Tagged: teacher evaluation

Uncertainty and anger among Buffalo Teachers Federation leaders has stalled approval of a teacher evaluation agreement signed off on Thursday in Albany.

Union and district officials have come to an agreement on an evaluation plan for Buffalo school teachers.

A agreement on the teacher transfer issue was reached late Friday during a meeting between the Buffalo Teachers Federation and Schools Superintendent Pamela Brown. 

An important deadline in the state’s ongoing teacher evaluation process occurred Sunday, but most schools likely missed it.  

The law establishing new teacher evaluations set July 1 as the date for schools around the state to submit their plans to the State Education Department. The evaluations are required in order to qualify for federal grant money that New York State won under the Race to the Top program.

But only around 65 of the states more than 700 school districts will be ready, says New York State School Boards Association’s executive director Tim Kremer.

There was a little bit of drama in an otherwise mundane end to the legislative session when Senate Republicans agreed in the final hours to approve Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal on how to make teacher evaluations public.

Senate Republicans, on the final day of the session, agreed to take up Cuomo’s bill, which will make public all teacher evaluations without names attached. Parents would then be able to obtain the specific evaluations of their own child’s teacher.

Governor Cuomo is telling the legislature to ‘take it or leave it’ over a new bill he’s released new bill outlining how to make teacher evaluations public.

Governor Cuomo says he introduced  legislation on the publication of teacher evaluations just before his own self imposed deadline of midnight Monday in order  to clarify his position on the issue.  

He says it’s up the Assembly and Senate whether they want to pass it, exactly as is, or not.

“That’s the bill, the bill is not going to change,” said Cuomo.

The long and tangled fight over millions of dollars to help bail out Buffalo's six worst-performing schools may be nearing a resolution.

State Education Commissioner John King Wednesday said he will approve the latest deal between the Buffalo Teachers Federations and the school district when it is formally signed by interim Schools Superintendent Amber Dixon and BTF President Phil Rumore.

A series of prior deals was rejected by Albany or by union members.  The sides have struggled for months over finding a plan that is acceptable to all interests. 

The state Education Department may want BTF President Phil Rumore's signature on a new teacher evaluation plan by the end of the day, but it is not likely to get it.

Rumore shared that with WBFO and AM 970's Mark Leitner yesterday.

Protesting parents met with the union leader last night to hear his rationale.

Rumore told the group that he could not sign the agreement without the approval of union membership.

Buffalo school officials and teachers union leaders have met a deadline by sending to Albany, at the 11th hour, a memorandum of understanding concerning teacher evaluations.

Student absenteeism has been a major bone of contention in talks between the two sides.  Buffalo can secure several million additional state education dollars, but the district and the union must agree on a rigorous teacher evaluation system whether or not students show up for class. 

With more than $9 million at risk, Buffalo's Board of Education is appealing to the teachers union for help. 

At a special meeting today, the School Board unanimously approved a resolution asking the Buffalo Teachers Federation Council of Delegates to reconsider removing the student attendance clause from its teacher evaluation plan.  Interim Superintendent Amber Dixon says state education officials won't accept a plan that excludes students with excessive absences.