Open Letter to MPS supt. Peebles re: teacher realignments

Subj: [Mpls] Open letter to MPS supt. Peebles re: teacher realignments

Date: 8/13/2004 11:55:19 AM Central Daylight Time

CC: Dennis.Schapiro@mpls.k12.mn.us, Sharon.Henry-Blythe@mpls.k12.mn.us, Colleen.Moriarty@mpls.k12.mn.us, rtaylor@mpls.k12.mn.us, mpls@mnforum.org, Audrey.Johnson@mpls.k12.mn.us, Judith.Farmer@mpls.k12.mn.us, Joseph.Erickson@mpls.k12.mn.us

At the Board meeting on August 10, 2004, the district's general counsel, Mr.

Giles (I presume) stated that the reassignment / realignment of teachers was

an administrative decision, not a board decision. You are now the top

administrator. The board took no action to affirm or to overturn the realignment of 140

elementary teachers who hold multiple teaching licenses and have been

employed with the district for 5 to 35 years. That passes the buck to you, and also

leaves opens the door for you to act, in my opinion.

The MPS administration under David Jennings fired probationary teachers from

special Ed classrooms rather than from areas in order to create a pretext for

reassigning elementary teachers who are near the top of the seniority list and

pay scale. According to a press release dated August 10, 2004, 140 elementary

school teachers were "realigned" into other areas to create openings for 92

other tenured, elementary teachers. Such action is clearly not required by the

law, even by the district's own interpretation of the Teacher Tenure Act and

The firing of some special education teachers also put the district at risk

of losing Medicaid funding, because some the teachers who were realigned to

special Ed classes cannot provide a safe environment for all of their students

and are replacing teachers that were equipped to do so.

Due to the illegal character of the realignment process I recommend that you

hire back all of the special Ed teachers and restore all of the realigned

elementary teachers to their positions. If there are some low-seniority, tenured

elementary teachers who will be without employment as a result of the

corrective action recommend in this letter, I propose that they be offered compensation

for lost wages, plus assistance to retrain for jobs in high needs areas so

they may be rehired by the 2005-2006 school year.


	Mann for School Board \| home Teacher reshuffling could have been challenged by teachers \| Resonse to Ross Taylor re: Special Ed teacher qualifications & realignment \| Re: Special Ed teacher qualifications & realignment \| MPS Update on Teacher Realignment Process \| Open Letter to MPS supt. Peebles re: teacher realignments Open Letter to MPS supt. Peebles re: teacher realignments Subj: [Mpls] Open letter to MPS supt. Peebles re: teacher realignments Date: 8/13/2004 11:55:19 AM Central Daylight Time From: Socialist2001@cs.com Sender: mpls-bounces@mnforum.org To: mpssup@mpls.k12.mn.us CC: Dennis.Schapiro@mpls.k12.mn.us, Sharon.Henry-Blythe@mpls.k12.mn.us, Colleen.Moriarty@mpls.k12.mn.us, rtaylor@mpls.k12.mn.us, mpls@mnforum.org, Audrey.Johnson@mpls.k12.mn.us, Judith.Farmer@mpls.k12.mn.us, Joseph.Erickson@mpls.k12.mn.us Ms. Peebles, At the Board meeting on August 10, 2004, the district's general counsel, Mr. Giles (I presume) stated that the reassignment / realignment of teachers was an administrative decision, not a board decision. You are now the top administrator. The board took no action to affirm or to overturn the realignment of 140 elementary teachers who hold multiple teaching licenses and have been employed with the district for 5 to 35 years. That passes the buck to you, and also leaves opens the door for you to act, in my opinion. The MPS administration under David Jennings fired probationary teachers from special Ed classrooms rather than from areas in order to create a pretext for reassigning elementary teachers who are near the top of the seniority list and pay scale. According to a press release dated August 10, 2004, 140 elementary school teachers were "realigned" into other areas to create openings for 92 other tenured, elementary teachers. Such action is clearly not required by the law, even by the district's own interpretation of the Teacher Tenure Act and Stand decision. The firing of some special education teachers also put the district at risk of losing Medicaid funding, because some the teachers who were realigned to special Ed classes cannot provide a safe environment for all of their students and are replacing teachers that were equipped to do so. Due to the illegal character of the realignment process I recommend that you hire back all of the special Ed teachers and restore all of the realigned elementary teachers to their positions. If there are some low-seniority, tenured elementary teachers who will be without employment as a result of the corrective action recommend in this letter, I propose that they be offered compensation for lost wages, plus assistance to retrain for jobs in high needs areas so they may be rehired by the 2005-2006 school year. -Doug Mann, King Field Mann for School Board www.educationright.com -