<p>Long story short:
A well-loved and respected teacher that my D had (as both teacher of an AP course and as a coach in her sport) was not rehired for next year. He had been with the district for 4 years; being rehired for the coming year would have given him tenure.</p>
<p>Much controversy in the community over this. By all accounts an excellent teacher, testimonials from kids who were inspired enough to major in this area in college, doubled the AP enrollment in this area and scores dramatically higher; massive rallies of students and parents to this cause, incl the parent-teacher associations; much disappointment with school board over decision. Oh - and to forestall, there is no reason to believe that there was anything inappropriate (e.g., inappropriate behavior towards a student or other immediately fireable offense) and the board has said as such. School board very tight-lipped otherwise, claimed for budgetary reasons, it's believed there were some behind-the-scenes politics. </p>
<p>I don't want to get into a discussion of the merits of tenure and what's done is done on this, sadly.</p>
<p>However, really dumb question. Could a teacher who is no longer employed by the school district still write a recommendation next year?</p>
<p>Absolutely! My teacher’s beloved French teacher (of 3 years) resigned this year to pursue a new career.</p>
<p>My daughter got all her LOR request paperwork together and asked her last week (on the last day of finals!) if she’d be willing to write several LORs for her, at her convenience over the summer or early next fall.</p>
<p>The teacher said, "Yes, of course, I’m also doing several others. I’ll get them to the office before school starts in Aug. (My daughter had, of course, included a stamped envelope addressed to her GC at the school.)</p>
<p>Although the circumstances of your teacher’s leaving are slightly different, I see no reason why he can’t write the LORs for your daughter. He was, after all, her teacher, and he is writing a LOR based upon his observations/perceptions in that capacity during that time period.</p>
<p>Yes. Both of my children got letters from teachers that were no longer employed in the system. One had left of his own accord and gone to a neighboring school system. The other had retired. It is a little more leg work but it is doable.</p>
<p>D had one of her recs provided by her retired German teacher (3 years)/soccer coach (4 years). He moved to Florida after her junior year, so she sent him the form with a stamped envelope for return of the recommendation directly to the university admissions office. If things are awkward with the school, it may be worth the extra work to have the letters submitted directly to the college(s).</p>
<p>A big YES to this. There will be some logistics to work out (does teacher send rec to student, who submits to college? does teacher sit on rec till student decides where s/he will apply, and then student asks teacher to mail copies to such-and-such schools?).</p>
<p>Work out the logistics. But there is absolutely NOTHING WRONG with this scenario, and I’d encourage it.</p>
<p>not a dumb question at all. related to logistics: the only thing that might concern me would be the letterhead situation. how ‘official’ will the letter look if done on home stationery (ary?) as opposed to school district stuff.</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore, and this year my Chemistry teacher is retiring. He is very well-respected in our school, and has taught for 30+ years. If he hadn’t been retiring, I definetly would have asked him for a LOR. Should I ask him anyway? I do have many other teachers I could get recommendations from.</p>
<p>Perhaps your child should look at every application he/she is filling out, very carefully, and make sure it doesn’t say anything that would exclude the former teacher. Also, many schools now allow teachers and guidance counselors writing LORs allow the submission of the LOR electronically. So that helps you work around some requirements, such as sealed envelope and LOR on high school stationery. Every school seems to have their own set of requirements for how these are submitted, so your kid just needs to make sure there are no unusual requirements of the people providing the LORs.</p>
<p>As far as the letterhead goes, with the teacher who had gone to another school system, he typed it on his new school’s stationary and explained that he was a former teacher in my D’s school. The retired teacher…we asked the school guidance office if we could send some stationary to him. it was fine.</p>
<p>My D’s English teacher retired after her Junior year, but he did rec letters for many students, and kept in touch with them via e-mail and Facebook.</p>