If you've wondered why teacher tenure was being so hotly debated,
here's a great example of its importance. The Massachusetts Department
of Labor has found probable cause that a teacher and local union
leader's job-a job that wasn't protected by tenure-was terminated after
he spoke out against school district policies.
In February, Agustin Morales was part of a group of teachers and
parents that went to a school committee meeting to protest the use of
data walls in Holyoke, Massachusetts, schools. The data walls included
students' standardized test scores and in some cases their names,
publicly shaming them as part of the drive for higher scores. When
schools superintendent Sergio Paez tried to claim that teachers had not
been instructed to put students' names on data walls, they produced
slides from a PowerPoint presentation in which the sample data walls
were shown with names-with Paez listed on the slides as present to give
welcoming remarks.
Morales went on to be elected president of
his union local-but at the same time, he says he was targeted for
eventual termination, despite having received good teaching evaluations
up until he started speaking out. That speedy termination was possible
because he hadn't been at his job for long enough to be covered by the
Massachusetts equivalent of tenure protections. So far, he's produced
evidence to back up his claims:
"Based on the evidence presented
during this investigation, I have found probable cause to believe that a
violation occurred," Brian K. Harrington, of the Department of Labor
Relations, wrote.
In fact, while the Department of Labor Relations
was investigating the complaint, Paez issued a no-trespass order barring
Morales from entering school property even to fulfill his role as
elected union president. That order was lifted after 24 hours, but
doesn't exactly make it look less like Paez has a grudge against
Morales. Morales has also received significant support from students and
parents:
Parents told 22News they want Morales to get his job back. "If it
wouldn't have been for Gus, my daughter would've failed 8th grade. He's a
passionate teacher. He's loving. He's caring. He stayed after school
tutoring her," said Marisol Marcano.
Since the state found probable cause of a violation, there will be a
hearing sometime in the coming months. But even if that hearing ends in
Morales getting his job back, the clear message has been sent to
Holyoke teachers: speak out against district policies, even the ones
that harm your students, and you are likely to face retaliation. That's
why it's so important for teachers to have due process protections, and
it's exactly those due process protections that are currently under
attack across the country.
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