Local Teacher Launches Education Issues Blog

Tenure is not a lifetime guarantee of employment. It is earned. And it doesn't protect bad teachers from being fired.

Those are just a couple of beliefs Syosset educator and Commack resident Jeff Rozran hopes the public will learn with the launch of his blog EducationLI.com, a space designed to inform and challenge what Rozran says are misconceptions led by the media and the public in regards to important topics teachers face. 

Rozran, an english teacher at , President of the Syosset Teachers' Association and a teacher on Long Island for more than 37 years, offers the blog as a resource for accurate information and discussion.

“The blog is the product of upset over a volume of misinformation of education in the media,” Rozran said. "Right now there are people taking sides and pointing fingers; things I think could be mitigated through understanding."

Tenure is the topic of the first three posts of the blog: “Tenure in New York," "Defining Tenure," and "Cathie Black and Tenure." 

Why spend so much time on one topic? Because it's by far the most misunderstood, according to Rozran. 

“The primary thing was people’s assertion that tenure is a lifetime guarantee of employment and that it’s not earned – that is incorrect and frankly, designed to attack,” Rozran said. 

Rozran said other assertions people make about tenure include the thinking that no one else in the workforce enjoys benefits similar to tenure and that it only protects bad teachers from being fired.

“Every single one of them is a lie,” Rozran said in the "Tenure in New York" post.

Rozran said he doesn’t remember the exact date he decided to start the blog, but he certainly remembers why he started it.

“I recognized something early in the school year during town hall meetings in the fall of 2010,” Rozran said. “I listened to what people were saying and the ignorance was so drastic.”

The blog appears to have started catching not only the attention of teachers across Long Island, but parents as well.

Ann Latner, mother of a junior at Schreiber High School in Port Washington, said she was happy with the blog and found the content not only accurate but informative. 

“It cleared up some confusing things that I'd read about teacher tenure, and explained the process to me,” Latner said. “As the mom of a high school kid, education is very important to me and my family and I want to know that the best people will be attracted to teaching careers because it is viewed as a good job."

Rozran is considered an expert in the education industry and wants to make it clear on the site that you know who is presenting this information to you - that is why he states his credentials in full on the front page. Anyone can comment on the posts, but you must reveal your credentials before doing so, to be fair. 

"In order to be truthful, I need to present you with this information - to be truthful in return, responders must reveal their relevant credentials," Rozran explains on the front page. "A form for the purpose is provided for all who wish to have responses posted on the blog."

Visit the website at http://www.educationli.com/.