Apparently punctuality is not an important job requirement
to teach public school in New Jersey these days. As proof of this, we have Mr. Arnold Anderson.
Over the past two years, Mr. Anderson was late to his job
111 times – 46 last school year and another 65 the prior year. Anderson, who
teaches at Roosevelt Elementary School in New Brunswick, NJ, is paid a handsome
$90,000 a year.
This sum, however, appears to be not enough to get him out
of bed and to work in the same timely fashion you’d expect of, say, the
school’s students.
Losing Track of Time
Mr. Anderson blamed his consistent and chronic tardiness on
eating breakfast in the morning and losing track of time. He called his morning routine a "bad habit" but defended his recording saying he was often just a minute or two late to school, but still was prepared and made it to class on time.
The school tried to fire Mr. Anderson. At face value, I
would say this appears to be a reasonable course of action. However, an
arbiter, appointed to oversee this situation between the school district and
teacher’s union, ruled on August 19 not to fire Mr. Anderson. Instead, the
arbiter decided to suspend him without pay until January.
The arbiter found that school officials did not provide Mr. Anderson with due process by giving him formal notice of his inefficiency and
did not give him 90 days to correct the issue before seeking to terminate him.
It appears from news accounts (including this article in the UK’s Daily Mail, proving that news travels fast) that Mr. Anderson argued that the quality of his teaching
outweighed his tardiness. The arbiter wasn’t buying this and criticized his claim.
Due Process
So, three cheers for due process, I guess, right? I
certainly don’t know all the facts here. Of course, any situation in which
someone might lose his or her job, it’s important to get the facts right.
But can you honestly think of any job you can be late to for over 100 times in two years and NOT
get shown the door? How about 50 times? Heck, how about 25?
Apparently the only job you can pull off this kind of
behavior -- at least in this case -- is teaching.
Showing Up
I have worked in education for over 20 years. I have taught
school at many different levels and in both school and corporate settings. There is a simple truth about
teaching that I’ve observed. You need to show up.
By “show up” I mean that it’s essential to bring energy,
enthusiasm and a positive mindset to teaching. If you fail to do this,
students know right away. In almost every case, they check out.
Students of all ages read their teachers. They take their
cues from them. A teacher who does not show up provides the students
with explicit permission to not show up themselves. It’s pretty simple.
In Mr. Anderson’s case, a 15-year teaching veteran, his not “showing up” is at an
entirely different level. He literally did not show up on time. Inexplicably, he can’t motivate himself to be on time to teach elementary age students. What message
does that send them?
I personally know plenty of people who would love Mr.
Anderson’s job and his more than ample salary. The only thing worse than Mr.
Anderson’s track record, his apparent lackluster attitude and feeble excuse for
his tardiness is the fact that we have a system that makes is so hard to
actually do the right thing and fire someone for this kind of clearly
irresponsible and idiotic behavior.
OR 