Seniority rules . . . should change

I've been looking at seniority in school districts. In my previous posts, I discuss in more detail the issues surrounding this dogma. I tried to summarize the main points in this video.

Seniority the Outdated Mode

Well, it was a long shot, but I tried to contact the principal of my former high school, the president of the Clark County Education Association (the union for teachers in Las Vegas), and a trustee from the Clark County School District. I asked them all a very generic question about what their thoughts were on seniority in the school district. I’m still waiting to hear back from all of them. 

I did find a Facebook group that my own mother is a part of (who knew?) which is discussing these very types of issues as they relate to my former elementary school.

Should Seniority be Sacked?

A few years ago, I remember reading a news article about the school district I grew up in, the Clark County School District. The district needed to “surplus” (read: layoffs) about 1,000 teachers to meet their budget for the upcoming year. The layoffs were not surprising; the teachers they let go were. Clark County had honored six new teachers with a “New Teacher of the Year” award. Half of those teachers were let go a few weeks later. The following year, the district let go 419 teachers, but only thirty-eight were fired because of performance issues. The rest were let go because they did not have seniority, just like a majority of the 1,000 teachers the year previous.

CCSD members protesting layoffs. (From the Las Vegas Sun)