Give principals more leeway on staffing

As a former New York City public school teacher of 30 years, I have a few observations to make about our educational problems in Nevada.

While I have read numerous studies and been lectured to by educational “experts” claiming that class size is irrelevant to a student’s learning, I have yet to meet a single classroom teacher who would agree. It simply defies common sense to think that a teacher with 40 adolescents in the classroom can be as effective as a teacher with half that amount.

I would agree that the quality of the teacher is the single most important attribute to ensure success, but it is surely not the only variable. As with most jobs, the vast majority of teachers are neither incompetent nor are they spectacularly superior. By definition the “best” teachers can be only the top few. If Nevada is in a position where there is no choice but to raise class sizes, then at least let us face the reality that it will most definitely have consequences in the classroom.

Teacher tenure has also become an issue in Nevada. I think we can all sympathize with the “teacher of the year” who was in danger of losing his job in the current economy. For the most part, however, it takes a teacher three to five years to really master his craft. If you took the most successful 50 percent of a school’s teachers, the overwhelming number would be experienced teachers.

I would suggest that Nevada move to a three-year probationary period for new teachers. I would also empower a principal to fire any first-year teacher he feels lacks the ability or the promise to eventually succeed. When it comes to layoffs, I would use the seniority system but allow the principal to make an exception and select 15 percent of the staff who would be labeled “most effective teachers” and could be retained regardless of seniority.

The obvious danger of doing away with tenure would be the temptation to eliminate the highest-paid teachers and replace them with two teachers fresh out of college regardless of effectiveness. This would not make teaching a very attractive occupation and surely would result in massive teacher shortages.

Howard Ginsburg

Las Vegas