A report to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) from Charlie Kyte, Executive Director.
This audio podcast is 6 minutes long.
PLEDGE AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE
This is the time of year to have students sign the Pledge Against Gun Violence. This is a great student council based activity. Information and the pledge form are on the MASA website (www.mnasa.org)
ECFE LICENSURE CHALLENGE
The Mn Board of Teaching (BOT) recently notified districts that they must employ fully licensd ECFE teachers and they would no longer be issuing variances, waivers or community expert for ECFE. This is based on a statute the legislature passed in 2007 requiring licensure in this area. We think the BOT may have received very conservative legal advice on this and that was what drove their decision. All other teaching areas require a license, but variances, waivers and community expert designations are routinely issued.
This puts some rural schools in a real bind. They have no ECFE teachers in the area, they can't get variances and the Administrator's Code of Ethics prohibits an administrator from hiring a non licensed person. In a few instances the only choice is to close an ECFE program down. By next year this problem is going to grow exponentially.
REFERENDUM ELECTION CHALLENGE
Opposition to referendums has really been emerging within the last few days according to reports we are receiving. We are encouraging all our members, and citizen 'vote yes' groups to stay on task and not be diverted by negative attacks. Blatantly false information must be countered, but should be done quickly and then get your groups back on task.
The MASA Legislative Committees are discussing a legislative plank that would eliminate these elections and give levy authority directly to Boards of Education. There are several pros and cons to this idea and we would be interested in hearing from you on what you think we should do.
Also watch for a late posting of comparative property tax rates by the MN Citizens League for every District in the state. They plan to put it up next Monday. While their information is factual, there is a danger that the information will be manipulated in the closing days of these election campaigns.
NEGOTIATIONS CHALLENGE
We are hearing more reports of settlements. We are also aware of a number of Districts where the tensions are rising as the two sides enter the pre-settlement phases of negotiation. It doesn't help that Districts don't yet know with certainty their leveels of FY 2007 Special Education funding and probably won't get solid answers from the MDE until after the January 15th negotiations deadline date. This is problematic to both sides in the bargaining process.
SCHOOL SAFETY WORKSHOP
MASBO is sponsoring a school safety workshop on November 8. For information and registration materials go to the MASBO website (www.mnasbo.org).
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