult.
"I believe we've made the process overly legalistic. Obviously we need to protect teachers from arbitrary and capricious dismissal," said Zais, who is not seeking a second term in November. "Right now, we protect teachers to the expense of students, and we need to right the balance."
In Charleston County, the state's second-largest district, five teachers are being paid not to work as they await a school board hearing. That includes one teacher who's been on leave since 2013, when 11 teachers appealed to the board for contracts not renewed for last school year, according to the district.
Teacher advocacy groups contend the problem is limited to Charleston County.
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