First in a series.
Summer-tanned and ready for the classroom on Opening Day, David Mielke, longtime president of the Teachers Union in Culver City, emitted one of the first and longest cheers yesterday when the state Supreme Court declined to review an appeals court verdict rejecting a bid to overturn California laws on teacher tenure and other protections.
“This case had no merit from the beginning,” Mr. Mielke said of the landmark Vergara vs. California that had prevailed in trial court but has been on a losing streak ever since.
“It was brought by wealthy Silicon Valley anti-union, anti-public education people like Michelle Rhee and Students First, Parent Revolution, all people who are pro-charter schools.”
Basically, Mr. Mielke said, “they tried to circumvent the legislative process by taking it to court.”
Parenthetically, the defeated plaintiffs admitted as much, asserting that the Sacramento legislature is heavily, even irreversibly, pro-union.
“As I see it,” said Mr. Mielke, freshly returned from his sixth summer of teaching sailing in his native upstate New York, “there are two parts to the case.
“They wanted to do away with what we call tenure. They also wanted to do away with seniority (the last-in, first-out concept) in terms of layoffs.”
The president of the Teachers Union declared that “we don’t have tenure. Tenure is a university employment situation where essentially you have tenure.
“We don’t even use the term. We use ‘permanent status.’ All that means is that after I have taught here for two years – there is a two-year probationary period – if I start my third year here, I have permanent status.”
But Mr. Mielke wanted to clarify the precise definition.
“All that means is,” he said, “I am entitled to due process before they fire me. This is not, like, a lifetime job. They fire people. And that happens in Culver City.
“It has happened. We (the Teachers Union) come in at that point and don’t fight for the teacher’s job. We come in and say” – he speaks sotto voce – ‘Will you accept a resignation?’”
(To be continued)