On Receiving Tenure

Flipping through newspapers, newsmagazines and watching the news on TV, one can find a lot of information and opinion on the hot educational topic of tenure.

To some, it's a dirty word. Some believe tenure rewards mediocre or even crappy teachers with a lifetime of guaranteed employment as long as they don't get caught with drugs, doing inappropriate things with students, or looking at pornography. Never mind the kids, these slacker teachers can just sit back and coast because no one can do anything to them, because they have the immunity of tenure.

To some, it's a reward system for teachers who bust their butts proving themselves and have earned the right not to be questioned. The first three years are of necessecity probationary, and one misstep, indeed, no reason at all, can get you fired. Three years is enough of that, and they should be welcomed into the higher eschelons of the ranks who have Got It.

I had a lot of opinions on tenure before receiving it caused me to look more personally at it. Before I even set foot in a classroom with my name on the door, I was more in the first camp. To me, tenure was an excuse for some lazy teachers to not have to work hard. Districts were stuck with them, no matter what they did, and shame on those poor administrators for participating in this old and outdated institution.

And then the golden door opened to me. My thoughts on tenure have changed so much now that I really can say I know what I'm talking about, at least as it applies to me. (Which wasn't the case before.)

I did bust my butt for three years. I busted it through the out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire first year, when I scrambled to learn how to do this teaching stuff. I busted it when my job was just another opportunity for professional employment with its own standards, practices and lingo, no different than my job as a Registrar at the art museum.

I busted it through the second year when I was a junior sponsor, pregnant--no wait, nursing an infant, pumping milk three times a day, skipping valuable catch-up time at lunch to nurse, taking a correspondence class I still can't figure out why I needed, suddenly becoming the parent of a troubled teenager and trying, with my husband, to figure out how to un-trouble him, and managing the schedules of myself and two children. And suddenly realizing how much I cared about my students.

I busted it through my third year when, finally, I had no obligations to provide milk of my own body, no juniors to sponsor, and no classes to take, and I could concentrate on upping my own personal practices as a teacher, time manager, inventory manager, and building leader for the sake of my students and the potential I knew they could achieve. (See: Contest, Large Group.)

Suddenly I was being called into my boss's office where they told me that they were going to recommend to the board that I receive tenure. They didn't want me to lose sleep over it. I said I hadn't, really, I was too busy preparing for the Spring Concert and getting ready for end-of-year instrument inventory. I said, thank you very much, it's an honor.

A few weeks later when it became a reality I was in the middle of a workshop learning some new technology I could implement in my large band classes, and I hardly paused to absorb the news because I was working to learn the new program.

Now that I've had time to process the fact, I can say several things about it. First, it really doesn't change how I feel about actually doing my job. I'm a professional. I approach teaching the same way I approached graduate school, from which I emerged with a 4.0, and the same way I approached my Registrar job, where I know I left the permanent collection and the collections records of the museum better than I found them. I can't imagine not continuing to teach with professionalism, enthusiasm, and a constant drive to learn and do better. Duh.

Second, this special vote of confidence makes me feel on some level a sense of acceptance greater than I have felt. The day after the board meeting, I was back at school for graduation rehearsal and the following day for graduation itself, for which I played the processional and recessional on the piano. I noticed that I wielded my keys and walked into the building with my head higher, with a stronger sense of belonging than I have ever felt before. I think I even played the piano better, because I wasn't quite so nervous. I played as if I belonged, as if it were my rightful place instead of one I simply inhabited because they needed someone to fill it.

Third, receiving tenure means that if I don't do anything really dumb, which I am simply not programmed to do (thanks Mom and Dad) and our district continues to thrive and even become a magnet for students outside our boundaries, my family will have security for the forseeable future. I will be able to help provide for them and give them the role model of a mother able to balance work and family effectively and who takes joy in her professional life. Yes, of course my husband ably fills the other half of our comfortable cup, and then some, with the joy he takes in his work and the professionalism he exhibits and all of that. But I know I can continue to do my part to make sure our kids grow up with all the experiences I want them to have.

Simply put, tenure rocks. I can breathe a little sigh of relief and go on a little easier. I can put the energy I spent thinking about it into other things like readying myself to teach college level art appreciation and figuring out how to get more instruments for the school.

Well, I would love to say more about how great tenure feels, but I have to start writing some lesson plans for the fall.