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Union wants to extend hope for yearly teachersBy JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times published July 24, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - Hernando teachers union representatives tried Wednesday to gain a little job security for their colleagues who work on one-year contracts. In response, School Board representatives agreed to talk about the issue in future contract negotiations, but they cautioned that there wasn't much room for flexibility. "The fact is that annual contract staff have no job security," support services executive director Edd Poore said. "It's that way in law." Still, Hernando Classroom Teachers Association vice president Alan Minthorn pushed to add a section to the contract that would give those teachers a boost into a different position if their contracts aren't renewed and their evaluations have been positive. "I would think we would want to continue our relationship with them . . .," Minthorn told the collaborative bargaining team. "Before bringing people in from the outside," HCTA president Missy Keller added, completing Minthorn's sentence. The union focused on this issue this year because several dozen teachers lost their jobs but weren't hired at other schools in the district. The biggest impact came at high schools, which had to cut their teaching ranks as the new Nature Coast Technical High School took some students. Nature Coast did not automatically have to accept the teachers, though. To make matters worse, Keller said, the district still has about 70 teaching vacancies and many educators on one-year contracts who have been rehired. Principals can choose the best people for each job, Poore noted, and different principals might not always agree on who is best. Someone who did well at Fox Chapel Middle School, for example, might not fit well at a different campus, he said. As a general rule, Poore continued, teachers who are not reappointed but who have good credentials often get rehired. "But I'm going to be honest with you," he told the HCTA representatives. "Nonreappointed teachers who do not have a (principal's positive) recommendation will not be hired." Fox Chapel Middle School principal Dave Schoelles said it's conceivable that a teacher who was marginally satisfactory at one campus might apply for a job elsewhere and get beaten out by a clearly superior outside candidate. It should be up to job seekers to make themselves the most viable candidate, Schoelles said. Keller proposed that, as a matter of professional courtesy, the administration document the performance of teachers on annual contracts, so that a hiring decision could be based on more than the word of one principal to another. Poore agreed in theory that teachers should be able to see why they are not renewed, especially if it's for performance reasons. "But that isn't necessarily going to happen," he said, adding that by law it doesn't have to happen, either. After about 30 minutes, the teachers and administration concurred that the whole concept needed further discussion, with some specific ideas laid out for review. - Jeffrey S. Solochek covers education and politics in Hernando County. He can be reached at 352 754-6115 or solochek@sptimes.com
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From today's Hernando Times |
