Senator Diaz On Teacher Tenure

” I will say that the best and most secure way for anyone to get and to keep job security is to do your work professionally, to be honest, don’t be corrupt, and of course, to not act like a sex maniac,” said Rev. Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., speaking about his problem with teacher tenure policy and its ability to enable “bad teachers” to continue to collect a salary.

“Take a look at Susan Edelmen’s article, Easy Pay for DOE’s Foul Four, that appeared on page 4 of the July 13, 2014 edition of the New York Post. Ms. Edelman reported: “The Foul Four — who beat sexual misconduct charges — can’t be fired by the city Department of Education because they are entitled to job protections under state tenure laws, which require “due process”. … The four banned teachers collect a total of $363,271 a year, plus pension and health benefits.”

Diaz acknowledged he may experience some backlash from these sentiments but felt it was too important to be silent:

“Some people tell me that sometimes it looks like I have a political death wish, and I am pretty sure that what I write here will not be appreciated by all of my dear readers. I will say that the best and most secure way for anyone to get and to keep job security is to do your work professionally, to be honest, don’t be corrupt, and of course, to not act like a sex maniac. The only ones who should be able to assure job security are the people themselves.

Even knowing that I may become a political target, I can tell you that the worst thing that can happen to a person is to keep the truth locked inside and to be too afraid to say it out loud. I cannot keep this truth – which can hurt – inside of me any longer. Children who are poor and who live in impoverished communities are entitled to a quality education. If there are bad teachers in public schools where Black and Hispanic children are sent to be educated – and where too many of our public schools are failing abysmally – we need to protect our children’s rights over the job security rights of those bad teachers.”

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