John Owens: Teacher tenure bill and Avatar

The Colorado Senate AVITAR Bill

SB191, “Teacher Tenure” Bill, has a similar plot to the film, AVITAR:

Imagine the experienced teacher with years of highly effective teaching and who is tenured. Through hard work and study she is at the top of the salary scale. Like a majestic red wood in the forest, from her vantage point she is able to see far into the distance, anticipate the needs of her students and respond appropriately. Along comes SB 191, an energetic logger with terrific intentions to make his trip to the forest as productive as possible, and of course, it’s logical the first thing he fells is the tallest, sturdiest tree. Under the “teacher tenure bill” being debated in the Colorado State Senate, school boards across the state, despite all good intentions, will exercise the same intent: to lop off the top of the salary scale by reassigning the highest paid teachers to the poorest performing schools, and using the new tools provided in this proposed law, SB191, they will assure as many as possible of those highly effective teachers are removed from tenure and harvested out of the salary schedule to reduce costs and meet budgetary requirements. No longer will teachers retire as experienced professionals, and the future of our best and brightest students will be placed at risk in the name of good intentions and bottom-line economics. This is the way of a few who profess to know more than everyone else, and in the process, with all good intention, set about ruining lives of generations to come. The AVITAR Bill introduces the specter of a scorched-earth policy that has far-reaching consequences and could conceivably result in the opposite of intended purpose. There are better ways to deal with ineffective teaching, and these currently existing methods must be enforced before our legislature unleashes a Pandora that will not be tamed.

John Owens
Longmont