A state district judge in Louisiana, R. Michael Caldwell, threw out the state law that was intended to make teacher tenure extremely difficult to get or keep.
This is the same judge that held most of the law constitutional only a few months ago.
He just reversed himself.
Last December Bobby Jindal and John White were celebrating and praising the judge.
Now the teachers of Louisiana are celebrating and praising the wisdom of the same judge.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I just went to the school office to tell the administrators, and one asst. principal looked stunned. So much paperwork, downloading, uploading, meetings, so many hours of mandatory rubric-driven evaluations. All gone.
It just takes a minute to sink in that the monster that has been driving one’s existence is no more.
In order to reinstitute the legislation, the La. legislature would need to approve each point in the Act 1 document as its own separate piece of legislation.
I think this would be difficult to manage.
The legislature is not as willing to corporately blindly follow Jindal as they were a year ago.
The honeymoon has ended for many former Jindal lackeys.
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Mercedes and Diane,
Thank you for keeping us infirmed. We ARE united.
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Informed….typo
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Kind of an ironic typo – it’s the rheephomers who are keeping us “infirmed”. 😉
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Hehehehe….I like it. 🙂
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Congratulations, it sounds like things are definately turning for the better. You must still be in shock. What changed the judge’s mind?
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Good.
I’ve long felt that the courts would come to the rescue of unfairly treated teachers. Just wait until a few teachers are fired based on students’ test scores and I’ll bet we’ll see a rash of expensive lawsuits. In the meantime teachers should keep careful records of student progress as well as a list of parents, other teachers and administrators who are witnesses to that progress.
Teachers know that it is fairly easy to document student progress but it takes more than a ten-dollar group test.
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Is the pendulum beginning to swing back? Have they gone too far? This position must be solidified there and expanded to turn back the other states attempting the same thing. Does everyone forget why unions came into place in the first place. Let us hold all parties accountable for the best interests of students and society in general and that includes the finances. No Money, No Programme!!!!!!
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I was in the middle of pre-observation conferences, formal observations, and the myriad of paperwork required by COMPASS when I got the news today. I stopped what I was doing to share the new with my teachers, then went back to work on the same tasks. Seems too good to be true…but all of our teachers were smiling at the end of the day!
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This suit only only overturns the provisions of act 1 which connected VAM to pay and tenure (among various other objects/goals). So, even if it is upheld by the Supreme Court current evaluations will continue. Their brokenness, however will not harm the excellent teachers wrongfully being deemed “ineffective” by stripping their tenure. Until the appeal by the state is final Act 1 stands, since this is a suspensive appeal. To teachers celebrating the “end of vam” above : getting the right message/info to your colleagues in Louisiana is important.
Ms. Ravitch, thank you for your continued support of public education! We are so proud to stand as the sole plaintiffs in this case. Our students were the real winners today. See you soon, on Louisiana! We can’t wait to have you.
Sincerely,
Mary-Patricia Wray, Legislative Director
Louisiana Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
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