By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

OSHKOSH, Wis. – The “dance of the lemons” continues to haunt public schools, even in a state where union collective bargaining power has been curbed to a large degree.

A story recently published by The Northwestern profiles the continuing problem of Wisconsin school districts quietly moving problem teachers out the door, but not through prescribed acts of termination that might keep them from teaching again.

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In many cases the districts quietly give the problem teachers severance pay and letters of recommendation in exchange for their quiet resignations. That means they could easily be hired by the school down the street, because potential employers have no information about their previous problems.

School officials continue this practice “to avoid costly grievance hearings or arbitration under the terms of (teachers union) collective bargaining agreements,” the report said.

There’s that term again – collective bargaining. A year and a half after the passage of Act 10 and union games are still haunting Wisconsin schools. The termination process prescribed in teacher contracts make it too expensive for districts to fire bad teachers, so they try to quietly dump them on their neighbors.

This practice not only applies to teachers who get in trouble for performance reasons. There have been many documented cases around the nation of teachers who commit sex crimes with students being moved along with letters of recommendation, as well.

While Act 10, if eventually unchained by the courts, gives school districts the final say in teacher disciplinary cases, school officials still fear lawsuits that might be filed by fired teachers or their unions, according to the report.

“Some lawmakers complain the practice allows ineffective teachers to move undetected into new schools instead of removing them from the profession,” the report said.

One lemon smoked out by the media

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The Northwestern story cites one very troubling example of the “Dance of the Lemons” in Wisconsin schools.

In Oshkosh, former North High School art teacher Jodie Schoonover was reprimanded eight times since 2003 for a number of disciplinary issues, including habitually showing up late for class, talking negatively about other teachers in the presence of students, and failing to stop students from showing a video in class featuring nudity, drug use and offensive language, according to the news report.

Schoonover finally resigned in August, and one might expect such a bad employee to walk away with little more than her unemployment checks.

But the district gave Schoonover two weeks of pay, full health insurance coverage through August 2014 and a letter of recommendation for future employment.

That means another school might have been tricked into hiring her without knowing about her problems in Oshkosh. Of course the union is not going to warn any districts about the Schoonover’s problems, because the union represents her interests, not the interests of students, parents or taxpayers.

“It’s nice to have options when something comes up like this,” Schoonover said. “I didn’t know if there would have been any other options available to me.”

That’s nice for Ms. Schoonover, but unfair for unsuspecting school administrators who might hire her in the future.

We’re not saying Schoonover should be banned from teaching forever. But we do believe potential employers deserve full disclosure about her former problems before determining whether she deserves another chance.

That’s just common sense, particularly when we’re talking about employees who work closely with children.

Dirty lemons do the dance, as well

Remember Ryan Zellner, the high school teacher and coach who was sentenced to prison last year  for having sex with a minor student when he worked at Kiel High School?

An investigation following his arrest produced accusations of similar conduct during his previous teaching stints in the Green Bay and West DePere school districts.

In the end Zellner was convicted of having sex with 11 students from all three districts over the course of eight years.

As one published report put it, “It is hard to believe that Zellner’s pattern of behavior went totally unnoticed by the administration or the union.”

There were efforts made by the superintendent at Kiel to determine why Zellner was terminated by the Green Bay district, but the Green Bay superintendent felt legally uncomfortable sharing too much information, according to a story published by NewsRealBlog.com.

“Here’s where iron-clad union contracts get in the way of protecting children from predators,” the report said. “When (Kiel superintendent John) Lewis called Green Bay High School for the information on the circumstances surrounding the non-renewal of Zellner’s contract and spoke to administrator John Wilson, Wilson tried to warn Lewis using code phrases intended to tip Lewis off without actually saying it.

“The union contracts are so restrictive on the administration that when a teacher is let go or moved from a school, the school they left is only able to confirm employment. They are not allowed to disclose why the teacher left. And so, administrators like Wilson are forced to hint around the issue and more often than not, fail to protect other children.”

Some officials actually defend the practice

As unbelievable as it may seem, some union and school board officials say there’s nothing wrong with schools giving failed teachers letters of recommendation.

Barry Forbes, the associate executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, said all teacher resignation cases end up with written agreements and frequently a letter of recommendation, at the request of the employee or union.

Forbes said he never discourages districts from issuing such letters, and he has personally helped many districts prepare them.

“I don’t see that as a concern in that school administrators and principals are reasonably sophisticated people, and it’s not hard to spot an agree-to letter of reference,” Forbes told the news site. “I think, as a practical matter, they are not particularly valuable to the employees.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Forbes, there have been too many cases where bad teachers find jobs elsewhere and continue to be bad teachers. Perhaps those letters do occasionally fool those sophisticated administrators.

Mark Bouschele, president of the teachers union in Oshkosh, said it’s unfair to stigmatize teachers who have resigned under pressure.

He said letters of recommendation are meant to suggest that the employees being shown the door “are still qualified and great employees.”

How stupid do you think we are, Mr. Bouschele? They are not being asked to leave their current jobs if they are great employees. And if that were the case, their unions would not have to negotiate with districts for letters of recommendation.

State Sen. Luther Olsen got it right when he described the resignation agreements as “the easy way out.”

All of the above means Wisconsin’s new teacher accountability program can’t arrive a moment too soon. Schools need clear documentation of a teacher’s performance so they can defend themselves when they decided to terminate their employment.

Meanwhile, the state must pass some type of law that prevents school administrators from trying to repackage their garbage. Schools considering hiring a teacher should be able to obtain full information about that candidate from previous employers, without the previous employer fearing any sort of recrimination.

And teachers unions must get over the idea that they have some sacred responsibility to defend their worst members until the bitter end, particularly it forces local school districts a lot of money for legal fees.

Bad teachers deserve to be fired, and other schools should not be tricked into hiring them without warning.