The West Windsor-Plainsboro News is to be commended for its thorough coverage of a recent Board of Education meeting in which students and parents spoke out in favor of a well-liked high school art teacher, Mr. Nishan Patel (The News, May 1). Mr. Patel is not tenured and apparently the Board has decided, for now, to not renew his contract, due to budget constraints.
This decision should be seen in a broader context. New Jersey recently enacted the “Teach New Jersey” statute, which allows school districts like ours to undertake a process, following a full hearing, to revoke the tenure of teachers who are found to be “ineffective” and thus remove them from the school payroll. As the parent of three children who have made their way through our excellent school system, I am well aware of the small but not insignificant number of tenured teachers who are at the low end of the spectrum in terms of their ability and dedication to teaching. In fact, parents can and do, at the invitation of the school, communicate with their children’s guidance counselors in the spring of every year to inform them of the teachers whom they don’t want their children to have in the coming year. The list almost always includes a small group of tenured teachers who are marking time until they retire.
Rather than let go of a teaching star like Mr. Patel, our school district should consider using the tenure revocation process that exists in the statute. At the end of the day, rethinking tenure, as the law invites, will serve the best interests of our students.
Tirza Wahrman
