New teachers hired in North Carolina beginning in July will be exempt from the employment policy that required renewed contracts after each school year.
The General Assembly passed a law in 2013 that prevented teachers from receiving “career status” if they had not been protected by August 1 of that year. Before, school boards could grant career status to teachers who had worked in the same district for at least four years. Without the protection, new teachers were relegated to single-year contracts, but the provisions will expire on July 1, 2018.
With career status, teachers have long-term contracts and cannot be unfairly treated, demoted or dismissed.
Soon after the General Assembly passed the law in 2013, the North Carolina Association of Educators filed a lawsuit to prevent career status from being revoked from teachers who already had the protection. The state Supreme Court resolved the case in April 2016, upholding the legislature’s right to deny career status to new teachers. However, the Court ruled that career status could not be revoked from teachers who were protected previously.
After July 1, school boards may evaluate any teacher who has spent three years in a district for contracts of up to four years.
Emily Flores, a history and psychology teacher at Chapel Hill, supports multi-year contracts. “It offers more teachers job security while also curbing the rate of teacher turnover,” she said.
Many teachers have become wary of addressing concerns within their school after losing tenure. Without the protection of tenure, teachers may feel they cannot speak out without putting their jobs at risk.
“I do feel bad about teachers losing their tenure, something many assumed they would have until the end of their career,” Flores said. “My hope is that with the multi-year contracts, teachers with tenure will not lose their sense of autonomy and authority in their teaching profession.”
Though teacher groups prefer the possibility of four-year contracts over one-year contracts, neither gives teachers tenure. “A loss of tenure can make teachers feel they’re not valued,” a special-education teacher at Raleigh’s Washington Elementary School, Amy Jo Glenn, told The News & Observer.
Chapel Hill history teacher Parker Whitehouse hopes that teachers will be afforded even greater safety.
“I think a four-year contract is a great number, and I’d argue that after an adequate amount of time and with clear evidence over a career of exceptional work, teachers should be able to receive even longer contracts,” he said.
