
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 28, 1995                   TAG: 9510300088
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

EDUCATION HEAD URGES DEMISE OF TENURE SYSTEM

The state's education chief is recommending that Virginia scrap its teacher tenure system in favor of short-term contracts that would make teachers responsible for student success.

``It's time to discuss everything from structured accountability systems for students to term contracts for teachers,'' William Bosher Jr., the state superintendent of public instruction, said Thursday. ``I think there's an opportunity to discuss things in a reasonable way.''

The state Board of Education also is considering measures to require local boards and their superintendents to meet the state's standards of quality for education. Those measures could include prosecuting local school boards and superintendents, and removing the boards and having the state board appoint a new local superintendent if a school's performance is substandard.

Robley Jones, president of the 52,000-member Virginia Education Association, the state's largest teachers group, predicted both suggestions will face ``a major battle.''

Under the current teacher employment plan, teachers are employed by law under ``continuing contracts'' after serving a three-year probation. That means a teacher automatically is rehired every year unless removed for cause.

Courts have ruled that a teacher's continuous employment can amount to tenure.

Bosher wants to offer three- to five-year contracts and write a new employment plan into the state's standards of quality.

by CNB