Firing a Teacher – 3/17

I interviewed Dave Drury to get his insights on firing an ineffective Sunday-school teacher.

Dave said that he wouldn’t fire this teacher. If the teacher really is ineffective, they are probably going to run themselves into the ground. But if they need some help, he suggests that he wont fire them, but he will marginalize them. This means that he will subtly let them get to a point to where they know they are ineffective and they will choose to back out.

He will do this unless they are causing problems and need to be removed. In that case, he models the removal process after Matthew 18 with the confrontation by two people with a conflict resolution style. He said that it is important to fight when needed and only when needed. Don’t start with fighting, work with them and on them until it gets to a point where you cant do anything but fight. When you do fight; fight fair and fast. Get authority with the person, go to their class and talk to the class, take a person along with you and bring up issues to the class. Ask the problematic teacher to start by taking a break and let them phase out.
In any case, ineffectiveness needs to be dealt with and addressed. Don’t leave an ineffective teacher alone, take care of the issue.