posted May 6, 2008
Why is it that the Hamilton County Board of Education is allowed to hold its employees, our teachers, hostage. What do I mean - teachers are only allowed to bid on five jobs posted in the county each year. That is regardless of how many openings there may be, and whichever schools, they are limited to applying to only five.
Which to some extent seems to be a bit of unfair labor practice, but less I digress.
This year, with all the talks of cuts to the budget, higher insurance costs with prescriptions, plus the cost of living (gas and food) going astronomical, our teachers, many of which are stretched financially, who may be looking to switch schools to save some cost on gas and wear and tear on their vehicles, are not being allowed to transfer. Teachers who have been at the same school for years and want to go to another school because they feel they could offer a new school their expertise they have learned, are being held hostage.
Last year, I know of many educators applied in Hamilton County to their five openings, had interviews at most of them, only to not get the position because the principals hired a first-year teacher, without experience. I know of one school that had nine openings and they hired eight brand new teachers. This created another problem - it placed an even greater burden on the remaining teachers to train these new ones, to mentor them, and cover them when they failed.
This year, of all the openings posted by the school system for positions which they already know about, it is a sham. Some principals are interviewing, but they are not allowed to hire anyone because of all the bureaucracy from the central office. They are not allowing current classroom teachers to transfer, so all the dead weight generated by central office (training coaches, all the so-called experts, etc.) will have their pick of where they want to go and what they want to teach instead of allowing the teachers who are active in the classroom to have positions they deserve.
So, once again, it is "the good ole boys network" as usual in Hamilton County. Active teachers should get the first choice of available positions, and the ones in jeopardy of having to "go back" to the classroom should fill the vacancies left open by the ones of existing teachers or are left from retirees.
Give existing teachers the respect they deserve, and let them have first chance at openings.
William Welter
Hixson
welterwilliam@yahoo.com
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