[Mpls] Steve Belton v. Thandiwe Peebles

[Socialist2001 at cs.com]

I concur with Steve Belton. I am opposed to granting "fire-at-will" authority 
to any Minneapolis Public School supervisor, including the superintendent, 
for the following reasons:

Due process rights are a check on the authority of supervisors. Employees 
have no rights a supervisor must respect when supervisors may "fire-at-will."

Requiring supervisors to show cause for disciplinary actions, and to utilize 
a progressive disciplinary process in cases where immediate termination is not 
justified, forces supervisors to clearly communicate expectations, to 
promptly raise concerns with employees about aspects of their job performance that 
may be less than satisfactory. 

Regulating the authority of supervisors as described above is good for morale 
and the effectiveness of an organization. Moreover, an employee who may be 
"fired-at-will" is under greater pressure to please the boss and to engage in 
unethical and illegal conduct toward that end. An example of unethical and 
possibly illegal conduct more likely to occur with "fire-at-will" administrators is 
the "zero dropout miracle" in Houston, TX, which was accomplished by the 
falsification of reports by high school principals.  

According to a news report in the Star-Tribune,
 
"Peebles said that several large nearby districts have at-will contracts, 
including St. Paul and Anoka-Hennepin. She said that an outside audit of the 
district by the Council of the Great City Schools last fall urged greater 
accountability for administrators." --Top aide opposes Peebles on fire-at-will 
contracts 
Steve Brandt, Star Tribune June 29, 2005

Making top administrators "fire-at-will" employees isn't necessarily a good 
idea just because 'other school district's do it.'  

Granting Peebles "fire-at-will" is undoubtedly the easiest, but not the best 
way to make administrators more accountable to the superintendent, in my 
opinion. A better way to make administrators more accountable for their job 
performance, and not just to Dr. Peebles, would be for Peebles to address aspects of 
her own job performance in need of improvement, by her own admission, such as, 
interpersonal communications and delegation of authority 
 
-Doug Mann, King Field
Candidate for 8th ward city council
http://educationright.com/blog