BPS

Hi Justin,

Thanks for meeting with me. There is one document that I thought I took back from you to make a copy but when I got home I could not locate it. Hopefully you have it. It is an informal observation from October 12th, 2011. Otherwise I may have a preliminary email version of it.

I hadn't thought to mention that after receiving the bad evaluation I took the Union's advice and signed up for a Peer Counseling Program and was meeting regularly with my counselor. Perhaps it further shows that I was doing everything I could.

Not being able to put things out of my mind I dug out the superintendent' circular on evaluations. I have attached a copy. I was struck at how I was truly in a no-win situation. Please indulge this short analysis, followed by some quotes (feel free to skip this part) from that document.

Catch 22

By being forced to mirror another teaches lessons without being able to plan my own classes and access student records, there was now way I could be considered an effective teacher under the evaluation process. And, I was going to be evaluated again before November 15 2011 by regulation.

Teachers who received an interim or year end evaluation with an overall Does Not Meet Standards rating within 50 school days from the end of the school year shall receive a followup evaluation by November 15 of the subsequent school year.

Under the conditions of employment imposed upon me it would have been impossible to meet the evaluation standards that demonstrate that I meet or exceed the standards of effective practice. In particular I would not have been able to demonstrate the following Dimensions of effective teaching listed in the evaluation instrument:

dim 1: Identify Challenging learning objectives for every class and student

dim 2: Perform routine duties in a professional manner e.g. lesson planning, record keeping, grade reports.

dim 5: Plan lessons to align with standards and have....

dim 5: Develop lessons that explicitly require...

dim 5: Know students English Language Development Levels and use this information to inform instruction

dim 6: Integrate current and accurate content knowledge in lessons

dim 7: Use a variety of tools (e.g. MyBPS, FAST-R, LASW) to analyze students academic performance and growth over time. Use analysis to inform instruction.

By there own documents the BPS has to recognize that lesson planning and records access is integral to the definition of what teaching is.

I did receive this letter from the superintendent though I have misplaced it:

A teacher who received an interim or year-end evaluation with an overall rating of Does Not Meet Standards during the prior school year is given a letter signed by the Superintendent warning the teacher that his or her employment may be terminated this school year if the teacher’s job performance does not improve.

By October 5th I was convinced they were trying to get rid of me and that it would happen this year.

The following are quotes from a BPS circular that demonstrate that it was reasonable to think that I was in the process of being terminated.

relevant quotes from: HRS-PM1 Performance Evaluation of Teachers.

Teachers who received an interim or year end evaluation with an overall Does Not Meet Standards rating within 50 school days from the end of the school year shall receive a followup evaluation by November 15 of the subsequent school year.

5.Interim evaluations are those that, at a minimum, are 20 (except between the first and second evaluation of a school year, which must be 30) school days apart. If the responsible administrator has adjudged a teacher overall Does Not Meet Standards on at least four (4) interim evaluations within a twelve (12) month period, during which the teacher is present, or on at least two (2) interim evaluations plus an end-of-year evaluation, the responsible administrator may initiate termination by recommending to the Superintendent that such teacher be terminated. Interim evaluations with an overall rating of Does Not Meet Standards need not occur in consecutive months.

An end-of-year evaluation with an overall Does Not Meet Standards rating must be preceded by at least two interim evaluations with an overall Does Not Meet Standards rating during that school year.

A teacher may be removed from the classroom, dismissed, or suspended for just cause prior to the completion of the prescriptive period specified in this paragraph.

The following item never happened

At the last observation before the evaluation -> Give written notice that it is the last observation for that evaluation.

At least 30 school days during which a teacher is present and no more than 60 school days during which the teacher is present after issuance of the FIRST evaluation in a school year with an overall Does Not Meet Standards rating. Time between subsequent evaluations is 20-50 days, in which the teacher is present. -> Complete next Evaluation Document(s) until teacher receives a Meets or Exceeds Standards evaluation or until four Does Not Meet Standards evaluations have been given. Forward each subsequent Does Not Meet Standards evaluation to Human Resources.

I got this letter but haven't been able to put my hands on it

A teacher who received an interim or year-end evaluation with an overall rating of Does Not Meet Standards during the prior school year is given a letter signed by the Superintendent warning the teacher that his or her employment may be terminated this school year if the teacher’s job performance does not improve. A sample letter is attached as Appendix A.

Neither of the following two things happened

At the end of the last observation before the evaluation, the principal/headmaster must let the teacher know in writing that it is the last observation. (A sample notice is attached as Appendix C.) This notice must be given whether the last observation is formal or informal. Formal observation = an observation for the purpose of evaluation

A principal/headmaster who decides, based on informal observation(s), that a teacher will be evaluated when not originally scheduled should give the teacher a memo stating both that the teacher will be evaluated that year and the reasons why.

Copies of the following information must be submitted to the Office of Labor Relations in order to move forward with a recommendation for termination:

4. All written notices stating that an observation is the last one before an evaluation

7. Every syllabus, lesson plan, evidence of planning, etc. submitted to you by the teacher

13. The letter from the Superintendent warning the teacher that his or her employment may be terminated based on unsatisfactory performance