Ask an Expert: Judy Goddess
Using California School Law To Advocate For Your Kids

KEEPING A GOOD SUBSTITUTE

My son has a new, first-year teacher, and she's excellent. Most of the other parents think so, too. The problem is that she's new to the district and is filling in for a teacher on maternity leave. We would like to keep her. What can we do to make sure she stays at our school?

No matter how much the parents, the school, and even the district may value her skills, a new teacher does not have tenure and can only be hired only after all tenured teachers have been placed in jobs, even though these jobs may be in areas outside the field in which they earned their teaching credential. Tenure is different from credentialing. A teacher — whether a recent college grad or an experienced teacher from out-of-state — acquires tenure only after she has taught in the district for two years. There are only two exceptions to the requirement that districts first hire tenured teachers: a) a district may hire a new rather than a tenured teacher when the new teacher has skills that are needed to teach a specific course; and b) a non-tenured teacher may be hired first to further the district's compliance with a court order. If the principal cannot find a way to hire the new teacher under either of those exceptions, you need to hope that the district will still have open positions after all the permanent employees have been hired, and that one of these positions will be at your school.

By the way, California school districts have two years in which to decide if they will grant a probationary teacher permanent status. Much more common is the three-year probationary period required in 33 states. While some professional associations have suggested expanding the probationary period, others advocate a flexible probationary period of one to four years to provide greater job security for exceptional new teachers and experienced out-of-state teachers transferring into the California system. It would also provide an increased time period for promising, but inexperienced staff to improve their teaching skills.

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