New Version of Dallas ISD's Teacher RIF Proposal Eliminates CEI, Adds Back Seniority

One week ago today we took a look at Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores's proposal to rework how the district determines who its "best teachers" are before mass layoffs begin courtesy the state's budget shortfall. After which it went before the board at Thursday's briefing. After which it...

By Robert Wilonsky

March 15, 2011

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One week ago today we took a look at Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores's proposal to rework how the district determines who its "best teachers" are before mass layoffs begin courtesy the state's budget shortfall. After which it went before the board at Thursday's briefing. After which it was reworked considerably: On the other side you'll find the latest draft of the proposal, which will go before the board March 24 as a consent agenda item.

Word is, Flores and fellow trustee Lew Blackburn hammered out a compromise following the board briefing that removes from the equation the controversial Classroom Effectiveness Index, which, depending on who you ask, isn't terribly accurate in the first place. (Recall, one former teacher said the CEI made it "impossible to measure what teachers do all day" and was little more than "some magic formula based on student test scores and fairy dust.")

The new proposal, which follows in full, lists the following criteria "in order of importance," beginning with: certification, performance (with "unsatisfactory overall appraisal rating" topping that particular list) and "additional performance criteria" (including disciplinary issues and "documented failure to follow the directives of District administration"). And I see that seniority has been added back to the list, having been excised in Flores's initial proposal.

I've left a message for the trustee to talk about the changes. I'll update when he calls back.

Amended RIF Policy

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