Teacher Tenure Law Case Study

As a student studying at Grand Valley State University to be an early childhood education teacher; knowing about laws that teachers in Michigan have to abide by is important. The Teacher Tenure Law is one law teachers of all grades should know about. Not only is the Teacher Tenure Law important for teachers to be informed about and understand but also for parents whose children are in school and voters. Parents should be correctly informed about teacher tenure laws in order to be involved with their child’s learning and to vote to improve their child’s learning. Voters have a say in laws dealing with teacher tenure so it is important for them to have the right information regarding teacher tenure laws. However, there are two sides to the Teacher Tenure Law; those who agree with the law and those who do not agree with the law. The …show more content…
High costs of teacher tenure is affecting schools right here in Michigan. Just less than a four hour car ride away from Grand Valley State University, Harbor Beach Community Schools, Dearborn Public Schools, and Gladwin have felt the impact of high costs due to teacher tenure laws. “Harbor Beach Community Schools paid one teacher tens of thousands of dollars to leave, despite the teacher getting caught kissing some students and head-locking one after being confronted for his behavior” (Skorup, 2011). “The Harbor Beach superintendent said an investigation found that the teacher had been giving both male and female students kisses in class, with some of the students only reluctantly agreeing” (Gantert, 2011). However, despite the situation “the teacher was not fired” (Gantert, 2011). This situation should have ended with the teacher getting fired for what he did. He should never have gotten paid to leave but due to the high cost of removing a tenured teacher it was cheaper to pay him to leave. This is