Who is Killing Tenure, Klein or Weingarten?

While Joel Klein has used sturm und drang in his attack on tenure, Randi Weingaten has actually gone out and done something about it by bargaining away tenure rights guaranteed by state law. Contracts supersede the law.

Here is how tenure has been weakened

1. 3020A hearings are now heard before a single arbitrator as opposed to a three person panel that is in state law. It is more difficult to get a three person panel and there is more hope of convincing two out of three arbitrators that a teacher is right as opposed to a single arbitrator.

2. We can be suspended for up to three months and even longer without pay before a 3020A hearing based on an allegation. This provision began in the 2002 contract and was expanded in 2005.

3. For time and attendance problems, there is an expedited process where they can give us any penalty short of termination without having to go through the 3020A process. Whatever is decided can be used against us in future 3020A cases. Teachers are being pressured to sign away their tenure rights in these time and attendance hearings. This was a 2005 provision.

Once upon a time in the West ---
Until UFT crack negotiators manage to overrule courts