There is now a searchable database for teachers that have been reprimanded by their districts. According to The Herald-Tribune (who compiled the database), the list ranges from “serious misconduct” to failure to repay student loans. Obviously someone who failed to repay a student loan is not that huge a deal…especially since teachers make crap wages.
I am a big fan of teachers…they make sure that our young grow up and are able to function in a society. However there are horrible teachers out there and maybe this database will do well in weeding the bad apples out. I am sure the NEA (the powerful teacher’s union in Washington) will be really upset over this and will probably try to get it shut down…but why? Wouldn’t they want to represent the best of the best? Wouldn't they want the bad teachers out of the classrooms? Oh yeah…I forgot, it’s a union…they have no standards.
For those teachers out there that are awesome…like my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Fultz or our Aunt Margaret…there is nothing to worry about. This is for those teachers like Debra Lafave or Isaac Tillis (although hopefully they are fired before people find out about it from a database). I think parents have a right to know if their child’s teacher has a clean background and hopefully this database will provide that information to them.
