APEA Charges District with Failing to Follow Legal Requirements for Hiring Licensed Staff
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The Amherst Pelham Education Association (APEA) Executive Board has raised deep concerns about the long-standing issue of the Amherst Regional Public School District hiring and retaining several school personnel without proper state licensure. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requires educators such as building principals, counselors, and teachers to have professional licenses, or if not, the district must apply for a waiver for an emergency licence for one year.
The APEA upholds the importance of training, certification, and licensure for staff working with children so that the children receive the benefit of the highest professional expertise. Moreover, the district must abide by state law and ensure that all staff who must be licensed actually are, and correct any hiring practices that have overlooked this key element of their process.
Ummm, ummm, ummmm — as a licensed teacher, this caught my attention.
DESE isn’t saying anything about this?!?
Let’s assume that everything the union is saying is both accurate and correct — that there are multiple persons without either regular or emergency certification, and that there isn’t some third thing being overlooked here, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?
Stuff happens, people change their names (eg marriage) and the certificate may remain under the maiden name, etc. And there is some overlap on certificates, and you are allowed to teach one class outside the subject(s) you are certified in, etc. But if these people are REALLY not certified…..
And if this is happening in Amherst, what about places like Springfield?
but this is not Springfield.
We’ve done this at upper levels (not just teachers) to our detriment.
I believe it’s about politics somewhere, not competency or professionalism Tho…
a license (“something they give you so they can take it away” – power over) is no guarantee
of meeting the needs of our students. Take all the licensed people who crushed our LGBTQ+ kids
at the Middle School. Licensing is the minimal we need to see for staff. Extensive, leisurely,
thorough background checks would have saved us in several other instances of those past poor hires.