WHEN A TEACHER'S FIRING IS A SLAM DUNK, THE FREE MONEY SHOULD STOP

Normally, Sarasota teachers union executive director Barry Dubin wishes
every teacher would join his organization.

But when he checked a few days ago and found that Venice High math teacher
Michael Ziemian was among the 20 percent of the Sarasota County school
system's teachers who are not union members, Dubin was more than fine with
that.

Ziemian is the teacher who admitted to sharing his homegrown marijuana with
two of his students at his home.

Ziemian had told the two girls they would have to come to his house to get
materials for a class assignment they had missed. When they arrived, the
girls later reported, he served them vodka tonics, showed off the marijuana
plants he was growing in the garage and then started smoking pot in a glass
bong and suggested they try it. They did.

When a school resource officer talked to Ziemian, he confirmed the story.
He took cops to his home and showed them his garage, the growing equipment
and the pot. He was arrested, but posted bail and is back at home.

So, of course, though barred from the school and sure to be fired, that
teacher is still collecting a paycheck. He will for as long as the firing
process takes, and no one knows how long that will be.

It could be over as soon as April 19, the day of the next School Board
meeting, but don't count on it. With even the slightest protest from
Ziemian, he can collect his salary through the end of the school year. All
he has to do is file a grievance claiming that firing is too extreme.

Yes, that would be absurd. Dubin says that if the facts reported are
accurate, including the confession, he can't imagine making such a claim
for a union member in such a spot.

"I couldn't make that argument with a straight face," Dubin says.

But no straight face is required. Filing paperwork is enough. It starts a
series of grievance hearings, first with the principal, then a human
resources officer, then the superintendent. And then the teacher can
request arbitration.

"Arbitration can take six to eight weeks just to schedule," says Scott
Lempe, the school system's human resources director.

Teacher contracts, developed through the collective bargaining process with
the union, offer no way to short-cut that, even in clear-cut cases.

In this case, at least the pot-sharing teacher is on a one-year contract
and has not established tenure. He won't be paid after the end of the
school year.

But wouldn't it be more sane if the School Board insisted that that all
teacher contracts make an exception for flagrant situations where evidence
and circumstances are such that firing is a slam dunk no-brainer? Shouldn't
the School Board be able to make a judgment to stop paychecks in such a case?

The grievance procedure could continue. Back pay and a penalty could be
paid if arbitration determined the move unjustified. But there would be no
incentive to make silly claims just to get more free money from taxpayers
while the system goes through the motions.

Lempe likes the idea. He told me I was preaching to the choir with him. And
even Dubin admitted Friday that it might makes sense, in theory.

It would be tough to write such a clause into the contract in a way Dubin
and the union would accept it, no doubt.

But all teachers should be able to see that their union's image only gets
better if they make it clear they aren't out to force taxpayers to pay a
teacher gone bad who sits at home for months awaiting the obviously
inevitable day when the axe will fall.