No tenure exist, just due process as defined in the Constitution. The current system makes it near impossible to dismiss an incompetent teacher. A more cost efficient and less time consuming policy should be in place for removing incompetent teachers. The measurements taken to determine incompetency are not accurate. In addition, due to tenure and cost, incompetent teachers are not being dismissed, as they should.
According to the Tennessee Allocate (2000), section 49-5-511 on page 246, "The causes for which a teacher may be dismissed are as follows: incompetence, inefficiency, neglect of duty, unprofessional conduct and insubordination. But teachers must be given due process, they cannot just be fired without written notices, interview, appeals board, and allotted a period of time for correction. Only if these long drawn out procedures are followed may an incompetent instructors be justifiably dismissed. But what constitutes incompentancy?.
According to Kern Alexander and M. David Alexander, "Incompetence has been given broad interpretation by the courts. It is generally defined as ˜want of physical, intellectual, or moral ability; insufficiency; inadequacy; specific want of legal qualification or fitness. The courts have included in fitness to teach the lack of knowledge of subject matter, lack of discipline, unreasonable discipline, unprofessional conduct, and willful neglect of duty'. " In general, it is noted, that with alleged incompetence other charges are also presented. Much of the incompetence hearing is done through testimonies. Furthermore, "A teacher who has been certified by the state is assumed to be competent, and it is the responsibility of the school board to prove incompetency "(Alexander).
In one such South Dakota case, Collins v. Faith School District #46-2 (1998), third grade teacher Richard C. described to a group of boys in detail how homosexuals could have anal and oral sex.