thursday, july 6, 2017 leader · 2017-07-06 · leader. thursday, july 6, 2017. inside legislature...
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LEADERThursday, July 6, 2017
Inside ■ Legislature establishesnew licensing board
Page 2
■ Read up on MinnesotaDepartment of Education’s state plan ahead of Summer Seminar Fast Track Session
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■ MSBA seeks relief fromburdensome data requests on members’ behalf
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■ Office of Civil Rights issuesinstructions for complaints involving transgender students
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CalendarJuly 12: BoardBook webinar
August 6: Summer Seminar Early Bird Workshop (Brooklyn Park)
August 7: Summer Seminar (Brooklyn Park)
August 8: Phase I-Phase II Combo (Brooklyn Park)
August 8: Charter Workshop (Brooklyn Park)
August 9: BoardBook webinar
During the 2017 legislative session, M.S. 122A.40 and M.S. 122A.41 were amended as follows: (1) the default unrequested leave of absence (ULA) process was repealed and (2) school districts and the teachers’ exclusive representative must now negotiate an ULA process. In light of these changes, MSBA has received many inquiries for new model ULA language. MSBA drafted new model ULA language and then convened a group of superintendents to review and modify the proposed language.
The final draft of the new model ULA language has been reviewed by MSBA’s contracted legal firm and should be used by school districts as a place to start their discussions and may, in fact, be the final outcome of negotiations. Key provisions of the new model ULA language include:
1. The definition of “qualified” is utilizedfor teachers with licensure in multiple
subject matters/fields but who have only taught in one of the subject matters/fields within the past five years.
2. Seniority only applies to Tier 3 andTier 4 qualified teachers which includes probationary teachers. The repealed default ULA process required probationary teachers to be either non-renewed or placed on ULA prior to a continuing contract (tenured) teachers being placed on ULA. The new language does not include this requirement.
3. Teachers on a Teacher ImprovementPlan (TIP) will be placed on ULA prior to any other teacher.
MSBA has prepared new model language for ULA
Registration and hotel deadlines approaching for Summer Seminar
Gary LeeDeputy Executive [email protected]
Unrequested Leave of Absence
See ULA, Page 2
Start the school year informed and inspired by attending the MSBA Summer Seminar (“Leading Above the Line”) on Monday, August 7, in Brooklyn Park. Ask your district office to register you in advance at the MSBA website by July 31. If you need a hotel room, please make your reservation by July 20.
See Page 3 or www.mnmsba.org/SummerSeminar for details.
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4. Teachers with a master’s degree or higher who are employed in the same subject matter as the master’s degree will have protection from ULA over a teacher without a graduate degree or higher.
5. The “tiebreaker” language gives school districts the discretion to use other criteria (i.e., training, skills in special assignments, etc.) to determine which teacher is placed on ULA.
6. If special programming (i.e.,
“College in the Schools,” etc.) would be discontinued because of a less senior teacher being placed on ULA, the next senior teacher would be placed on ULA. For example, two teachers have identical licensures and degrees. If the less senior teacher has met the requirements to teach College in the Schools and the next senior teacher has not met the requirements to teach College in the Schools, the teacher who is not qualified to teach College in the Schools would be placed on ULA even
though he/she is more senior. To access the new model ULA
language, visit http://www.mnmsba.org/MSBAServiceManual/DownloadableForms and select the “Updated Model ULA Language” document (under Chapter 3 — Employees). If you have any questions regarding ULA, call 507-934-2450 or email Amy Fullenkamp-Taylor ([email protected]), Bill Kautt ([email protected]) or Gary Lee ([email protected]).
The 2017 legislative session amended M.S. 122A.06, 122A.07, 122A.08, 122A.09, 122A.22, 127A.05 and 214.045 and created new statutes M.S. 122A.091, 122A.092 and 122A.093.
The result of these actions eliminated the Board of Teaching and the Educator Licensing Division of the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), thus combining the duties of these two organizations into one new board entitled the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB). This reorganization is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2018.
The Legislature also provided guidelines for the transition from the two organizations to the one board consisting of eleven members: six teachers (including one charter school teacher, one teacher from the seven-county metropolitan area, one teacher from greater Minnesota, one special education teacher, one teacher from a related-service category licensed by the board, and one teacher from a teacher preparation program); one superintendent (alternating each term
between the seven-county metropolitan area and the area outside the metropolitan area; beginning with an outstate superintendent); one principal (alternating each term between an elementary and a secondary principal); one school district human resources director; one administrator from a cooperative unit under M.S. 123A.24, subdivision 2, who oversees a special education program; and one member of the public that may be a current or former school board member. Below are the timelines associated with the transfer to the new board:
1. July 5, 2017 — applications for the new board are due to the Secretary of State’s office. Applications received after this date may not be considered if enough applications are submitted on time.
2. September 1, 2017 — members are appointed and may start meeting to
organize.3. October 2, 2017 — the PELSB
may start the process to hire the new Executive Director.
4. January 1, 2018 — the PELSB becomes active and must hold its first meeting prior to February 1, 2018.
5. July 1, 2018 — the Tiered Licensure System is implemented.
As far as licensing new teachers and granting the necessary special permissions for the upcoming school year and until January 1, 2018, prospective teachers and school districts should follow the same steps they have used in the past years.
Also, M.S. 122A.17 was amended to state, “All teacher licenses in effect on January 1, 2018, shall remain valid for one additional year after the date the license is scheduled to expire.”
Questions regarding tiered teacher licensure and the PELSB should be directed to Alex Liuzzi, Interim Executive Director Board of Teaching, at [email protected] or 651-582-8885 or Debby Odell, Interim Director of Licensing, at [email protected] or 651-582-8522.
Teacher Licensure
Legislature establishes new licensing boardBill KauttAssociate Director of Management [email protected]
ULA: New model language is available at MSBA’s website(Continued from Page 1)
Thursday, July 6, 2017 Page 3
Summer Seminar Hotel Reservations for Minneapolis Marriott NorthwestThe housing reservation phone number for MSBA’s Summer Seminar housing block is 877-303-1681. Ask for the Minnesota School Boards Association group rate of $139. Hotel reservations MUST BE MADE BY THURSDAY, JULY 20, to get the special Summer Seminar rate. After July 20, reservations are subject to availability, and standard Marriott rates will apply. To make lodging reservations online, please visit www.mnmsba.org/Summer Seminar.
The state of Minnesota is set to release, for public comment, its final draft of the Minnesota state plan concerning the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) on August 1, 2017. The state’s plan is due to the U.S. Department of Education in September 2017.
During the Fast Tracks portion of MSBA’s Summer Seminar on Monday, August 7, 2017, administrators and school board members will have an opportunity to hear an update on the state’s plan from Hue Nguyen,
Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Assistant Commissioner, and Stephanie Graff, MDE’s Chief Accountability Officer. The session will also include an opportunity for attendees to ask questions.
An e-module, designed to introduce
the main components of the state’s plan, is available and attendees should review it prior to attending the ESSA Fast Tracks Session. The e-module can be accessed at http://education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/groups/communications/documents/unzip/mde071499/index.html.
MDE also has a number of other ESSA resources available on its website at http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/dse/essa.
Read up on Minnesota Department of Education’s state plan ahead of Summer Seminar Fast Track Session
Bill KauttAssociate Director of Management [email protected]
Every Student Succeeds Act
Learn about leadership at MSBA Summer SeminarJoin MSBA for the Summer Seminar, “Leading Above the Line,” on Monday, August 7, at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest in Brooklyn Park. Please see hotel information below.
In addition to speakers Willow Sweeney (presenting “Living Above and Below the Line: Discovering the Power of Choice”), MSBA’s Grace Keliher (“Insights into the 2017 Legislative Session”), and Minnesota Department of Education’s Tom Melcher (“Keep Your Finances Above the Red Line”), the seminar will offer six Fast Track Sessions.
The contents of this newsletter are provided for informational use only and are not to be construed as legal advice. If you need legal advice, consult your attorney.
Visit www.mnmsba.org/SummerSeminar for more information. Ask your school district office to register you in advance by July 31 via www.mnmsba.org/EventRegistrationHome.
Summer Seminar
LEADING ABOVE THE LINEAdditional Summer Seminar events
Sunday, August 6■ Early Bird Session: “Culturally Responsive Leadership for Boards” http://www.mnmsba.org/SummerSeminar/EarlyBirdSessionTuesday, August 8■ Phase I-II Combo Workshop
http://www.mnmsba.org/Phase-I-II-Combo■ Charter School Board Training
http://www.mnmsba.org/CharterSchoolBoardTraining
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By Cathy Miller, MSBA Director of Legal & Policy Services
The meeting of the Safe Schools Technical Assistance Council (SSTAC) to consider the draft Transgender Toolkit has been postponed to July 19, so no new information about the draft is available at this time.
The federal Office of Civil Rights (OCR) did release a memo to its regional directors on June 6, 2017. The
memo can be accessed at http://bit.ly/2tkEqtP.
The memo emphasizes that schools must protect transgender students from “discrimination, bullying, or harassment” according to “Title IX and its implementing regulations, as interpreted in decisions of federal courts and OCR guidance documents that remain in effect.” This statement acknowledges that the May 13, 2016, Dear Colleague Letter has been
withdrawn.In addition, the memo references a
document with examples of policies and practices “some states and school districts have ... adopted.”
The examples can be found at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/oshs/emergingpractices.pdf.
This information provides options, but little or no clear guidance.
MSBA will provide another update after the SSTAC meeting in July.
Office of Civil Rights issues instructions for complaints involving transgender students
Policy
MSBA is advocating your interests at the court level by joining in an amicus (friend of the court) brief by the League of Minnesota Cities in the case of Webster v. Hennepin County, et. al., No. A16-0736, decided April 10, 2017, by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to review the case.
The Webster case involves a data request to Hennepin County by an investigative journalist. The journalist specified 20 search terms he wanted the county to locate within paper, information technology files, and emails. Hennepin County estimated the search of emails alone would require its servers to be devoted to the search 24 hours a day for more than 15 months. The Minnesota Court of Appeals held that the county could
determine how to compile the data in response to the request because, “the [Minnesota Government Data Practices Act] MGDPA does not contemplate requests for particular searches or enable a requestor to dictate how a government entity gathers the requested data.” Instead, the court found, “the government entity, and not the requestor, determines how and where to search for the requested data.”
The Court of Appeals specifically rejected the analogy to the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and interpretations of that law from
federal courts, because prior Minnesota case law has determined that FOIA is “fundamentally different” from Minnesota’s MGDPA. However, the Court of Appeals also indicated that applying a reasonableness requirement to government data requests under the MGDPA as the federal courts have done under FOIA may be “sound public policy,” but this determination is outside the scope of the authority of the Court of Appeals to decide.
MSBA is supportive of requiring requests for data from government entities to be reasonable. The burden of responding to public data requests has grown exponentially for government entities, including school districts, and they need relief.
Cathy MillerDirector of Legal & Policy [email protected]
MSBA seeks relief from burdensome data requests on members’ behalf
Legal
Thursday, July 6, 2017 Page 5
MSBA has partnered with the Secretary of State’s Office to once again offer training for school election officers, superintendents, school board members and others who are preparing for an odd-year General Election or referendum vote.
The 2017 School District Election Webinar is hosted by MSBA’s Greg Abbott and Secretary of State’s Director of Elections Gary Poser. The webinar walks election officers through a calendar of important dates, offers information on referendum and bond issues, talks about new laws in 2016 and the most recent 2017 legislative
session, and covers all election and post-election requirements that schools need to follow.
State statute requires that all election officers receive training every two-year election cycle. County auditors are required to offer the training in even years, but no such requirement exists
for them to offer training in odd years.MSBA has filled that gap and will
offer the webinar from June 1 through July 31. To register, email a request to Greg Abbott at [email protected] with “Election Webinar request” in the subject line. MSBA will send you a link to the webinar, which you can view 24/7 at your leisure. It also includes a link to a handout from the PowerPoint and a link for the Secretary of State’s form to gain training credit for viewing the webinar.
Note: You will need a WebEx viewer to use the program. There are links for registrants to download the free viewer.
MSBA offering odd-year election training webinar for school election officers through July 31
Elections
Greg Abbott Gary Poser
Grant
Broadband grant application period open through September 11The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Office of Broadband Development, will be soliciting proposals from qualified organizations for Minnesota Border to Border Broadband Development Grants.
The grant application period opens on July 3, 2017. The
application deadline is 4 p.m. Monday, September 11, 2017. Visit https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/
broadband/grant-program to access the 2017 Broadband Grant Application.
If you have any questions, call 651-259-7610 or email the Broadband office at [email protected].
Save the date for MSBA’s new Trust Edge workshopLearning
Join MSBA as we partner with the Trust Edge Leadership Institute to roll out a new opportunity for MSBA’s membership, “The Trust Edge for School Districts.”
This one-and-a-half day workshop will be held on Sunday, September 24 (6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.) and Monday, September 25 (8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) at the Best Western Plus Kelly Inn (100 4th Avenue South in St. Cloud).
See http://www.mnmsba.org/TheTrustEdge for details. Registration information will be announced soon. Registration is limited to the first 25 pre-registered individuals. No walk-ins will be accepted. For hotel reservations, call the Kelly Inn at 320-253-0606 and
ask for a room under the “Minnesota School Boards Association” block.
Developing trust and gaining its advantages starts with each individual and then extends to their school board team and beyond.
Learners are guided through valuable content within the Trust Edge 8-Pillar Framework as outlined in David Horsager’s national best-seller, “The Trust Edge.”
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Your story.Our expertise.
Teacher recruitment, bond referendums, new programs…you have a lot to communicate.
Our team helps districts across Minnesota craft messages that resonate.
w w w . c a p t i v a t e m e d i a . u s
PHOTOGRAPHYMOTION GRAPHICS COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGYGRAPHIC DESIGNVIDEO PRODUCTION
Thursday, July 6, 2017 Page 7
Legislative changes for college entrance exams
Do you want to get everyone on the same page? Does your school board-superintendent team believe improvement is important? If so, check out MSBA’s Strategic Planning Services. MSBA’s experience and knowledge can help you
put your district’s strategic plan on the right course. Visit www.mnmsba.org/StrategicPlanningServices —
or contact MSBA’s Jeff Olson at [email protected] or 800-324-4459 for more information.
Set your district’s direction with MSBA’s Strategic Planning ServicesStrategic Planning
Meeting Management
Learn about paperless board meetings via BoardBook webinar on July 12MSBA is offering an ongoing series of FREE webinars on how to incorporate BoardBook to streamline preparation,
distribution and publishing of agenda packets for board meetings.
The next BoardBook webinar is set
for 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 12. Visit www.mnmsba.org/BoardBook for registration.
Minnesota Department of Education
Recent legislation regarding M.S. 120B.30, subdivsion 1e, changed the reimbursement of college entrance exams. Districts must continue to provide students the opportunity to participate in a college entrance exam on a school day, but individual students are not required to participate. Beginning in 2017-18, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) will only reimburse districts for students who are eligible for a free or reduced-price meal. Only the ACT (ACT and
ACT with Writing) and SAT (SAT and SAT with Essay) are considered nationally recognized college entrance exams.
A district may administer the ACT or SAT, or both. A student who is eligible for a free or reduced-price meal and wishes to take a nationally recognized test not offered by their district (e.g. the SAT for a district that is only offering the ACT) may do so on a national testing day. The district will still be eligible to receive a reimbursement for
that exam.While a school district may require a
student who is not eligible for a free or reduced-price meal to pay the cost of taking a nationally recognized college entrance exam, these charges create barriers to student participation. MDE encourages that, whenever possible, fees should be avoided.
MDE will continue to work through the details of the legislation, including but not limited to, the details for students unable to pay.
School boards are greatly impacted by the laws passed in St. Paul. In response, the MSBA Government Relations staff annually publishes a final Legislative Summary that is easy to read and tailored to the needs of school board members.
The MSBA Legislative Summary is your go-to document for what happened at the Legislature in 2017.
The 2017 summary includes the E-12 education budget appropriations and a state budget overview, highlights from the Teacher Shortage Act and Teacher Licensure Reform bills, a list of new requirements for local school boards, and much more. Download the summary at http://www.mnmsba.org/Portals/0/2017-MSBA-LegislativeSummary.pdf.
Advocacy
Download the MSBA Legislative Summary — the go-to guide for updates from 2017 session
Find your next school leader with MSBA’s Executive Search ServiceThe MSBA Executive Search Service provides a collaborative and efficient search process that supports school boards in fulfilling one of their most important school board responsibilities — hiring a superintendent. For details, please visit www.mnmsba.org/ExecutiveSearchService or contact Sandy Gundlach at [email protected].
The Leader is published as a member service by the Minnesota School Boards Association, 1900 West Jefferson Avenue, St. Peter, MN 56082. The Leader is edited by Associate Director of Communications Bruce Lombard. Call 800-324-4459 with any questions.
Job openings, Marketplace notices and other information can be emailed to [email protected] or faxed to 507-931-1515.
Job OpeningsSuperintendents/Directors■ Rothsay — interim superintendent (application deadline: open until filled)■ Wright Technical Center — executive director (application deadline: July 19)
Principals■ Pine River-Backus — high school principal (application deadline: July 9)
Other Administrators ■ Anoka-Hennepin — director of labor relations and benefits (application deadline: July 11)■ Caledonia Area — facility director (application deadline: July 14)■ Le Sueur-Henderson — business manager (application deadline: July 14)■ Minnesota Teachers Retirement Association — executive director (application deadline: July 12)■ St. Anthony-New Brighton — controller (application deadline: open until filled)
Visit www.mnmsba.org/DistrictJobOpenings for application information.
Visit www.mnmsba.org/MSDLAF for the latest Minnesota School
District Liquid Asset Fund Plus rates.www.facebook.com/mnmsba www.twitter.com/mnmsba
In MemorySouth Washington County School Board member Joe Slavin passed away June 7.
MSBA sends its condolences to Joe’s family, friends and colleagues.
At a member district’s request, Management Services staff will provide written analyses of teacher, nonlicensed, and other master agreements. This service is provided at a cost of $950 for the first agreement from a district and $750 for each subsequent agreement in that round of bargaining.
If you are interested in having any of your master agreements analyzed, call MSBA at 800-324-4459 and ask for staff in Management Services or email Amy Fullenkamp-Taylor at [email protected] or Sue Honetschlager at [email protected].
Call on MSBA to assist with your school district’s master agreementsPersonnel
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Protection assurance when you need it.
Denise [email protected]
Gary [email protected]
Find out what MSBAIT can do for your district.Call 800-324-4459 or email one of
your MSBAIT representatives today.
www.mnmsba.org/MSBAIT
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Thursday, July 6, 2017 Page 9