Teachers Tenure

Once a teacher achieves tenure they can only be dismissed for actions that directly effect their performance. Incompetence and willful misconduct are the two main ones. A teacher who can no longer effectively teach should, in my opinion, look for a change in careers. The book supports this opinion on page 21 but does say that anyone fired deserves a right to due process. Willful misconduct also constitutes a reason for termination of a tenured teacher. Thus a teacher who has sexual relations with a minor or even a former student who has graduated recently (Pg. 123) can be terminated. The third reason a tenured teacher might be fired is immorality, but schools should weigh wether or not said "morality" effects the teachers performance? Because what constitutes morality is always changing this could be harder for the school to justify. Many states that hold that homosexuality is immoral can not use this for grounds for termination because the Supreme Court has recognized homosexuals as a protected class under the Fourteenth Amendment (Pg. 122). My favorite term from the book is "one touching" (Pg. 16). It refers to "something of a substantial nature directly affecting the rights and interests of the public, the performance of her duties, showing that he is not a fit or proper person to hold the office." For me this sums up the ability of a school to fire a tenure teacher very nicely.