The Charleston Daily Mail has this interesting story about a bill in the legislature that would allow counties to conduct detailed interviews with teacher candidates before deciding to hire them. Right now, the story says, districts can only check to verify coursework and training. All other decisions are made on the basis of a checklist of teacher evaluations, qualifications, and seniority.
The teachers’ unions and a member of the Charleston school board both said the proposal would open the door to favoritism and nepotism by county boards of education. The teachers unions have vowed to fight the bill.
But one can also see the opposite side of this argument. What if you’ve got special skills that could be used in a low-income school that aren’t captured by the checklist? What if you’re a superintendent looking for a bright young energetic teacher for a new offering? What if, as often happens in other fields, you just get a sense from interviews that one candidate is going to be a better fit than another?
Does your district hire teachers using a similar system? Tell us what you think about it.