Get Rid of Incompetent Teachers, Any Way You Can!

Abstract

This case explores one principal's struggle to justify her course of action to "get rid" of an ineffective teacher. It focuses on her justifications as she contemplates her moral actions and some of her tactics. This case touches on many themes: ethical decision making, professionalism, supervision, personnel law, teacher unions and tenure. The teaching notes summarize several uses for this case but focus primarily on the organizational and interpersonal context of professional accountability in educational administration. The Context and the CaseHill Middle School is a newly constructed school in a growing suburban district near a large Western U.S. metropolitan area. The district serves families in the middle and lower socioeconomic levels and has a high transience rate. More than half the students are bilingual.While the school and its district are classified as suburban, they are surrounded by both rural and urban images. There are many acres of open fields around the school with abandon tractors and farm equipment. In between these fields are new subdivisions of stucco homes. The district also contains several large (1000+ acre) tracts of arid uncultivated land. However, near the school there are also abandoned buildings with graffiti and gang symbols. The blaring noises of two major freeways can be heard throughout the district giving it an urban feel. Most parents in the district commute to larger cities in the region to work as blue-collar or lower paying white-collar employees. There are some upper middle class families interspersed throughout the district and these families are represented at Hill Middle School.