Jefferson County Schools getting more criticism for staffing in failing schools

The Courier-Journal ran a large article today about how Kentucky’s Education Commissioner Terry Holliday is getting more and more critical of the way Jefferson County Public Schools restaffed teachers in their Persistently Low-Achieving Schools.

The Courier points out that some of these schools wound up with large numbers of first-year teachers after the restaffing took place.

That was not the intent of House Bill 176 from the 2010 Regular Legislative Session.

The Courier also notes that an Office of Education Accountability Report, which the Bluegrass Institute put on line several months ago, has data on the large number of inexperienced teachers that wound up in Jefferson County’s lowest performing schools. You can see the number of new teachers by school on Page 38 of the OEA report.

Not mentioned in the Courier article is even more damaging commentary in the OEA report, which also says on page 40 that the school district’s Memorandum of Agreement with the teachers’ union in the school district violated House Bill 176 provisions.

“While the statute clearly stipulates that ‘professionally negotiated contracts by a local board of education shall not take precedence over the requirements’ associated with the option selected, JCPS and JCTA entered into an MOA as to how the restaffing would take place.”

Maybe the Courier is saving that important comment for another article.