Union Meeting with Division Superintendent and Information on Teacher Performance Evaluation Committee

Piedmont UniServ Unit Director, Alice Willingham and I met with Pittsylvania County Public Schools Division Superintendent on Friday, April 3. Ms. Willingham and I were glad to talk with Dr. Jones in regards to how the Pittsylvania Education Association and the school division can continue to collaborate on future projects.
During the meeting, we discussed several key items, including the following questions:
· How is the local school division handling staffing and work requirements?
· What are the plans for evaluations?
· What are the plans to pay non-contracted (hourly) employees?
· What plans are there for non-renewal, transfers, next year contracts?
and;
· What are the plans for SPED accommodations/testing requirements?
Dr. Mark Jones provided us
very thorough, well-thought and research-based responses. He articulated to us the need to provide a unified message from his office outlining the current status of the division and the vision for the future. What was shared with us in the meeting was outlined in the Superintendent's Weekly Wrap-up - April 3, 2020.
Further we discussed providing workshop opportunities for those individuals interested in becoming national board certified teachers. Too, we discussed the potential for PEA and PCPS partnering on a project through the National Education Association’s (NEA) Center for Great Public Schools. Typically, funded grant requests range from $3,000 to $25,000 over a 1-year period.
Further, as we follow the Governor’s orders during this unprecedented time of school closure, the meeting scheduled for March 19 to discuss the Virginia Board of Education’s approved revisions to the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards for Teachers (Guidelines) was postponed. Therefore, Dr. Lillian Holland reached out electronically to gain input from committee members. Our committee was instructed to review the attached memo and proposed new Guidelines and then reply with a response to following:
1. Maintain the current PCS evaluation instrument ratings (with standard 7 rated at 40%): Yes or No
2. Recommend a change to the recommended revisions in the Guidelines (February 2020) Yes or No
Based on the information provided, I responded No to Question 1 and Yes to Question 2 with the caveat of increasing Standard 6 to a weight of 1.5 instead of 1 (Screenshot below).
The committee had until April 21 to provide initial feedback. More to come as information becomes available.