Virginia law allows any teacher to be fired for “…incompetency, immorality, non-conformance and other transgressions (Davidson, 2012). In Connecticut a teacher was the best candidate for a promotion, until the requirements changed and a younger, lower paid individual was found through further advertising. It seemed an issue of critique (Perpich, 2008). Often, requirements are subjective.
Consuela Bond graduated cum laude in secondary education from State Teachers’ College in nineteen seventy. She immediately took a public school job in the foothills of Southwest Virginia. Later, she earned her masters from Howard University and took the doctorate from Liberty University. She maintained her certification in special education. In Virginia, a tenured teacher is required to be assessed every 3 years (Howell, 1988). Her assessments were excellent until she returned from a lengthy leave of absence to treat breast cancer. Her students and parents gave a grand party in the local community to celebrate her cancer going into remission. She returned to a new principal and a new superintendent. Thirty-one tenured teachers were put on professional probation and offered the opportunity to quit without a fuss. Dr. Doss, the principal assessed that Consuela lacked technical teaching skills and forced her to have a teaching monitor and a student teacher in training.
Consuela thought that when she regained her strength, her performance would improve and Dr. Doss would see that she was a top professional. The last day before Christmas break, Dr. Billings (superintendent) stopped by and offered to keep Consuela on payroll for the next term. Her role would be to mentor the student teacher for her replacement next Fall and resign. The offer was abruptly rejected. The student teacher confided that he had already been offered the job Fall term (Noddings, 2009). Dr. Billings advised the board that Consuela had been rude, insulting, and non-compliant. Armed with a blistering summary of Consuela’s probationary period from the principal, Billings asked the board for Consuela’s dismissal due to incompetence. At the same meeting, the superintendent introduced the 4 first year teachers she had hired to replace the tenured teachers being canned (Geller v. Markham, 1981).
The notice of dismissal was delivered by certified mail before New Year’s day and the required panel review was scheduled for Consuela and 3 other minority teachers who were fired. Steve Staples (state superintendent) recused himself from the review panel because he had worked with Consuela early in his career in Tazwell County Public Schools (Staples, 2017). Due process was served (Essex, 2009). In every case, the panel refused to endorse the dismissals and the board overruled the review panel (Troy, 2008).
Consuela has asked for your help. She thinks that she was fired due to her age. The NAACP president charges that all 4 teachers were fired due to the color of their skin (Hurshouse, 1999). The president of the Virginia Education Association told the Washington Post that she believes that Consuela’s fourteenth amendment rights were violated (Dooley, 2013). Would you take her case?
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References
Davidson, L. (2012, June 30). Fairfax Schools Fire Tenured Teacher. Washington Post, p. 04.
Dooley, N. (2013). Ethics of Justice, Care, Critique and Profession. San Francisco: CA : Wiley.
Essex, N. (2009). The 200 most frequently asked legal questions for educators. Thousand Oaks: CA: A Sage Company.
Geller v. Markham, 635 F.2d 1027, cert. denied, 451 U.S. 945 (1981) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit June 30, 1981).
Howell, H. (1988, June 30). Delegates, Virginiasqqq. Education Regulations. Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.: Virginia Legislature Archives.
Hurshouse, R. (1999). Virtue Ethics. Oxford, :U.K.: Oxford University Press.
Noddings, N. (2009). Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethic and Moral Education (2nd. Ed.). Berkley: CA: University of California Press.
Perpich, D. (2008). The Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas. Stanford: CA: Stanford University Press.
Staples, S. (2017, May 30). Virginia State Superintendent of Public Schools. (T. Elder, Interviewer)
Troy. (2008, January 01). School and Principal's Decision Makeup Analysi Theory: Four ethics formulas, justice, unity, critique and care. American Students Common. Miami, Forida, USA: Central Florida Presss.
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