Teacher getting unfairly fired

I will give you my perspective as a former teacher union president and then principal who hired evaluated and renewed or non-renewed teachers. Hiring good teachers is incredibly difficult. Why? Because good teaching is hard. Some people are gifted and do it naturally. Others are not gifted but can become proficient with enough work. And fitting in with the workplace environment is paramount. Teachers need to be collegial with each other and collaborate constantly to do their best work. And at times even the best natural teacher may not be a good fit for the particular teacher in a specific school. I think I worked hard to hire the best I could. On the other hand I probably also non-renewed a quarter of them. Why? Because under our union contract the probation period was two years. After the second year you needed just cause to terminate them. So sometimes if they were on the bubble, they might go quicker in a school than other professions. Everyone got some help with deficiencies but you better be busting your hump and showing real progress early on in teaching or your are gone.

And take the well wishes and "shock" of the other teachers with a grain of salt. Teachers as a whole are usually nice people. But everyone except your wife probably knew about the nonrenewal. Gossip is rampant in any school and gets leaked constantly. The fact it came out of the blue for her is probably part of the problem. Her introspection here may be a bit lacking.

She has paid union dues for exactly this situation. To ensure she is treated fairly. There are three possibilities that are occurring here: 1. She is not being treated fairly but the contract or law provides her no redress as she is an at will and/or probationary employee, 2. She is being treated unfairly but the union believes she is and is using its lawful discretion to not advance an argument, or 3. She is being treated fairly and her subjective views are misguided. Whichever it is I think she will probably be SOL. But if she is to do anything it has to be through the union. So that's where she needs to go for answers. Good luck!

/r/legaladvice Thread