What does Mayor Bloomberg his poodle, the clueless Chancellor Dennis Walcott, and the failed journalist, Campbell Brown have in common? They all believe that real evidence of teacher misconduct is unnecessary as long as the DOE investigators substantiate the accusation, no matter how weak the case is. That's right, if the DOE investigators can substantiate even the smallest incident and the Principal wants that teacher out of the school, look for 3020-a charges to follow.
Time and again in my blog I have identified how the various DOE investigative units, Special Commissioner of Investigations (SCI), Office of Special Investigations (OSI), and Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO), will twist, pervert, and embellish the most innocent of actions as misconduct. Rather than rehash the points you can read these posts here, here, and here. They will tell you how the flawed and biased DOE investigative process works.
There are two constants for all DOE investigations that lead to 3020-a charges. The first is having a Principal target you. In almost all cases that lead to 3020-a charges it starts with the Principal. These principals will make"mountains out of molehills", or even when there are no hills to get the teacher subject to an OSI or SCI investigation. These principals understand that the DOE investigators do their best to substantiate the most trivial of actions to rid the Principal of the teacher they don't like or want and even lie just to get the teachers removed. Yes, investigators are caught in lies. However, it's of little consequence since their job is to show guilt and not the truth.The second, is the investigator's presumption that the teacher is guilty of something and it's their job to find that guilt even if it means substantiating the unsubstaintiated hearsay or gossip associated with the accusation. Real evidence is unnecessary and is only a problem at the 3020-a hearing, not for removing the teacher from the school and the investigators know that.
Sure, some teachers commit real misconduct and should be terminated. However, its important that teacher "due process rights" allow for a fair and independent hearing on the 3020-a charges and that should include the DOE investigative process which presently, is a "stacked deck" against teachers and is used by pusedo-reformers who want to destroy the teaching profession.