Green light for ‘class’ action
NY teacher-tenure lawsuit
A Staten Island judge ruled Thursday that the city’s Department of Education and the teachers unions must face a lawsuit challenging existing teacher tenure statewide.
“This court . . . will not close the courthouse door to parents and children with viable constitutional claims,” Judge Philip Minardo wrote in a significant decision refusing to toss the suit.
Former CNN anchor Campbell Brown joined publicschool parents to sue the city, the United Federation of Teachers and New York State United Teachers in 2014, claiming that the laws allowing teachers to gain tenure “have a negative impact on the quality of education in New York, thereby violating the students’ constitutional right to a sound basic education.”
Brown hailed the decision as “a major victory for New Yorkers, especially for parents and students.”
“We know that quality teaching is the most im portant factor influencing student achievement, and this case will seek to prove that New York’s antiquated education policies have robbed students across the state of the opportunity to succeed in the classroom,” Brown added.
Michael Mulgrew, head of the city UFT, vowed to appeal the ruling as did NYSUT, which promised to challenge what it called a “meritless attack on fairness and due process.”
Another plaintiff in the case, Mona Davids of the NYC Parents Union, said, “We are happy that our voices will finally be heard.”
The suit argues that 97 percent of the city’s teachers get tenure and are “vir tually guaranteed lifetime employment, regardless of their inclass performance or effectiveness.”
The advocates also contend it costs an average of $313,000 and takes 830 days to oust a bad teacher. They further oppose teacher evaluations as “nonuniform, superficial and deficient.”
The city and UFT countered that the plaintiffs use “specious statistics” to make their argument and believe the matter belongs in the state Legislature.
But in his decision, Minardo wrote that the defendants failed to “demonstrate that any of the material facts alleged in the complaints are untrue.”
“Further, it has been held that the state may be called to account when it fails in its obligation to meet minimum constitutional standards for educational quality,” Minardo wrote.
A spokesman for the city’s Law Department said, “We are reviewing the decision and weighing our options.”
State lawmakers are currently debating several issues raised in the case.