Tenure

I was a working tenured teacher
Most of my career.
Now tenure’s on the chopping block;
The union’s made that clear.

Of course, some teachers aren’t good
And some don’t even try,
Yet getting rid of tenured ones
Is wrong, and this is why:

City workers all deserve
Some kind of guarantee
That competence at what they do
Will grant security.

It cannot happen overnight –
The newcomers must wait.
It may take several years to prove
They really are first-rate.

And only then will they have earned
The right to there remain,
Protected by the power
That their contract lets them gain.

If layoffs have to happen,
Newer teachers have to go.
A principal can’t give
The higher-paid ones the heave-ho.

A teacher who’s incompetent
Should not have been allowed,
By weak administrators,
To blend with the tenure crowd.

For those who slipped on through,
Give them encouragement and aid.
Don’t change the rules and let them feel
That they have been betrayed.

If future tenure is in doubt,
New teachers can prepare;
But bouncing those within its shelter
Really is unfair.

P.S. I miss the way things were
When I was newly hired.
The more I read the more I am
So glad to be retired!