Central High district faculty granted tenure

The Valley Stream Central High School District Board of Education and administration announced the tenure of 3 administrators, 19 teachers, and 3 assistant teachers at the BOE’s business meeting on May 10.

The three tenured recipients at the administrative level are Central High mathematics chairperson Maureen Duda, district career and tech ed. chairperson Joseph Tagliaferro, and district director of guidance and chief information officer Kelly Whitney-Rivera.  And the three assistant teachers are Courtney Durnan, Wanda Pena-Ortega, Alixandrya Santos. Administrators and trustees celebrated the significant career milestone achieved by the honorees who’ve each demonstrated exceptional performance and service based on an extensive performance review process.

For the uninitiated, when a teacher gains tenure, he or she can only be fired for a justifiable cause or under extreme circumstances such as severe financial limits.  But tenure is not only about providing better job security for faculty recipients. Tenure, educators suggest, safeguards academic freedom by allowing teachers to teach honestly and accurately without having to worry about outside pressure groups — like politicians or institutional insiders –  threatening them with their jobs if they don’t comply with their own personal agendas and beliefs. It also protects the rights of students to learn about subjects they consider worthy of research and exploration.