Educators split on possible changes to contracts

Stefanie Hicks approached the lectern one December evening to share a message with the Suffolk School Board: Give teachers some respect.

A teacher of Spanish, Hicks was polite but blunt as she spoke of meetings, paperwork and other duties that distract her from instructing students.

When she entered the profession about seven years ago, she feared that her outspoken nature might be a detriment. She didn’t want to face dismissal over a personality conflict with an administrator.

Once she achieved continuing-contract status – Virginia’s version of teacher tenure – “I could feel a little bit more secure in fighting for what I thought was right.”

Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to do away with those open-ended contracts, making the case that the current system protects some undeserving teachers.

Some lawmakers agree. A bill introduced by Del. Richard Bell, R-Staunton, proposed moving teachers, principals and other instructional personnel to annual contracts and evaluations. The latest version – a compromise of sorts – would require that contracts be renewed every three years, and stretch the new-teacher probation period to five years from three.

The bill still would end the continuing contracts that give teachers greater job security than professionals have in most fields, though it’s not clear whether the changes could apply to teachers already a part of that open-ended contract system.

Teacher organizations say the changes are unnecessary because the system already allows schools to remove underperforming teachers. The governor and lawmakers are presenting “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” Virginia Education Association President Kitty Boitnott said.

“Administrators can and should move for the dismissal of any teacher they think is ineffective and is not getting the job done,” Boitnott said. “I’ve said it until I’m blue in the face: We don’t need to change the law. We simply need to operate within the confines of the law that we have.”

Dominic Melito, president of the Virginia Beach Education Association, said the group has three or four teachers going through the dismissal process now. It’s not as hard to remove teachers on a continuing contract as those favoring the bill might think, he said.

Currently, teachers in their first three years are evaluated annually and can be let go for any reason. After that, an administrator has to put together a strong case why a teacher should be dismissed.

And even then, teachers can seek a hearing before a panel or their School Board.

Suffolk School Board member Linda Bouchard said she supports rethinking continuing contracts, a system she calls “archaic.” The retired teacher of 20 years says it allows for an atmosphere of complacency.

Bouchard acknowledged that, although poor teachers can be removed now, “the process requires a very courageous and hardworking administrator because it requires documentation, documentation, documentation,” she said. “Yes, that’s a good system, but that system is asking a lot of already overburdened administrators.”

Virginia Beach school officials said they don’t track how many teachers on continuing contracts are terminated. Other South Hampton Roads divisions said they would need more time to respond to The Pilot’s request for that information.

Only Portsmouth, which currently has 983 employees on continuing contracts, gave a hard figure: Three in the past eight years have been dismissed. Melito noted that such figures can be misleading because teachers often resign before completing the dismissal process. He questioned why changes are needed when the governor himself has said the vast majority of teachers do a great job.

“Why put so much effort into going after this 1 or 2 percent?” Melito said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

The governor’s education staff pointed to the new evaluation that schools are required to use beginning in 2012-13. It recommends basing 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation on student performance.

Tying contracts to that evaluation would create a direct connection that is missing in the state’s law, said deputy state education secretary Javaid Siddiqi.

“The code is just vague,” he said. “It is not very clear that student academic progress is part of a teacher’s contract.”

Bell, the state lawmaker and former teacher, gave another reason: The bill could make teaching more of a meritocracy. It could help pave the way toward performance pay, and reward great teachers, he said.

“We have seen young teachers get discouraged because of the system they’ve been asked to work under, and leave before they get established,” Bell said.

Doing away with continuing contracts would hasten that, Boitnott said. For decades, through stagnant pay, increased testing pressures and growing workloads, seasoned teachers knew they could at least count on job security. That would be gone, she said.

Bell’s updated bill is better than the original legislation, Boitnott said, but a three-year term contract is still not ideal. Under that bill, she noted, an administrator could choose not to renew an employee’s contract at the three-year mark without a hearing and without the teacher’s being able to contest the decision.

Though the bill says teachers under existing continuing contracts wouldn’t be affected, the governor’s administration has expressed interest in converting those contracts and is consulting with the attorney general to see if that would be legal.

Hicks, the Spanish teacher, said she hasn’t taken a stand on the changes being considered.

Veteran Chesapeake teacher Melissa Cofield is torn. On one hand, she said, she has top credentials and years of proven success in the classroom, so she’s not worried about losing her job. On the other hand, she worries what the move might do to her profession.

“We’re facing yet another year of no raises. The security’s not there; the money’s not there,” said Cofield, who teaches history and psychology in Oscar Smith High’s International Baccalaureate program.

“Piece by piece, they’re taking away every last reason to become a teacher and stay a teacher.”

Elisabeth Hulette, 757-222-5097, elisabeth.hulette@pilotonline.com

Hattie Brown Garrow, 757-222-5562, hattie.brown@pilotonline.com