I had to fire an employee this week. I had never fired someone in a professional context. I used to run pools in my youth. I fired a couple of lifeguards over the years, but never a professional. This person had years of teaching experience. She had relocated to this state for this job. Teaching was her profession, and it was tough to terminate her employment.
In the recent past, our popular culture made light of the act of firing someone. The hit reality TV show The Apprentice stars Donald Trump and members of the Trump Propery Group. His signature line was "You're fired". I watched the first season of The Apprentices Towards the end of the show, I really thought that the finale was degrading and dehumanizing. That it was akin to disaster pornography. We all want to watch the conflict on television because it makes us feel better about our lives.
This professor was fired because this semester she missed three classes without calling to cancel them. Specfically she missed two classes in a row right after
Spring Break. She had left and went out-of-state to get things out of storage. She emailed about truck difficulties, but the email didn't come through. The school's Learning Management System crashed the date she sent theemail and it idn't come through.
Our College has apolicy that if Instructors are goin to miss classes, then they are to use the telephone and call their supervisor and make sure that they speak to a person toconfirm that their message s received and that he University knows that the class will be cancelled. The fired Instructor failed to do this.
Additionally, our students had complained vigorously about this professor and more than half of her students had dropped or transferred to other sections. Simply put, apparently whe wasn't a very good instructor.
Ultimately, I feel like I did what was best for the students and for the instructor. The students will move on with a well qualifed replacement. The instructor now has the middle of their days freed up to look fr more appropriate work.
I knew what I needed to do. I wasn't, however, prepared for what the view from this side of the desk would look like as I gently and firmly stated, "Your services are no longer required." That may sound a little softer than "You're fired." But the implications are still the same.
Wow. What a week. I've never had to fire anyone, and hope to never have to. I can't even imagine what it would be like. It sounds as though you handled it quite well, and were a true professional. Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeleteThis is a GREAT article.
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to know that instructors who suck actually DO get fired. I know that it was hard for you to do, but you did what was best for the students, and I can promise that they appreciate it.