INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County School Board Tuesday evening moved ahead with approving a teacher evaluation program in order to not jeopardize $700,000 in federal funding.
The School District and the Indian River County Education Association – the teachers’ union – have reached tentative agreements on certain components of the evaluation program.
“It’s really unfortunate,” School Board member Claudia Jimenez said of higher levels of governments resorting to “carrots” to get School Districts to implement certain programs and changes.
She explained that often times, other governments tell districts they won’t get funding unless they do certain things. When they do that, Jimenez added, the governments don’t take children into account.
“It’s difficult to vote” for this, she said. “We have to comply.”
IRCEA President Beth Weatherstone told the School Board prior to the discussion that the teachers were negotiating “under duress” given the looming Sept. 30 deadline to send the agreement to responsible government agencies.
She voiced concern that some teachers’ evaluations under the new program would be based on district averages and could hinge on the instruction from other teachers.
Weatherstone also told the School Board that there is no process in place to validate the information and scores on which teachers would be evaluated.
School Board members echoed Weatherstone’s concerns but noted they would risk $700,000 in Race to the Top funding if they didn’t approve the program.
School Board member Carol Johnson said the money could go to helping not only the district but also the classrooms.
School District Director of Human Resources Pamela Lannon told the School Board they would continue to work with the teachers’ union to address their concerns regarding the evaluation program.
“We have a lot of work still to do yet,” she said.
Still to negotiate are safeguards to ensure consistency in classroom observations as well as a process for teachers to appeal their evaluations.
