Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/116561
AT THE CAPITOL Legislative Update: SB 2500, cont. from page 8 probationary and a continuing teacher. – Current law allows 90 calendar days for a probationary teacher and 60 instructional days for a continuing teacher. The original form of HB 2500 severely reduced the improvement time for both classifications of teachers to only 60 calendar days. The AEA was able to get the improvement time set to 45 instructional days for all teachers so that teachers in these situations have a full 9 weeks of classroom time to address any deficiencies. The importance of maintaining "instructional days" in state law is so that a teacher cannot lose improvement time if put on a performance plan immediately prior to a holiday/school break. Dismissal for Inadequacy of Classroom Performance •Clarifies that a school district cannot issue a notice of a governing board's intention to dismiss or not to reemploy for inadequacy of classroom performance until the district has completed an observation at the conclusion of a performance improvement plan. – This was language AEA inserted into the bill to ensure that a teacher receives the full 45 instructional day allowance for improvement time before a notice is issued. •Increases from 5 to 10 school days the amount of time that a report must go to the school board when an employee has been issued a preliminary notice of inadequate classroom performance. •Requires the preliminary notice of inadequacy of classroom performance to be accompanied by a performance improvement plan designed to help the teacher correct inadequacies and demonstrate adequate classroom performance. •Requires the governing board to adopt a definition of inadequacy of classroom performance that aligns with the performance classifications. The board's definition may set standards that exceed the standards of the performance classifications adopted at the state level. This creation of the definition of "inadequacy of classroom performance" is to be done in consultation with the district's certificated teachers. This consultation may be accomplished by holding a public Summer.13advo.indd 26 hearing, forming an advisory committee, or providing teachers the opportunity to respond to a proposed definition. – This language involving teachers in this discussion at the local level is critical. Much of the real work on how evaluations are to be conducted will be largely decided by the governing board. The inclusion of this language permits teachers, led by their local association, with a voice in these standards and processes. Observations •Permits a preliminary notice of inadequacy of classroom performance to be issued after one observation. The last observation may be used to determine whether the teacher has corrected inadequacies and has demonstrated adequate classroom performance. •Prohibits an observation from being conducted within two instructional days of any scheduled period in which school is not in session for one week or more. •Allows the governing board to waive the second observation for a continuing teacher if the first observation ranked the teacher in one of the two highest performance classifications. Teachers maintain the right to request the second observation if they so choose. – The AEA supports this language because it allows a choice by teachers if they want the currently required second observation if the teacher is given a classification of "highly effective" or "effective" after their first observation. Much time is used by the teacher to prepare for the observation process through the pre-conference with the evaluator, the actual observation, and the post-conference. AEA supports the right of teachers to choose to only have one observation annually if they are in the two highest performance classifications. Evaluations •Clarifies that a governing board is required to establish an evaluation system that results in at least one evaluation of each certificated teacher by a qualified evaluator each school year. •Permits the results of the evaluation to be 26 Summer 2013 x AEA Advocate 3/18/13 12:03 PM