Tenure and Termination Grand Canyon University: EDA 555
June 4, 2013

The greatest resource we have is our children. Parents entrust teachers to do educate and enrich children’s lives and to do so in a caring, safe, and to do so in a professional manner. There have been situations where sometimes the role of a teacher is misrepresented or compromised. These situations are sometimes not real, or they are a result of lies or hear say, but at other times they turn out to be true. Our society has taken measures to protect our children from being abused by adults. At the same time our society has also taken measures to protect teachers from certain injustices or false accusations. Many states have set in place tenure policies to protect competent teachers from malicious accusations but when do we draw the line? The law at times is not a well-defined contrast of black and white, and at times people need to decide on a shade of gray.
Tenure is a form of job security that teachers earn after they reach a certain level of professionalism (Scott, 1986). When a teacher has earned tenure, they have the right to a continual teaching contract as long as they abide by the guidelines set forth in their contracts. It is believed that students benefit more from the experience and ability of a continuing contract teacher. Some of the protections that are extended to a tenured teacher are that they cannot be discriminated against based on their personal views, personality conflicts, or any area that is not educational. The statutes for teacher tenure and dismissal vary from state to state, but in all states a teacher in good standing must be offered employment and cannot be dismissed without the due process. Tenure will not however protect teachers who are ineffective or incapable.
South Carolina has a three-year process in place before teachers are awarded continuing contracts, also known as tenure. According to the South Carolina Code of Laws, a teacher newly hired by the state of South Carolina is employed under an induction contract and participates in a formal induction program (South Carolina Legislature, 2012). At the end of each year for a three -year period of time, the school district has the options of employing the teacher under a new induction contract, offering an annual contract, or terminating employment. During the induction and annual contract periods, the teacher must be evaluated under the formal evaluation program known as SAFE-T (South Carolina Legislature, 2012). Upon successful completion of the program, the teacher can be awarded a continuing contract for employment. Once tenure has been earned, a teacher can only be dismissed under due process. State statutes establish due process and all reasons for dismissal must be documented and based on objective evidence (Essex, 2012). According to South Carolina Code of Laws Article 5 section 59-25-430, a teacher can be dismissed should they fail, or be incompetent to give instruction in accordance with the direction of the superintendent or if there is evidence of unfitness for teaching (South Carolina Legislature, 2012). If a continuing contract teacher is recommended for dismissal, they must be notified in writing and be given the opportunity for a hearing prior to dismissal. If a teacher requests a hearing the request must be in writing and within fifteen days of the original notification. The superintendent must also make a reasonable effort to take corrective measures and allow time for improvement prior to dismissal unless there has been an unlawful act. When a teacher is a cause for concern regarding student well being, the teacher can be immediately suspended with compensation until a final determination is made through due process.
Teachers may be terminated if the proper steps are followed. In the case Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, also known as Bloomberg Law, a teacher was not given a renewal contract without reason. This violated his rights against the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment states “no person should be allowed to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without “due process of law”.” An administrator must notify a teacher in writing if they issue non-renewal letters or grounds of termination. According to Title 59 South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 39-25-430, any teacher may be dismissed at any time who shall fail, who may be incompetent, to give instruction in accordance with the directions of the superintendent, or who shall otherwise manifest an evident unfitness for teaching; provided that notice and an opportunity shall be afforded for a hearing prior to any dismissal. The administrator is required to make every effort to provide teacher(s) with the support to ensure success. If an administrator is still concerned with the capabilities of a teacher, the administrator should follow the steps towards a plan of improvement for the teacher. The administrator must have a paper trail of documentation showing observations, evaluations, teacher and student data, evidence of professional development, and other documentation of conferences held with the teacher. If the teacher has not shown improvement in the allotted time, they will be issued a letter of non-renewal. The teacher will have an opportunity to appeal the non-renewal letter.
Under section 59-25-150 revocation or suspension of certificate exist if the state board of education revoke or suspend the certificate of any person (Title59-Education 2012). The law goes on to describe, "just cause" defined. Sec 59-25-160 has 12 items that stick out based on our situation; unprofessional conduct, crime against the law of the state and the US. The unprofessional conduct in this case involves a teacher hanging out with a student and purchasing the student alcohol, which is a crime against the states drinking age. In South Carolina’s standards of conduct for educators state board of regulation section 43-58, it states that the teacher can have disciplinary action taken on the certificates for; Pursuing a personal, inappropriate relationship with a student, violating state or federal laws involving drugs or alcohol or other illegal behavior, and for supplying alcohol or drugs to a student.
When addressing the situation with the teacher, the due process must be administered and the proper procedures must be followed to the last detail. Disciplinary action can be put into place as soon as possible based on an investigation that can take up to 15 days. After reviewing some cases and looking over the educator’s code of conduct, there are two options available for the situation.
The first way is to terminate the teacher after a full investigation and review if the teacher did commit the crimes listed in both areas of local and state law. The second is to prosecute the teacher and take disciplinary to revoke or suspend their certificate to teach again. Administrators would need to consult the district’s attorney and share with them our options to pursue termination or disciplinary action.
If administrators follow the policies and procedures for the state of South Carolina, they will be led to the right decision based on facts, case law, statues and a correct course of action to take in disciplining or terminating a teacher. During the investigation, administrators can take immediate disciplinary action such as leave with pay. Due process will take place and then they can pursue the teachers’ certificate for violating the South Carolina standards of conduct for educators. Based on the facts, administrators should terminate the teacher based on their violation of the teaching contract, unprofessional conduct, willful violation of the rules and regulations of the state board of education, pursuing an inappropriate relationship with a student and for supplying alcohol or drugs to a student.
Finally, according the state of South Carolina it has modified legislatures and revised a few portions its teacher tenure policies. Overall the states policies most recently received an overall grade of C- in comparison to many other states regarding its policies of teacher tenure or termination. Most importantly according to the state that there will not be any new teacher contracts for new employees contracts formed between the school districts in South Carolina until the resulting of vested tenure and certified teachers have met teaching expectations. According to the policies that have been put in place, its goals are set before its school districts well prepared educators assuring that they will receive vested tenure with their specific districts. In order for this to happen the state does require its teachers to go through specific training and qualifications that have to be met.
Throughout the paper it was discussed that the laws are strict are tough when it comes to the termination and whether any due process requirements are needed for educators, when it comes to meeting tenure. The law is very specific and it focuses on all certified employees that fall below the superintendent that will be employed by a board of education for at least 90 days.
According to the state, if a teacher has met tenure they will have their teaching contract renewed yearly. The law states that a teacher who has not met the specific requirements for tenure can be terminated; but they must fall up under a specific written contract, be notified by April 1st whether they will have a contract, be given specific reason for non-renewal, and allowed a hearing if deemed necessary.
It is important to remember that the protection of tenure has been granted to teachers. It can possibly and sometimes present specific complications with the removal of teachers who are not qualified to teach. Also, it can stop educators that are not performing from being terminated and it can cost the school district and its students tremendously.

References
Essex, Nathan. (2012). School Law and the Public Schools: A Practical Guide for Educational Leaders. 5th Edition.
Scott, J. (1986). Teacher tenure. (Vol. 19). Eugene, Oregon: Eric Digest. www.eric.ed.gov
Title 59 South Carolina Codes of Laws, Section 39-25-43
Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth (408 U.S. 564, 1974)