HAZLETON AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT - Hazleton Area High …

[Pages:8]HAZLETON AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT

No. 304

SECTION: EMPLOYEES

TITLE:

TEACHER HIRING

ADOPTED: January 27, 2011

REVISED: January 25, 2012

1. Authority

SC 508, 1106, 1107, 11421152

Pol. 328 SC 1111

2. Guidelines

SC 1204.1 SC 1201 Title 22 Sec. 49.1 et seq

304. TEACHER HIRING

The Board places substantial responsibility for the educational program and effective operation of the schools with the professional staff employed by the school district.

The Board shall, by a majority vote of all members, approve the employment; set the compensation; and establish the term of employment for each professional employee employed by the district. All professional staff members shall be hired in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

No teacher shall be employed who is related to any member of the Board, as defined in statute, unless such teacher receives the affirmative vote of a majority of all members of the Board other than the member related to the applicant, who shall not vote.

The administration shall advertise extensively any / all open teaching position(s) after the ranked lists have been exhausted.

Application Submission

All applicants must submit to the district a complete teacher application packet that includes:

1. Pennsylvania Standard Application for Teaching Positions.

2. An active Pennsylvania Teaching Certification.

3. Current resume, to include extracurriculars.

4. Official college transcript.

5. National Teacher's Exam scores.

6. Three (3) education-related letters of recommendation.

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304. TEACHER HIRING - Pg. 2

SC 111 Title 22 Sec. 8.1 et seq 23 Pa. C.S.A. Sec. 6301 et seq

SC 1109

7. Mandatory background check requirements for criminal history and child abuse.

8. Release of Information form.

All applications shall be screened by the Superintendent's staff to verify that all necessary documentation has been submitted. Applicants shall be advised within ten (10) days if the application is complete and if it is not complete, they shall be advised as to what is necessary to make it complete.

Applicants shall be interviewed for teaching positions in the summer if openings are anticipated the following school year. The list, with an indicated acceptable applicant cut off, shall be maintained for the school term. If additional openings occur, the Board shall appoint from that list for the school term. If there is no remaining list of acceptable candidates, interviews shall be rescheduled. No list shall be continued beyond the school term. Interviews may be scheduled whenever an opening occurs during the school year if the list has been depleted or if interviews were not held during the summer for that area of certification.

All applications shall be placed in a file labeled Current Applications. This file shall be updated on a continuous basis. It is the responsibility of the applicant to inform the district that s/he wishes to have his/her application remain current each year. All other application files shall be removed from the Current Application file.

Applicants shall be considered in accordance with Board policy and applicable laws and regulations.

Application Scoring

All complete application packets shall be examined by the Superintendent's office for the purpose of assigning points based on the following seven (7) criteria:

Category

Points

1

2

3

4

1. Teaching Experience

? school year

? to

1 ? to 4

1 ? school years

years

4+ years

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304. TEACHER HIRING - Pg. 3

Category

Points

1

2

3

4

2. HASD Sub. Experience, Satisfactory (current year)

STS

STS

STS

30-59 days Sub 60-126 Sub 127+

days

days

3. Overall GPA, Undergraduate

3.0-3.39 3.4-3.69

>3.7

4. Student Teaching Grade

B/Pass or A Satisfactory

5. Relevant Work Experience and Strengths*

Bilingual, Coaching, CPR, First Aid, AED, Life Saving Certificate, Other

6. Advanced Degrees

Master's Doctorate

7. Multiple Certifications 1 point for each additional area

8. HASD Principal Recommendation Principal must have personal knowledge of applicant's teaching ability and be willing to state that s/he would be willing to accept the applicant as a teacher in his / her building ? 1 point

Applicants must have a minimum of ten (10) points and an overall undergraduate G.P.A. of at least 3.0 to be eligible for an interview with the following exception: the Superintendent may bring before the Hazleton Area School Board the name of any exceptional candidate not meeting these criteria whom s/he feels should be interviewed with a full explanation of the circumstances to justify the exception.

After a candidate has been declared qualified under the application scoring system, the exact point total will no longer be a part of the selection process.

*Relevant Work Experience ? this would include experience related to the position for which the applicant is being considered that would improve his/her work performance as a teacher. It would not include teaching or substitute teaching in

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304. TEACHER HIRING - Pg. 4

public or private schools since credit is given for that experience in another category. Relevant work experience would include: lab tech for science positions; engineering experience for chemistry or physics positions; day care for elementary positions; study in a foreign country for foreign language; accounting experience for a business position; band, orchestra or theater for music positions; artist's work for art positions; etc.

Applicant Screening And Interviews

The Board shall determine the deadline for acceptance of applications. Applicants may be interviewed based on the criteria and provisions of this policy. Specific interview questions shall be developed by the professional staff with input from the Superintendent and related Educational Director. The questions shall be designed to evaluate application in the following areas:

1. Communication skills.

2. Human relation skills.

3. Knowledge of effective instructional techniques.

4. Knowledge of instructional technology.

5. Knowledge of appropriate subject matter.

6. Educational philosophy consistent with that of the district.

7. Enthusiasm for teaching.

8. Practical teaching exercise.

When a position becomes available, an interview committee shall be established to review the screened-approved applications and select those candidates to be considered for a position. The Superintendent or his/her designee shall appoint interview committee members for specified positions as follows:

1. All Building principal(s) or vice-principal(s) where openings exist.

2. Department Chairperson (if applicable).

3. Teacher(s) from relevant department / grade level.

4. Relevant Central Office Administrator(s).

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304. TEACHER HIRING - Pg. 5

The members of the interview committee for each subject area shall remain the same until all interviews are completed for that position. The Superintendent may participate, if s/he so chooses, as a member of any interview committee.

During the interview, the interview committee shall ask questions from those developed by the professional staff. Each member shall evaluate the interviewee in each of the eight (8) categories listed above, using the evaluation forms provided.

After the completion of the applicant's interview, a final evaluation shall be prepared for each applicant based upon each interview committee member's evaluation. The Superintendent or his/her designee shall chair this process.

Each interviewer shall sign his/her scoring forms and ensure they are turned in at the end of each interview session. By his/her signature, each committee member affirms that his/her scores are based solely on objective evaluation of each candidate's application and interview. The signature also affirms that no pressure was brought to bear on the interviewer to support any particular candidate and no predetermined votes were cast.

The role of the interview committee and the numbers of candidates recommended shall be modified when more than twenty-five (25) qualified candidates have applied for hiring. This will happen most often when the district hires elementary teachers. When this situation arises, these procedures shall be followed:

1. All applications shall be screened as before, with any application receiving a screening score of ten (10) and a minimum GPA of 3.00 remaining under consideration.

2. Those applicants meeting the criteria for an interview are listed on a spreadsheet by number (no name listed) along with the following objective criteria:

a. College(s) attended ? both undergraduate and graduate (if applicable).

b. Dates of college attendance.

c. GPA ? both undergraduate and graduate (if applicable).

d. Years and types of teaching experience.

e. Substitute or tutoring experience in HASD, with letters of recommendation.

f. All academic certifications.

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304. TEACHER HIRING - Pg. 6

g. Work experience beyond teaching.

h. Relevant certifications or trainings (CPR, AED, SAP, DIBELS, etc.).

i. Extracurricular interests or talents.

j. Knowledge of languages beyond English (fluency in Spanish, French, etc.).

3. Building principal(s) will choose a minimum of three (3) applicants from the spreadsheet mentioned above per open position to be granted both an oral and written interview. Both the oral and written interview will be given during the same session.

4. The interview committee will evaluate the oral and written responses and select those who will be given the opportunity to present a sample lesson to the interview committee. There will generally be no more than two (2) presenters for each opening in a given teaching category.

5. Those candidates who are deemed to be the most qualified by the committee through this process will undergo a thorough background check and will be recommended to the Board for hire. All acceptable alternates will be ranked in order. (It is stipulated that each school principal or designated vice-principal will be responsible for choosing the teacher(s) who will teach in his/her building.)

Hiring

The Superintendent will recommend the successful candidates to the School Board. Copies of all relevant data on the successful applicants chosen by the Hazleton Area School District professionals after the interviews are completed will be available for all Hazleton Area School Board members, with questions about any proposed hire discussed in Executive Session with the Superintendent and the relevant building principal. Hazleton Area School Board Directors will not interfere in any part of the hiring process, advocate for any candidate or conduct any other interviews of teachers.

The Board authorizes the use of professional employees from the ranked lists prior to Board approval when necessary to maintain continuity of the educational program and services. Retroactive employment shall be recommended to the Board at the next regular Board meeting. (Substitutes will be hired to replace a teacher only if the substitute is the next available candidate on the ranked list.)

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304. TEACHER HIRING - Pg. 7

The list of acceptable candidates shall be retained for one (1) year, and new positions opening during the school year shall be filled from those teachers remaining on the lists. If no acceptable applicants remain on the list in any particular field, new interviews may be conducted using the same procedures during the school year. All lists shall expire at the end of the school term.

Qualified applicants will be placed only in positions for which they have interviewed. In the event that a ranked list has been exhausted, a new round of interviews will be conducted.

Employment

SC 111 Title 22 Sec. 8.1 et seq 23 Pa. C.S.A. Sec. 6301 et seq

A candidate shall not be employed until s/he has complied with the mandatory background check requirements for criminal history and child abuse and the district has evaluated the results of that screening process.

An employee's misstatement of fact material to qualifications for employment or determination of salary shall constitute grounds for dismissal by the Board.

Title I Requirements

Title 22 Sec. 403.2, 403.4 20 U.S.C. Sec. 6319, 7801

All elementary, middle and secondary teachers employed by the district who teach core academic subjects shall be highly qualified, as defined by federal law and state regulations.

Title 22 Sec. 403.4 20 U.S.C. Sec. 6319, 7801

The principal of a school providing Title I programs to students shall annually attest that professional staff teaching in such programs are highly qualified, in accordance with federal law and state regulations. The written certification shall be maintained in the district office and the school office and shall be available to the public, upon request.

Certification

SC 1201 Title 22 Sec. 49.1 et seq

Each professional staff member employed by the district shall be responsible for maintaining a valid teaching certificate.

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304. TEACHER HIRING - Pg. 8 References: School Code ? 24 P.S. Sec. 108, 111, 508, 1106, 1107, 1109, 1109.2, 1111,

1142-1152, 1201, 1204.1 State Board of Education Regulations ? 22 PA Code Sec. 4.4, 8.1 et seq.,

49.1 et seq., 403.2, 403.4 Criminal History Record Information Act ? 18 Pa. C.S.A. Sec. 9125 Child Protective Services Law ? 23 Pa. C.S.A. Sec. 6301 et seq. No Child Left Behind Act ? 20 U.S.C. Sec. 6319, 7801 Americans With Disabilities Act ? 42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq. Board Policy ? 104, 308, 328

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