The “lemon dance” refers to the practice of reassigning bad teachers to new schools or districts instead of firing them, due to the difficulty and expense of getting rid of them. The strength of teachers’ unions and the tenure system contribute to this problem, but proposals have been made to ban certain criminals from teaching and give administrators more hiring and firing power. However, ending the practice is difficult without undermining the strength of the teachers’ union.
The “lemon dance” is a term used to refer to the practice of reassigning bad teachers to new schools or districts, rather than firing them. By “bad” teachers we mean people who have been convicted of felonies or who have done other ethically questionable things. Many people in the education community and beyond are understandably upset with this practice and a number of reforms have been proposed to end the practice.
You may also hear the lemon dance called “passing the trash” or “the turkey trot.” It comes from the very simple fact that bad teachers are extremely difficult to get rid of, especially after they have achieved tenure. A major reason for this is the strength of the teachers’ union; unions are designed to protect teachers, by negotiating good contracts for them and making sure they don’t get fired for no reason, but many unions will go to bat for every teacher fired, including teachers fired for very good reasons. Once a teacher reaches the professorship, which can last as little as two years, he becomes virtually unassailable, thanks to the strength of the union.
In a classic example, a school responds to reports that a teacher is abusing his students with an investigation and suspension, and the teacher threatens to sue, backed by the union. Rather than face legal fees, the school could make arrangements with another school to simply transfer the teacher, in exchange for the teacher’s agreement to drop the case.
Schools engage in the lemon dance for a variety of reasons. Getting rid of bad teachers is not only difficult, it’s also extremely expensive. While a teacher is suspended or undergoing termination proceedings, she is entitled to pay and benefits, even if the teacher is in prison, which can be a drain on a poorly funded district. While poor teacher quality is an obvious concern for education administrators, they can also find their hands tied by the tenure system, and administrators will sometimes find bad teachers biased towards them; in many schools, hiring and firing decisions are not made by school administrators, but rather by the school board.
Several proposals have been made to end the practice, including laws that would ban people convicted of certain crimes from teaching or redistricting that would give administrators more power to decide which teachers to hire. At the very least, this would prevent blatant offenders from continuing to teach and give administrators more autonomy. However, negotiating ways to end the lemon dance is difficult, as people don’t want to undermine the strength of the teachers’ union, which can be a powerful tool for good teachers.
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