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By Joanne M. Haas
The Oshkosh Education Association and school district are using a tried and true method – collective bargaining – for determining how the state’s new teaching licensing law will be implemented.
Rather than sitting idly by and letting the district unilaterally develop the rules, the OEA is working with the district, through collective bargaining, to ensure that it is implemented smoothly, fairly and effectively.
Oshkosh has set a standard for bargaining new licensing provisions into its 2003-05 contract, said Mike McNett, WEAC’s director of collective bargaining.
“These are the gems,” McNett said of the Oshkosh pact and a few others that include language relating to the new licensing law, known as PI 34. McNett said most contracts have yet to address the new law, although it is having a growing impact on teachers.
What the law says
PI 34 requires that teachers coming into the system after August 31
of this year complete professional development plans to obtain a five-year
Professional Educator License. Previously practicing teachers may renew
through the traditional method of completing six college credits or
complete the development plan. The other PI 34 licensing levels are
the non-renewable Initial Educator for new college graduates and the
10-year renewable Master Educator.
McNett said all locals need to get moving on PI 34 language because whatever is in place for this school year may become the prevailing conditions for 2005-07. A big point to remember, he said, is anyone graduating after August 31 will enter the public school system as an Initial Educator. The law requires districts to provide these Initial Educators with mentors. It also requires creation of three-person professional development teams to oversee the new teachers’ efforts at securing the five-year Professional Educator license.
Getting a head start
“The locals that already have a PI 34 plan will be in a much better
position,” McNett said, adding there are implementation funds
available to many districts under the Title IIA fund. These are federal
dollars available for professional development and teaching training.
Winnebagoland UniServ Director Richard Kern, who helped bargain the Oshkosh deal, said the district has been in front of PI 34 for a few years.
“They already had the peer coaching program and had been doing this back in 2000,” Kern said, noting Oshkosh doesn’t have anyone yet employed as an Initial Educator under the PI 34 provisions.
But under a key provision of the 2003-05 Oshkosh contract, three former teachers will join the school district as paid peer coaches to provide vital mentoring for the Initial Educators once they come on board.
The mentors will join the 820 members of the bargaining unit and their pay will be based on their placement on the teacher wage schedule.
Including these mentors as regular positions is significant, Kern said, adding that some of the other districts where he bargains are “very, very reluctant” to bargain any such language, preferring to provide only a stipend when a mentor is needed.
The Oshkosh peer coaches, who must be certified teachers as required by PI 34, typically come from one of two categories. “Some are recently retired, and some have resigned for personal reasons,” such as family demands, Kern said. “These were well-respected, highly qualified and very effective teachers” who view the peer coaching position as a good way to serve and to remain active in the profession.
Specific provisions
According to Oshkosh contract provisions, peer coaching is to be done
during the normal workday, and teacher development and planning time
is to be provided during the regular work week. Half of this allotted
development and planning time is to be used at the teacher’s discretion.
This means an Initial Educator, or new teacher, may use this discretionary
time to convene his or her professional development team or for an experienced
teacher to serve on one of those committees.
“That eliminated all the issues around compensation because it is part of the normal workday,” Kern said.
The Oshkosh contract provides for confidentiality between the mentor and Initial Educator and provides that the peer coach will not have a role in the employee evaluation process for the Initial Educator.
There also is a provision in the contract that allows the peer coach and the Initial Educator to request new partners if the relationship is proving unproductive. McNett calls this the “no-fault divorce” clause.
“Some combinations just aren’t going to work. People can drop out of that initial pairing, without a lot of questions asked,” McNett said.
Without contract provisions addressing such details, teachers could find themselves at the school district’s mercy, McNett said.
When comparing PI 34 to everything else in a bargain, including wages and insurance, PI 34 may not take center stage, but it is becoming increasingly important, Kern said.
“It will be as big of a concern to the district as our teachers choose to make it,” Kern said. “If the teachers do not make it a significant issue, the school district will be able to implement as it chooses.”
Resource page on teacher licensing
Posted September 30, 2004