We fully support the step Chancellor Tisch has taken to provide districts with flexibility on the November 15th deadline. We recommend that the Regents go further and drop the November 15th deadline altogether and use September 1, 2016 as the deadline for school districts to fully implement new teacher and principal evaluation plans.
The law is clear that districts can submit plans for approval by November 15, 2015 or by September 1st of each subsequent year, i.e. September, 2016. We know that it is unrealistic for school districts to be able to document and submit new teacher and principal evaluation procedures by September 1st of this year, have them approved by SED, and implement them by November 15th when the regulations setting out the guidelines for the process are not required to be in place before June 30th. Moreover, districts need to negotiate with their unions the teacher observation category of the evaluation system. It is impossible for districts to negotiate with the unions when teachers are away for the summer.
We urge the Regents to develop and adopt the regulations as scheduled by June 30th to ensure that districts have the most time possible to negotiate and submit evaluation plans to SED. If the Regents cannot meet the June 30th deadline, they must inform the Legislature as soon as possible so that the law can be amended.
The statutory language provides the Regents the ability to extend the deadline to September 1, 2016. We must take this opportunity to ensure that we give our districts the time needed to design fair, relevant and sustainable teacher and principal evaluation plans that respect professionalism and provide appropriate accountability and to ensure that critically needed state aid resources are not withheld from our schools and our children. Our teachers and students deserve nothing less.
Sincerely,
Thomas Abinanti (Assembly, 92nd District)
Didi Barrett (Assembly, 106 District)
David Buchwald (Assembly, 93rd District)
Steven Englebright (Assembly, 4th District)
Sandra Galef (Assembly, 95th District)
Aileen Gunther (Assembly, 100th District)
Ellen Jaffee (Assembly, 97th District)
Kimberly Jean-Pierre (Assembly, 11th District)
Todd Kaminsky (Assembly, 20th District)
Charles Lavine (Assembly, 13th District)
Steve Otis (Assembly, 91st District)
Amy Paulin (Assembly, 88th District)
J. Gary Pretlow (Assembly, 89th District)
Michelle Schimel (Assembly, 16th District)
Frank Skartados (Assembly, 104th District)
James Skoufis (99th District)
Michaelle Solages (22nd District)
Fred Thiele (1st District)
Kenneth Zebrowski (96th District)