Administrative Views on Teacher Tenure in Santa Clara, California

Abstract

“They” are well known throughout the faculty lounge, student lunchroom, and perhaps even the community. “They” are the teachers who come to work each day using the same lessons they’ve used for the last 20 years. “They” are the ones who refuse to participate in staff development fully. “They” will sit, some quietly and some not, and listen to the ‘next thing’ that leadership wants to implement, nod in agreement and then retreat into their classrooms, close the door, and continue to do what “they” have always done. “They” are those teachers who are no longer effective in the classroom yet “they” are tenured and next to impossible to remove.