Excellence in Education
The Massachusetts Teachers Association and Stand for Children recently reached a compromise agreement on legislation that would put teacher performance over seniority in decisions about hiring, transfers, and layoffs. This is the right move for both students and teachers.
Historically, there were good reasons to base staffing decisions on seniority alone: gender equity, transparency, and freedom to voice disagreement, among them. Today, there are still reasons to take seniority into account. But times have changed. As teachers and union members, we must ask if the rules we’ve been accustomed to are continuing to serve our best interests and the interests of our students.
This issue is personal for me. Last spring, I was displaced from my school as a result of seniority-based, quality-blind staffing policies. A month later, I was named Massachusetts Teacher of the Year.
In 2006, when I began my teaching career at one of the lowest-performing schools in Massachusetts, I struggled. But over my first few years in the classroom, I found my rhythm — largely by observing more senior teachers who showed me that it was possible for all students to achieve. During my five years at Monument High School in South Boston, one of my proudest accomplishments was developing an honors math society aimed at transforming school culture by incentivizing strong academic performance and positive behavior. When we started Mu Alpha Theta, only 13 students met the eligibility requirements of maintaining a 3.0 GPA, strong attendance, and positive behavior. Over the course of three years, that number tripled.