I attended the meeting where the Guilford County Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution authorizing Superintendent Mo Green to seek a declaratory judgment action against the state law eliminating teacher tenure.
I didn’t see any teachers crying once the vote was posted, but the applause was deafening and there were more than a few high fives. But I couldn’t help but wonder —as does the N&R’s Doug Clark — what if the judge does not rule in the board’s favor—-in other words, what he does not conclude that tenure is not teachers’ “property as that term is understood in the context of their rights under the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of North Carolina”?
Clark writes:
I asked Chairman Alan Duncan and Vice Chairman Amos Quick this morning whether they could assure Guilford County teachers that the plan won’t take effect. They could not. Quick just promised to fight as hard as possible. I believe he and other board members are doing that.
Anyone who’s been paying attention lately knows one thing about the court system— no one can predict which way a judge will rule. I know the teachers at least appreciated the board’s strong stand supporting them, but the reality is this battle is far from over.
