School board grants early tenure to three administrators

Chester — Saying that the Chester school district needs stability and continuity, the board of education granted tenure to three faculty members one year before they completed probation. At their meeting on May 21, the board granted tenure to middle school principal Ernest Jackson, elementary school principal Cindy Walsh, and special education director Lea Morganstein. School board president John Pasichnyk told The Chronicle that the imminent retirement of Paul Reh, director of instructional support services, would have left the district with only one tenured administrator. The newly tenured administrators have done more in the approximately two years they have been with the district than most administrators achieve during their entire careers, Pasichnyk said. “Chester would like to keep good, qualified people,” he said. Without the tenure appointments, he said, the district would have been in “big trouble.” He did add that he did not believe any of the administrators would have left if they did not get tenure this year. But, he said, “tenured faculty can do functions that nontenured people can’t do,” such as evaluations of nontenured teachers. Board member Wendy Murray cast the only dissenting vote. She stressed that she greatly admires the three administrators, and believes they have done extraordinary work. But she said the early appointments “make a joke out of tenure,” which should be applied fairly in all cases: after the candidates have completed the three-year probation mandated by the state. She said the board’s decision sends the wrong message to teachers and administrators who did not get early tenure. “Weren’t they good enough after two years?” Murray asked. Just a few weeks ago, she noted, the board granted tenure to 11 teachers, all of whom were required to complete the full three years. Tenure is no guarantee that an administrator will stick around. A teacher herself, Murray said faculty members who want tenure will stay the full three years. She believes the administrators would have continued to do the same exceptional job over the next year that they’ve done for the past two, even without tenure. State law requires three years State education law requires a full three-year probationary period for administrators. In answer to The Chronicle’s question about whether there was any circumstance in which a school board may grant early tenure, Deborah H. Cunningham, coordinator for Educational Management Services with the New York State Education Department in Albany, e-mailed the following answer: “Principals and other administrators in school districts and BOCES must be appointed by the school board to a three-year probationary period (Education Law section 3012(1)(b)). Unlike teachers, they cannot have this period reduced to two years if they have received tenure in another school district in the state.” She told The Chronicle that any citizen can file a complaint with the state education department if they feel their school district has not complied with the law. Pasichnyk said he talked to the district’s attorneys, and found that granting early tenure to administrators was “permissible.” “Our impression was that the answer from state ed misinterpreted the law,” he said. The state supreme court has set a precedent for early tenure for administrators, he said, and early tenure has been “done a good number of times in New York State.” While he could not name a state supreme court decision that established precedent, he did offer one example from his own district: former middle school Principal Kris Felicello received early tenure about three years ago. But even with tenure, Felicello did not stay with the district. He left in 2007 to take a job as principal at a middle school in Stony Point. Murray also objected to the board’s lack of opportunity to review the tenure candidates before they were put to a vote. The way it usually works, she said, is that the superintendent of schools recommends tenure candidates at one meeting, and the school board schedules a vote for the next meeting. This gives the board two weeks to review the candidates’ performance evaluations and other records before making a decision, she said. At the May 21 meeting, the board voted on the tenure appointments on the same night that Superintendent Helen Anne Livingston made her recommendations. “What’s the rush?” Murray asked. Pasichnyk disagreed — it would have been more unusual for the board to wait, he said, adding that the board had a chance to review the candidates’ materials at the executive session held immediately before the public meeting. “I don’t see how something so positive is being spun into something so negative,” he said. The tenure appointments are among the last actions of a board that voters rejected in the May 19 election. Incumbents Joan Donato and Judi Berger lost to newcomers Dawn DeLuca-Guevara and Jason LaTassa, whom Murray supported during their campaign. The new board will be sworn in July 1. What is tenure? Tenure assures faculty members due process before they are fired. While they are still on probation, teachers and administrators may be dismissed for any reason. After they are granted tenure, state education law guarantees that teachers and administrators with allegations against them will get a fair hearing in a formal legal procedure. Tenure is often misunderstood as a guarantee of employment for life. It is not. Faculty members can be fired for “just cause.” Charges must fall under one of the following categories set down by the state: insubordination, conduct unbecoming a teacher, inefficiency, incompetence, physical or mental disability, neglect of duty, failure to maintain certification, or immoral character. “Tenure has removed much of the politics and injustice from the discipline and dismissal of teachers,” according the state teachers’ union. “One competent teacher cannot be dismissed so that the district may hire someone else who has better political connections.” Source: New York State Union of Teachers www.nysut.org