Tonight, Monday, November 20, 2006, the Nazareth Area School Board will meet at 7:30 p.m. If you are attending tonight's meeting, send me an email or post a comment with notes regarding what happened.
One reader emailed over the weekend to ask about Act 1 and noted that tonight's agenda (as of this post being made) was not posted on the web site.
My understanding is that the Act 1 recommendation must be acted on by mid-December, so the the best guess is that it would be presented tonight and voted on at the next meeting. (read about the recommendation here).
The NASD met with the fact finder last week. There was nothing new on the NASD web site (visit the contract page here) regarding the status, and it is not known what if anything other than "we're meeting with the fact-finder" can be disclosed at this point in time.
Another reader emailed in regard to the elementary staff reassignments that have taken place in fourth grade. Unless noted otherwise tonight, it is my understanding that this is a personnel matter (closed to the public and confidential) and that parents of students in the classes affected received a letter stating that they would have a new teacher (I have not received one and have not read it personally) effective in the near future (I believe today is the cut-over date). Apparently two teachers from Shafer will be reassigned to Bushkill and Lower Nazareth, respectively, and the teachers from those two classes will move to Shafer.
Again, if you are attending tonight's meeting, email me (editor@newsovercoffee.com) or post a comment about tonight's meeting. Thanks, and have a great Thanksgiving Holiday!
7 comments:
Yeah, I don't think we will be talking about the staff reassignments on this forum. If you like type of sordid stuff, Desparate Housewives is on television on Sunday nights. We will stick to pumpkins and parades on this forum. It is a personnel and personal matter.
yikes.....something sordid is going on in the district and the public doesn't have the right to know?
When it comes to matters of personnel, no, the public does not have a right to know.
The administration (I'm sure with consultation from the solicitor) has the responsibility of handling the matter and notifying the elected Board Members in Executive Session and discussing it with them further if needed.
If one of the parties wants to speak for themself, then they can, but by law the NASD will not comment on matters of personnel.
I'm fairly certain if you attend the meeting tonight and ask any questions, the NASD will say it was a personnel matter and they aren't commenting.
From the perspective of the parents of children who are impacted, I could see where you'd be unhappy if a teacher you liked was being reassigned mid-marking period as a result, but I don't think there is anything that can be done (again, if you go to the meeting tonight and ask, I think you'll get the same answer - personnel can't discuss).
After tonight's meeting, if there is any information to contribute as it relates to reassignment during marking periods or some topical issue for discussion, I don't mind having that as a discussion, but the event itself is an executive session matter that I think ought to stay there, and not be discussed here.
A teacher's contract entitles the employed teacher to a job, but not a specific position. If the school administrators want to reassign you from a fifth grade teacher at Bushkill to a kindergarden teacher at Lower Nazareth, they may do so at any time.
Whoa! wait a minute !! Does not the sunshine Law apply to the school district???? What do you mean----"the public does not have the right to know""????? They seem to have the right to my tax dollars. If the borough must put all their information before the public , the school district should be held accountable and put theirs before the public,too.
The sunshine law does apply to the school district and the discussion of personnel matters takes place in executive session, not a public meeting.
This is the right application of the sunshine law, not a violation of it.
If I thought the NASD was violating the sunshine law, I'd be one of the first to call them on it.
Ross is right. Unless a staff member waives their right to have it discussed behind closed doors and opts for a public forum then personnel matters are discussed in private.
An examples was about 10 years ago a popular local wrestling coach was on the hot seat for conducting boxing matches as part of his wrestling practices. He wanted the status of his contract renewal to be discussed publicly. And it was.
The same coach was in trouble again recently. This time, the coach did not want the details of his troubles made public so they were not.
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