Informational (no action required by Board) Action Report (Board will be required to take action)

DATE: May 25, 2016

FROM: Dr. Larry Nyland, Superintendent

LEAD STAFF: Clover Codd, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources;

clcodd@seattleschools.org; Dana DeJarnatt, Director of Human

Resources; ddejarnatt@seattleschools.org; John Cerqui, Deputy General

Counsel; jcerqui@seattleschools.org

I. TITLE

Authorization to Place Conditional Certification

Application Submittals to the Office of Superintendent of

Public Instruction (OSPI) on the Board Personnel Report

For Introduction: June 15, 2016

For Action: July 6, 2016

II. WHY BOARD ACTION IS NECESSARY

State regulation requires that school boards authorize conditional certificate submissions for

individuals who provide classroom instruction (WAC 181-79A-231(1)(e)(i)). These submissions

are made to OSPI. Rather than have individual Board Action Reports (BARs) for each

individual submission, the Department of Human Resources (HR) is requesting permission from

the Board to establish a process whereby application authorizations are submitted to the Board

for approval through the Human Resources Personnel Report. See attached sample Personnel

Report.

III. FISCAL IMPACT/REVENUE SOURCE

Fiscal impact to this action will be negligible. The District will incur staff time to apply to OSPI

for a conditional certificate, develop a written plan of assistance, and provide mentoring services.

The revenue source for this motion is: N/A.

Expenditure: One-time Annual Other Source

When a certificated teacher with a conditional certificate is ultimately hired, that individual will

be placed on the Human Resources Personnel Report as a hire and the organization unit that will

fund the position will be listed.

IV. POLICY IMPLICATION

School Board Policy No. 5000, Recruitment & Selection of Staff, states that “the District is

committed to hiring those people best prepared and able to support the District’s efforts to

improve teaching and learning for all students.” Using conditional certificates provides the

District with flexibility in hiring decisions based on shortages and/or the opportunity to secure

the services of unusually talented individuals.

School Board Policy No. 5005, Employment: Disclosures, Certification, Assurances &

Approval, states that the “Board has the legal responsibility of employing all staff.” By

School Board Briefing/Proposed Action Report

requesting a conditional certificate, the District is complying with the requirement for Board

approval to OSPI related to the conditional certificate and is complying with the requirement that

only qualified candidates are forwarded to the Board for hire. If a conditional certificate is

approved, these employees will be listed on a future personnel report as a certificated staff hire.

V. RECOMMENDED MOTION

I move that the School Board authorize the Superintendent to list conditional certification

applications on the Human Resources Personnel Report for approval.

VI. BOARD COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

This motion was discussed at the Audit & Finance Committee meeting on June 9, 2016. The

Committee moved this item forward to the full Board with a recommendation for approval.

VII. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A conditional certificate is a certificate issued under specific circumstances for a limited period

of service (two years of less) to an individual who does not meet the requirements for a regular

teacher, school nurse, or school speech-language pathology or audiology certification. OSPI is

authorized to approve conditional certificates. For persons who provide classroom instruction,

the regulations require that the school board authorize submission of the application. OSPI

allows for this type of flexibly in hiring because it understands that real shortages exist for

certain teachers and that schools may want to secure the services of unusually talented

individuals who do not possess a teaching certificate.

Conditional certificates can be issued if one of the following conditions is satisfied:

The applicant is “highly qualified and experienced” in the subject matter to be taught and

has “unusual distinction or exceptional talent” through public records of

accomplishments and/or awards; or

No person with regular teacher certification in the endorsement area is available as

verified by the district or educational service district superintendent.

Additional requirements apply for conditional certificates in special education.

In addition to board authorization to submit the application, the District must do the following

for persons who receive a conditional certificate when they provide classroom instruction:

Delegate primary responsibility for planning, conducting, and evaluating instructional

activities to the employee;

Ensure that the employee is not serving in a paraprofessional role, which would not

require certification;

Assign a person (a mentor) to provide direct assistance to the employee;

Develop and provide a written plan of assistance by the Building Principal in cooperation

with the person to be employed within 20 working days from the commencement of the

assignment;

Provide the employee with a proper orientation so they can be prepared to start their

duties;

Inform the employee of any legal liability, the responsibilities of a professional educator,

the lines of authority, and the duration of the assignment; and

Verify that the employee has the necessary clock hours completed (sixty clock hours)

within the first sixty working days.

Current Practice: Our current practice is to submit a Board Action Report and follow the introduction and action

item process to approve each individual conditional certification. This process can take up to one

month or more and could prevent providing immediate and consistent instruction to students.

Neighboring districts follow an expedited process for conditional certification which allows them

to hire immediately.

Proposed Action: To better compete with neighboring school districts for high quality but non-traditionally

certified teachers, we request that all new hires, including those with a conditional certificate, be

included in the Consent Agenda as a standing item in the Personnel Report. Applicants with

conditional certificates will be included in the monthly personnel reports as new hires. This will

allow expedient hiring of candidates for hard-to-fill positions.

Projected Outcomes:

Hiring teachers quickly, especially in hard to fill subjects and positions and in a state-wide

shortage environment, will have an immediate and positive impact on hiring early and timely,

and ensuring that we have high-quality staff in front of students whenever a position is vacant.

Similarly, we will be able to develop new and innovative partnerships with our University

partners as we look at appropriate professional development for new to profession teachers

seeking this route to certification. The more we can minimize the time from a high-quality

applicant’s interest in a position to their hire date, the more likely we are to fill our open

classroom positions and provide instruction to our students.

VIII. STATEMENT OF ISSUE

State regulations require authorization by the Board prior to filing a request for a conditional

certificate. The issue for the Board is whether it should authorize the filing of conditional

certification applications through the monthly Personnel Reports as new hires.

IX. ALTERNATIVES

1. Require each conditional certificate application to go to a Board committee and to have a

Board action report drafted for each set of candidates. This is not recommended as it takes

additional time to get the application submitted and may result in losing teaching candidates

for positions that are hard to fill.

2. Do not approve conditional certificates. This can leave classrooms without a full-time,

regular instructor. This approach is not recommended.

X. RESEARCH AND DATA SOURCES / BENCHMARKS

See attached recommendation from OSPI Superintendent Randy Dorn.

XI. TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION / COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Upon approval of this motion, the HR Department will list conditional certificate applications on

the Human Resources personnel report. This will be done only when a conditional certificate

application needs to be submitted.

The District consulted with the Seattle Education Association about the need to hire employees

using the conditional certification process and they support its limited use for highly qualified

and experienced staff in the subject matter or in situations where no person with a regular teacher

certificate in the endorsement area is available.

XII. ATTACHMENTS

Sample Human Resources Personnel Report

Superintendent Dorn’s Teacher Shortage Budget and Policy Requests

Last name First name Middle Org Unit Job FTE Effective Date

REPORT TO THE SCHOOL BOARD

HUMAN RESOURCES ACTIVITY

APRIL 2016

Administrator Officials, Administrators, Principals, Assistant Principals) & Other Non- Represented Staff

HIRES

Barringer Danika Chenae Dept. of Technology Services Webmaster 1.00 02/12/2016

Shek Stephanie Early Learning Administrative Assistant 1.00 01/25/2016

Thirdgill Traci T Interagency Programs Coordinator School Family Partnerships 1.00 01/25/2016

REHIRES

Fulkerson Bradley D. Special Education Services Specialist Special Education 1.00 02/12/2016

Nielsen Stephen J Superintendent's Office Deputy Superintendent 1.00 02/01/2016

Sibounheuang Joanna Team Read Tutors Administrative Assistant Team Read 1.00 02/01/2016

SEPARATIONS

Chappelle Dwane Decarlo Rainier Beach High School High School Principal 1.00 01/01/2016

Drew Stephen M Enterprise Applications & Dat Lead Business Intelligence Developer 1.00 02/06/2016

Luster Francine A Special Education Services Sr Cost Technician 1.00 02/13/2016

Conditional Certificates Pending

CERTIFICATED HIRES PENDING

Conrad Mika Washington Middle School Teacher - Music 0.50 03/01/2016

Gardner Traci C Loyal Heights Elementary Teacher - Spanish 1.00 03/01/2016

Roosevelt John T Maple Elementary Teacher - Instrumental Music 0.50 03/01/2016

School & Instructional - Certificated (Teachers, Guidance, Psychologists, Librarian/Audio Visual, Other Professional Staff)

HIRES

Baloun Jessica M View Ridge Elementary Teacher-Elementary 1.00 01/29/2016

Barker Brianne M OT/PT Physical Therapist 1.00 02/04/2016

Billard James Michael R Wing Luke Elementary Teacher-Elementary 1.00 01/25/2016

Bond Lauren J Special Ed Teacher-Special Education-XB 1.00 01/19/2016

Buck Brennan C Whittier Elementary Teacher-Elementary Specialist 1.00 02/01/2016

Cologna Annette L Health Services/Nursing Prog Nurse 1.00 02/01/2016

Denver Aimee T Health Services/Nursing Prog Nurse 1.00 02/22/2016

Dowling Mallory Center School Teacher-High School 0.60 02/05/2016

Lemon Michael R Orca K-8 Teacher-Middle School 1.00 01/22/2016

Nygard Alicia D Whittier Elementary Librarian-Elementary 0.50 02/02/2016

Paley Denise B Roxhill Elementary Academic Intervention Spec Elementary 1.00 02/17/2016

Simmons Shawn N Rainier View Elementary Building Designated Substitute 1.00 01/04/2016

Werner Matthew E Rogers Elementary Teacher-Kindergarten 1.00 02/12/2016

Widener Carrie S Hazel Wolf K-8 Teacher-Special Education-XG 0.60 02/01/2016

REHIRES

Cleveland Uti Y Title VII Indian Education Ser Student Support Svc-Conslt Tch 1.00 03/01/2016

Thursday, March 03, 2016 Page 1 of 6

SAM

PLE

The Problem School districts in Washington are having major difficulties hiring mathematics, science, special education, and other teachers, especially in rural and high poverty schools. All school districts report a significant shortage in substitute teachers. Additionally, the implementation of full-day kindergarten and K–3 class size reduction, along with teacher retirements, increasing attrition, and student enrollment growth, will require hiring approximately 10,000 new K–3 teachers in the next 3–4 years. In-state production of new teachers with Elementary and Early Childhood endorsements total only 1,500 teachers/year.

The state’s success in the investment in full-day kindergarten, K–3 class size reduction, and other “McCleary/Basic Education” components depends on making significant changes in Washington’s ability to recruit and retain quality teachers.

Budget and Policy Requests To address this critical shortage of classroom teachers, the Superintendent of Public Instruction will request that the Legislature fund the actions and approve the policy changes listed below:

1. Beginning Teacher Pay: Increase the state salary allocation to school districts for beginning teachers;

2. Hiring Incentives: Provide “signing bonuses” of $10,000 for new out-of-state teachers and $5,000 for in-state teachers hired in rural school districts, in high poverty schools, and in schools with identified equity gaps;

3. Recruitment Campaign: Create a recruitment campaign for out-of-state teachers and prospective new teachers in Washington. The effort will target individuals with certificates who are not employed as teachers, undergraduate college students who have not chosen a major, out-of-state teachers, military personnel and their spouses, and other groups of individuals who may be interested in teaching in our public schools;

4. Statewide Application Depository: Develop a central depository that will make it easier for teachers to apply for jobs in multiple school districts and for school districts to have access to a broader pool of applicants;

5. Hiring Technical Assistance: Provide recruiting and hiring assistance to smaller school districts that will be provided by Educational Service districts;

6. Careers in Education Course: Fund teacher training to implement the new high school “Careers in Education” course;

7. Retired Teachers: Allow recently retired teachers to serve as teachers and/or substitutes without restrictions;

8. Professional Certification for Experienced Out-of-state Teachers: Allow out-of-state teachers with at least five years of successful teaching experience to obtain a Professional Certificate if they have National Board Certification or obtained a second-level certificate in another state; and

9. Conditional Scholarship Program: Increase funding for the Conditional Scholarship Program for individuals in the Alternative Route and Retooling programs. Adds Elementary and Early Childhood endorsements to the list of endorsements eligible for these scholarships.

Revised: January 6, 2016

Superintendent Dorn’s Teacher Shortage Budget and Policy Requests 2016 Legislative Session