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School district gets tough on probationary teachers after expose
Los Angeles school district officials are planning to fire more than 110 non-tenured teachers this year based on their performance, about three times the number of probationary teachers dismissed annually in recent years.
The move comes after The Times reported in December that the Los Angeles Unified School District often grants teachers permanent status with little or no evaluation. About a week after the newspaper informed district officials of its findings, Supt. Ramon C. Cortines ordered that teachers, especially probationary ones, be more closely scrutinized.
The Times found that nearly all probationary teachers received passing grades on their evaluations and that fewer than 2% were denied tenure. Over the last four years, the school board has denied tenure to an average of 35 teachers annually.
All of the non-tenured teachers who are facing termination this year received one or more negative ratings on a recent job evaluation and have been sent letters indicating that they are being considered for so-called non-reelection.