Teachers with Residency Certificates (certified after August 31, 2000) are required to earn a Professional Certificate in order to maintain employment.   The ProTeach® portfolio, an assessment scored by the Educational Testing Service, is one means for earning Professional Certification.  Achieving National Board Certification is the other.  Candidate support is optional for teachers completing ProTeach®; however, early results from portfolio completers show a significantly higher pass rate among candidates who work with a support program.  With several college/university support programs ending their programs recently, SEA has decided to pilot its own low-cost candidate support program.  SEA has received a grant from the National Education Association (NEA) to implement this program.

 

Here are some program basics:

• Cohort groups of 10-12 candidates are run by a state-trained National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT)
• Candidate kickoff event in August, 2013 for whole group; cohorts then meet on a monthly basis through May, 2014
• Participants required to attend one of WEA's 4-day ProTeach® Jump Start Seminars in the summer
• 15 or 30 clock hours will be available for cohort participants depending on length of program
• Fee:  This program is offered as an SEA member benefit.  We will offer two support options for ProTeach® candidates: submission of their portfolio in January, 2014 (5 months of support) or submission in June, 2014 (10 months of support).  The 5-month fee will be half the 10-month fee.  Program costs are still to be finalized for 2013-14 and will be commensurate with the National Board program.
• Registration for the cohort begins in mid-May.  Registration will close when the program has reached capacity.

 

Watch for registration information to come out soon.  You SHOULD NOT contact us until the registration information is available. 

There are three different hiring phases that occur each year.  The first two phases of the hiring process are for displaced staff to find another position in the district.  In the first hiring phase, all internal SPS employees can apply for jobs.  Internal candidates are people that have an employment contract for the next school year or displaced staff.  They must apply and interview for positions.  Employees who received reduction in force (RIF) notices do not have an opportunity to apply for jobs during phase one. 

 

After selected staff are hired in phase one, remaining positions and newly vacated positions are then open in phase two.  Phase two is only for displaced staff.  These remaining positions are advertised to be filled by the district at a job fair.  The job fair will be at the JSCEE.  Individuals with a 504 accommodation that require certain types of facilities will have priority.  Displaced staff will have an opportunity to speak with principals and managers and get a position at another location.  For certificated staff that are not hired at the job fair, they are placed by the district into a qualified position.  Classified staff gets to utilize the job fair to meet administrators and supervisors so they can choose positions at Classified In-person Staffing in seniority order.

 

All displaced staff should be placed at the end of phase two.  If there are any remaining vacancies, phase three is initiated.  If there were any RIF'd staff, they would be recalled to fill any vacancies.   Only laid off employees are eligible for recall.  Recall is based on your seniority and qualifications.  (See the other articles in this Unity about RIF.)

 

If positions remain after all RIF'd staff are placed in a particular category for certificated or job title for classified, then positions are open to both internal and external candidates.  However, all displaced and RIF'd staff must be placed before external candidates are considered except in positions where there are no qualified candidates.  For more details on this subject, please refer to the three-phase staffing process, displacement, and layoff sections of your contract.

 

Dates:

 

Phase 1 for both internal Certificated and Classified employees- May 13-20

 

Phase 2 Job Fair for both Certificated and Classified displaced employees- June 13, 4-6 p.m., JSCEE 

 

Phase 2 Displaced Classified In-Person Staffing - June 18

 

Phase 3 Various dates - Classified and Certificated positions will be advertised in categories and job titles where no displaced or RIF remain unassigned.

 

Reduction in Force (RIF) 

At this time, we have not been told of anyone needing to be laid off (RIF) due to enrollment or budget cuts.  The district does have until May 15 to make that determination.  If there is a RIF, the process is determined by our collective bargaining agreements. 

 

Certificated RIF

How is it determined who gets Riffed?

•  The number of vacancies in each category is compared to the number of displaced staff in a particular category to determine the number of staff that needs to be riffed in each category.
•  RIF is based on District seniority in categories.  All state experience is counted. 
•  Print outs for each category that list people by seniority with the categories they hold, and which category they are currently teaching are reviewed. 
•  Staff with single categories where RIF's need to occur, that are least senior, are identified for RIF; however, if a person with less seniority had more than one category, they may be saved from RIF in another category but they have to teach next year in at least one period in the category that saved them.
•  If there is not capacity in the building to make that adjustment to teach in the second category, that person who was saved from RIF will be displaced from the building but they still have a job in the District if they are not the least senior in another category that needs to be riffed. 
•  Teaching in the second category is for next year, not this year.
•  Categories need to be added or deleted by each employee in the fall of each year, usually it is in November.

What happens after staff are Riffed?

•  Staff who are riffed have a right to return or be recalled to SPS employment for two years.  They must notify the District that they wish to maintain the second year of right to return in June of the first year.
•  Recall from RIF is based on seniority within categories.
•  Riffed staff who have additional categories they did not add in the fall can add them for recall purposes only after they are riffed.

Classified RIF (SAEOP and Paraprofessionals)

How is it determined who gets Riffed?

•  The district has the authority by law to determine what classified positions it wishes to continue for the following school year.
•  Once the district determines the positions, the district compares the number of displaced staff in a particular job title and then determines the number of staff needed to be riffed in each job title.
  •  RIF is based on District seniority in job titles.
  •  Language, bargained into the 2010-2013 collective bargaining agreement, allows for employees who are riffed in one job title to bump back into a former job title if they have the title listed on their job title form, the job title is in their job family/group, and if they held the position before.  Their seniority is then checked to see if they can bump a less senior person or if they are still the least senior person in this new job title and there is no capacity, they may still be riffed. If an employee is saved from RIF due to bumping back into a former job title, they can only apply for jobs in the job title that saved them from RIF. 
  •  Sometimes due to using seniority in the RIF process, employees may be displaced from their positions, even if they were not displaced prior to RIF.

What happens after staff are Riffed?

•  Staff have the option to add job titles they qualify for to their job title list. 
•  Staff who are riffed have a right to return or recalled to SPS employment for two years. They must notify the District (HR) between September 1 and September 10 and then must continue to notify the district by the 10th of every other month (November, January, March, etc.)
•  Recall from RIF is based on Seniority within job titles.  Employees can be recalled into any job title that they have listed.

  

Problems with this email? Contact Regina Redmond

SEA Calendar

Saturday, April 13th,
9:00 - 4:00 

Nathan Hale

10750 30th Ave NE, Seattle

 

To register via email, click on the location you wish to attend. 

Thursday, May 9th @ JSCEE, Room 2700

Tuesday, June 11th @ JSCESS, Auditorium

Thursday, June 20th @ JSCEE, Room 2700

Kimberly Depew- West Seattle

Margot Maffucci- Nathan Hale

Deanna Barrett- Aki Kurose

Marian Wagner- Salmon Bay