First, lets let a bunch of lawyers from Lansing make all the rules.  Then, lets make it nearly impossible to get rid of crappy teachers.  Then, just for good measure, lets make it equally difficult for schools to get rid of students that cannot control their tempers, don't want to learn, and generally go to school to have fun and disrupt the classroom.  Then, to make it really interesting, lets make the school districts financially dependent on keeping these numbskull hellions in the classroom too!  

What could possibly go wrong with such a system?

due process doesn't (or shouldn't) make teachers "untouchable." those who whine about it are anti-union to begin with and conveniently point the finger away from their own ineptitude in being able to function as an official who must show cause in dismissing an employee.

sorry, i don't feel sorry for any administrator or school district that blindly throws money at a teacher so he or she will simply and conveniently go away. buck up! you do that, you get what you deserve.

which in this case is the pay-off of the teacher.

there are plenty of times teachers are wrongly accused and need due process. pointing out an instance when administrators and school boards dropped the ball doesn't negate the need for due process.

i also dispute the $100,000 figure the board threw out there (re: how much it would cost to go through the tenure process due process). says who? mike reno filed a story about a month ago where a district was paying about 1/5 of that to go through a tenure hearing (if i remember right).

board members simply throwing up their hands and saying "gee, those darn unions" should be the ones getting the blame here. how is it a good idea to throw taxpayer money at a teacher like this instead of making him or her go through the process? where's the accountability? why reward lazy behavior like this by scrapping the tenure process altogether? let me get this straight: i'm lazy and don't want to deal with a tenure hearing, and i have desire to make a teacher accountable through due process...so i know! let's just scrap the tenure process altogether! hello!

none of you hear see that? good god.

then on top of that to blame the teacher and the union is beyond flabbergasting.