The Emporia Gazette

Six teachers cut in North Lyon County

Kansas does not have any provision for "tenure" for a high school teacher. You can not earn a guaranteed position for life.

All you get, after a probationary period of three years (or two if previously earned), is "due process rights". You can still be fired for any reason, but they must state the reason.

Local contracts often specify how staff reductions will be handled. It sounds like this district has not conducted a reduction in force, but has simply elected to non-renew probationary teachers. (This is what I gather from the online version of the story.) If you want a different procedure, then change the negotiated agreement.

If what you want is to get rid of the probationary/due-process provisions state-wide, then feel free to do so. You should come to the bargaining table ready to compensate teachers for the loss of that benefit.

March 10, 2010 at 3:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Let students listen

tbluma, "tenure" is a perpetual right to a job. Kansas law does not make provisions for tenure for public school teachers. What you are talking about is the granting of due process rights, where the teacher's dismissal must include a stated cause, and there are provisions like the right to a hearing to challenge the cause.

Prior to being hired for the fourth year (third, if a teacher has already had due process rights in the prior district), the teacher has no due process rights, and is typically dismissed by non-renewal--simply not being offered a contract for the following year, with no reason needed or stated. Once they begin teaching their fourth (or third) year, then they automatically have their due process rights.

It is certainly a lot more than employees in most non-academic jobs have, but it is not tenure as you see with collegiate academics.

October 5, 2009 at 10:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Family Business

I've used a couple of others in town and I think this one is maintained very well. I ran into the gentleman and his son one evening, and they seemed very nice and asked how the cleaning machinery had worked for me. It was clear that they want to run the business well, and took pride in cleanliness and customer service.

I'm glad to give them my business.

October 5, 2009 at 12:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

A smooth Clean Sweep

This was a great service, and a great way to get rid of old, broken, and unwanted stuff.

Thank you to the organizers and volunteers for making this happen!

September 27, 2009 at 1:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Let students listen

tbluma, could you please point out what districts in Kansas grant teachers tenure?

I'm not aware of a single one.

September 6, 2009 at 5:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Flavored smokes will be only a memory

What next, are they going to outlaw wine coolers and flavored liquors?

September 6, 2009 at 5:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Restaurant investigation names cause of illness

I hope they survive this. They corrected the problems immediately once they were discovered.

It would be terribly sad if the only decent Italian restaurant in the area shut down due to a short-term problem.

August 15, 2009 at 7:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Hastings to close Aug. 1

Fairbro, try Town Crier downtown. They're exactly the kind of place that has local authors in for book signings.

July 26, 2009 at 8:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

PIE, Anyone?

methusla:
I've been around Emporia long enough that I've seen times when the economy was booming, and times when it was terrible.

You dismiss my comments by claiming that the city can't afford to attract those kinds of businesses due to the current economic situation. Why, then, did the city not make such an attempt when the economy was in good shape?

How hard did we compete against Coffeyville in the late 1990s to bring the Amazon.com distribution center here? Even with our location advantage on a major interstate, Coffeyville made the cut and we didn't.

I don't claim or state that Emporia businesses need to cater to the wants and needs of college graduates. What I do state is that Emporia needs to diversify its business environment so that it is not focused so exclusively on the manufacturing industry. Not only would diversification make it easier for Emporia to weather an economic storm, but it would deepen and diversify the talent pool here, making the city attractive to new businesses in the future.

July 20, 2009 at 5:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

PIE, Anyone?

You might check with the University foreign languages department. I'll bet they have someone there who could help you with translation.

July 19, 2009 at 4:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )