Summer In-Service. We have had inquiries from some of our members regarding in-service training that is scheduled during summer recess. Please know that pursuant to our Negotiated Agreement, all such in-service training is to be voluntary and compensated whether it is in-district or out-of-district.
We recognize that our members have summer plans, summer jobs, child care needs, graduate classes, and so on. If you are unable or choose not to attend the training, there can be no disciplinary action whatsoever. We are not questioning the value of the training, but want to make it very clear that it is voluntary. In fact, any request by administration to volunteer your time without compensation is a violation of contract. However, that being said, administration reserves the right to assign staff, so teachers that do not receive training for a particular program or instructional model for their schools could be transferred to a new assignment.
Race to the Top – Pilot Evaluation. The Appraisal Review Committee (ARC) is preparing an evaluation pilot program for 2012-2013 that will comply with the provisions of HB 153 on teacher evaluation and Race to the Top requirements. The Board and the Union will need to reach agreement on a Letter of Understanding (LOU) that we are currently working on to effect the pilot. If nothing in the law changes, by the 2013-2014 school year, fifty percent of our evaluations will be based on student performance measures. This fifty percent must include teacher level value-added scores for tested grades and subjects as well as yet-to-be-defined measures for the remaining seventy percent of our teachers. We are attempting to temper the onerous “blame the teacher” elements of the law in the LOU, but the reality is student performance, in some fashion, will be used in evaluations to hold all teachers accountable. Under the new system, our teaching performance will be rated yearly and all of us will have our evaluation results distilled to one of four ratings: Accomplished; Proficient; Developing; Ineffective.
Prediction: this new system of evaluating teachers will not improve student performance, will damage teacher morale, diminish teacher collaboration, and we will continue to see students from high wealth school districts outperform their peers who live in poverty. Until we have changes in the law, we are stuck with this “worst practice”.
In Union,