BOE hopefuls consider Fair Dismissal Act return

Candidates for the Floyd County Board of Education all agree that teachers need assurance that their jobs are secure, but some are more convinced that reinstating the Fair Dismissal Act is the only way to do that.

Three seats are up for election on the Floyd BOE this year.

In District 3, incumbent Jay Shell is running against David Tucker for the GOP nomination in the May 24 primary. There will be no Democrat running in November.

In District 2, current representative David Cox isn’t seeking re- election and Melinda Strickland and Keith Hester are both running as Republicans. Again there is no Democrat running.

In District 5, incumbent George Bevels is running as a Democrat against fellow Democrat Joyce Mink. Republican Melinda Jeffers is unopposed in the primary.

Floyd dropped the FDA process when it won charter status.

In March, Floyd officials proposed a new policy that offers a three-tiered approach for teachers and administrators to appeal if they are dismissed — first with an appeal to the human resources director, then to the superintendent and finally to the board of education.

This policy is described as a compromise between the FDA and the Charter School Act. When the Georgia Legislature set the Charter School Act, it was decided that charter systems would not be required to use the FDA.

The main difference between the FDA and Floyd’s proposed policy is that teachers would still not get an automatic appeal to the state BOE after being fired.

The Floyd BOE attorney King Askew is investigating how other charter systems handle the firing of teachers.

Strickland said not following the FDA is a problem because “there is nowhere for the teachers to appeal to non- local, unbiased eyes.

“I feel strongly that teachers should have an appeal to the state,” Strickland added.

Teachers themselves have expressed mixed opinion, board members said.

Board members said they have received emails from teachers — some asking the board to amend the charter to include the FDA and others wanting to leave it out.

Shell appears to be noncommittal.

“Since day one, when the Georgia legislature took the FDA away, I thought there needed to be a policy in place,” said Shell. “I am willing to discuss and amend the charter as long as our local policy can override that state law. I am married to a teacher and I know they spend a lot of money on learning their craft, they need to be treated as professionals.”

Hester said the proposed Floyd policy seems fair.

“If you are removed, you have the right to appeal to several levels,” he said. “I have found that the state appeal has only been used three or four times in the last 25 years, and it costs the system a lot of money every time. That upsets me. I don’t like to see tax money spent trying a case.”

Hester said that with the evaluation process in place for teachers, there should “be no surprise” if a teacher is removed.

“The benefit of a charter is keeping local control, however, I do feel that if the majority of teachers want the FDA in there, it should be in there,” he said.

Tucker said the FDA should be reinstated.

“It is very important that teachers have a sense of protection,” Tucker said. “I think there is a huge misconception that if the FDA is in place, it makes it harder to dismiss teachers who are doing a bad job. That is a very big fallacy.”

Bevels said he is waiting to see what information Askew comes back with about other Georgia charter systems.

Mink said she has seen teachers lose their positions over a disagreement with a principal, so she is in support of the FDA.

“The FDA gives teachers that extra ear,” she said. “It does not give a poor teacher a shield. From the comments I’ve heard, we need that clause in the charter to make our teachers more comfortable and to feel secure.”

Jeffers said she is on the side of teachers.

“I think the FDA offers them a safety net. They know they cannot be dismissed just because they are being blackballed by someone,” she said. “There may have only been a few incidents when it was used in Floyd County, but it needs to be there.”