MEMPHIS – A Memphis-area teacher may lose her job after allowing a kindergartner to leave the school and walk a mile home while crossing two major streets without adult supervision.

The Shelby County school board voted earlier this week to proceed with tenure hearings against the teacher, Karen Johnson, who works at Denver Elementary School in Frayser, according to a report from WBTV.com.

The child, whose name and gender were not published, was waiting for a bus outside the school and then apparently decided to walk home instead. Johnson obviously did nothing to stop the child from taking the dangerous trek.

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“It was a dangerous decision, and she probably did it innocently, but I would have a hard time if I was the mom,” said local parent Elizabeth Jones.

The school board also voted to begin the termination process against teacher Gregory Matthews, for instructing a student to urinate in a trash can after refusing to give the child a bathroom pass, the news site reported.

The sick irony of both situations is that the school board is not allowed to simply fire both teachers for their outrageous behavior. The teachers will be allowed to go through the tenure process, which means there will probably be countless hearings and appeals before a final decision on their employment status is determined.

All of that could cost the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Tenure laws in most states provide far too much “due process” for teachers accused of wrongdoing, and make it far too difficult for schools to dump bad apples.

This must change or public education will never improve in America.

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