April Regents Actions – Teacher Certification Flexibility
| To: | District Superintendents; Superintendents of Schools; Chancellor of NYC Schools Superintendent of Buffalo City School District; Superintendent of Rochester City School District; Superintendent of Syracuse City School District; Superintendent of Yonkers City School District; Council of School Administrators – New York City (CSA-NYC); New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS); New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA); New York State United Teachers (NYSUT); School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS); Big Five Conferences |
| From: | Joseph P. Frey, Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Higer Education |
| Date: | April 22, 2010 |
| Subject: | April Regents Actions – Teacher Certification Flexibility |
I write to make you aware that, at its April 20, 2010 meeting, the Board of Regents adopted emergency regulations concerning teacher certification flexibility that will serve to help school leaders save jobs and retain effective teachers to meet students’ needs. The Regents voted to adopt three initiatives originally requested by the Council of School Superintendents on behalf of school districts. Essentially, the changes from a certification perspective will permit general education and special education teachers currently in a school district to be reassigned by the district to teach in grades close to their current certification area; specifically, for kindergarten and the Middle Childhood grades, in order to avoid or mitigate layoffs. These new regulations address certification issues only. Hiring decisions or appointments to tenure areas continue to be governed by existing law and rules.
A change in regulation, as summarized in the attached chart (chart is no longer available), was adopted and will become effective on April 27, 2010. A second emergency adoption will be necessary at the June Regents meeting and confirmed at the July meeting. This will ensure that the regulations remain continuously in effect until the final regulation becomes effective on August 11, 2010. For a more complete description of the change in regulations, please see Attachment A which is an excerpt from the Regents item. Attachment B is the final regulation approved by the Board of Regents on April 20th.
It is always important, especially during these trying fiscal times, to work together to shape positive change for the teachers and students in our State. I want to thank the District Superintendents, Superintendents of Schools and representatives of the NYC, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse School districts along with representatives of the following associations for providing comments and participating in meetings on short notice, to share their thoughts and insights with us as we developed the certification flexibility proposal for consideration by the Board of Regents:
- New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS)
- New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA)
- New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)
- School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS)
- Council of School Administrators (CSA)
- Big Five Conference
If you have any questions on these new regulations, you may contact the Office of Teaching Initiatives at (518) 474-4661.