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Schools

Teachers can earn and learn

A School Board vote lets those not certified in their subjects keep working while gaining credentials.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published September 27, 2006

Meadowlawn Middle School has 12 of them. St. Petersburg High has five. Tarpon Middle School has 10.

All told, 266 educators in Pinellas middle and high schools teach subjects they are not certified to teach.

On Tuesday night, the School Board voted to allow those teachers to continue working while they earn the necessary credentials.

In doing so, members complied with a state rule that says teachers who hold valid Florida educators' certificates - but who teach subjects other than those for which they are certified - must be approved by the local school board.

Teachers historically have taught subjects for which they are not certified, said Connie Kolosey, secondary reading and language arts supervisor for the district.

But that's changing. The Department of Education will allow instructors to continue teaching reading for only one year without being certified, after which they must begin 300 hours of training needed for their endorsements.

The requirement can be especially difficult for teachers recruited to teach reading after the state required added instruction for children who score below grade level on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

"What we have are a lot of teachers coming out of college with English degrees," Kolosey said. "Now they're being asked to teach reading." At Tuesday's meeting, board member Mary Russell asked how the district is helping teachers get their reading endorsements.

Harry Brown, associate superintendent for curriculum, said the district is doing its best to help them. It is important to remember, he said, that the vast majority of those teaching reading out of field are highly qualified teachers, some with many years of experience.

"They are heros as far as I'm concerned," Kolosey said. "Because they're actively learning and working and striving, they might be more up to date than some people who have had their degrees for a long time."

In other business, the board approved a recommendation to suspend Tawney Taylor, a physical education teacher assistant at 74th Street Elementary, for 10 days without pay. Superintendent Clayton Wilcox had recommended that the board dismiss Taylor for inappropriate use of corporal punishment after she allegedly leg-whipped a first-grade girl to the ground and pushed her head in the sand.

Taylor, 40, requested a hearing when school officials said there was a "preponderance of evidence" to support her dismissal. She agreed to the suspension prior to the hearing.

In a written statement, Taylor admitted she violated the district's crisis prevention intervention procedures, but said she did so because she thought her co-worker was in danger due to the conduct of the student. She said she intervened for her co-worker's safety.

Wilcox changed his recommendation to the 10-day suspension. Taylor, who joined the district in 1988 as a clerk typist substitute, must attend remedial crisis prevention intervention training before she can return to her job.

[Last modified September 27, 2006, 05:49:41]