Lakeland Board Adopts APPR Resolution

At its June 11 Board of Education meeting, the Lakeland Central School District adopted a resolution calling on the Board of Regents to take action on the New York State’s Education Transformation Act.

The resolution calls for the deadline for APPR plans to be moved to September 1, 2016. In addition, the resolution asks that the Board of Regents convene a task force to review the state tests and their linking to the proposed evaluation system. It also asks the Board of Regents, Commissioner of Education and State legislators “perform a detailed review of the evaluation proposal and gather input from qualified practitioners and independent experts”. The following is the full text of the resolution.

Resolution 2015 APPR Plan Implementation
Approved by the Board of Education on June 11, 2015
Lakeland Board of Education Resolution 2015 APPR Plan Implementation
WHEREAS the Board of Education of the Lakeland Central School District has long supported high standards and accountability for our students and staff; and
WHEREAS our district benefits from local control, opposes legislative remedies that assume that one size fits all, and has serious concerns about the new New York State Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) plan; and

WHEREAS the newly enacted State budget requires the Commissioner of Education to adopt regulations by June 30th, 2015, thereby creating a truncated timeline, ensuring ongoing piecemeal changes to APPR without adequate public consideration; and

WHEREAS the State budget legislation threatens that state aid will be withheld unless local contract negotiations conclude by September 1 of this and each subsequent year - another virtually impossible deadline given the obligations of collective bargaining; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Education of the Lakeland Central School District:
1. respectfully requests that the Board of Regents convene a task force of qualified educators, developmental psychologists and independent assessment experts to review the reliability, transparency, developmental appropriateness, and length of the state tests and to assure the validity of linking the tests to the proposed evaluation system, and
2. respectfully requests that the Board of Regents, Commissioner of Education and State legislators allow that draft regulations be filed by the Commissioner on June 30, 2015, followed by a 90 day comment period and that the deadline for school district submission of modified APPR plans be moved to September 1, 2016, and
3. respectfully requests that the Board of Regents, Commissioner of Education and State legislators perform a detailed review of the evaluation proposal, gather input from qualified practitioners and independent experts, and reject the elements of the Education Transformation Act which place undue reliance on state tests and which constitute inappropriate reforms to APPR.