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BEG, BORROW,

STEALLegal Strategies to Deal with the

Teacher Shortage

Strategies suggested by:

Dr. Robert Kelty, Teach for AmericaSamantha Kelty, Hufford Horstman Mongini Parnell & Tucker, P.C.Candyce Pardee, Udall Shumway, P.L.C.Matthew White, Udall Shumway, P.L.C.

Disclaimer

The information provided in this materialand during the presentation is notintended to be legal advice for anyspecific situation. Please contact yourschool district’s attorney for legal advicewhen needed.

Challenging TimesSome Districts Battle Shortages…(AP)

Teacher Shortages Spur a Nationwide Hiring Scramble: Credentials Optional (NYT)

Districts Facing Teacher Shortages Look for Lifelines (Ed Week)

Arizona Schools Suffering From Teacher Shortage (Arizona Daily Star)

Arizona Districts Scrambling To Fill 1,000 Teacher Vacancies (Arizona Republic)

Shortage puts uncertified teachers in AZ classrooms (Daily Star)

The Arizona Context

Over 1000 positions remained unfilled as of July 21st

“It’s bad.” Cave Creek Unified School District, Superintendent Debbi Burdick

“We’ve been working very hard since the spring to fill all our positions…” Balsz School District Superintendent Jeffrey Smith.

‘’It is difficult. It’s challenging. And I think many teachers just get frustrated and many teachers have second jobs...” Heidi Vega, ASBA

*Quotes courtesy of the Arizona Republic

Why?The Educator Retention and Recruitment Task Force, initiated by ADE, was created to address the “rising concerns regarding the shortage of effective teachers and high turnover rates of educators in Arizona schools.”

That task force’s findings?

• Low pay

• High turnover rates (directly and influencing morale)

• Little mentorship/supports

• Increased workload

• Feelings of under-appreciation

A bigger picture?

Many experts chalk up such declines, as well as regional teacher shortages, to the Great Recession and ensuing cutbacks in public spending. Others have charged that poor teacher working conditions, such as low salaries and test-driven school

cultures, are nudging existing and potential educators toward other professions, especially with the economy improving.

"Morale is low because not only salaries are low, but there's a feeling [among educators] that 'we have to hold all the teachers accountable because they don't know what they're doing,'" said Cecilia Johnson, an associate superintendent for the Arizona Department of Education. "They want to be valued more.“

(Arizona Republic)

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What can we do about this at the local level?

Wooing New Teachers…

• Attracting and hiring new teachers is much like dating when the pool of teachers is ever smaller and the demand for teachers is greater.

• The “Beg” portion of the presentation will deal with ideas to woo those new teachers, and ideas for retaining your present teachers.

BEG

• Make your District more appealing

– Update your website with photos of happy kids, happy parents, happy teachers

– Make your website user friendly, slick and professional—you are wooing teachers who grew up in a digital age.

– Talk not only about your school, but about the community, link to things to do, places to go, prices of homes/cost of living

• Promote the benefits

– Vacation, sick leave or general leave—how much?

– Holidays? Which ones?

– Health care, vision, dental and other insurance? What portions do you pay? Dependent coverage and cost to the employee.

– Arizona State Retirement System—yes, that is a benefit—your out-of-staters may not know about it.

• Promote your school resources

– Do your teachers have computers? Laptops? Tablets? Cell phones?

– Classroom technology like “smart boards”?

– Computer accessibility for the students?

– On-line grading?

– “Beyond TextbooksTM” “CambridgeTM” or other comprehensive instructional programs?

– Mentor teachers?

– Classroom aides?

• Promote your differences

– Small class size?

– Rural setting? Cosmopolitan setting?

– Community support?

– Teacher recognition? Class recognition?

– Opportunities to serve the greater community?

– Showcases for student work?

– Opportunities for personal growth?

– Training opportunities?

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Involve Your Staff

• YouTubeTM or video a message to a specific applicant-welcoming the applicant, discussing what they like about the school or about shared interests available in the area.

• If a staff member is willing (and is a positive example at your school), give the applicant the phone number/email and welcome the applicant to call and “find out the real scoop” about the school.

Ask yourself

How can I improve the working conditions of my district to make it more

attractive for/to talent?

Fringe Benefits

Pump Up Benefits

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Grow Your Own

• You have an excellent aide in SPED: bright, works well with students and parents, intuitive understanding of the children’s needs and is always willing to learn new procedures.

• The aide was born and reared in the community and has many ties keeping the aide in the community.

Let’s say…• Your District has a devil of a time keeping

Special Education teachers who have their pick of jobs.

• Your long time Special Education aide can’t afford to go to college to get a teaching degree, but it is clear the aide would be an outstanding, caring, wise special education teacher…

• Contract with the aide to cover a portion of the tuition costs in return for a commitment to work with the District for a set period of time upon securing a degree and the necessary certifications/endorsements.

• Include a requirement to re-pay the District on a pro-rated basis for:

– Failure to secure the degree,

– Taking a job elsewhere,

– Being terminated for cause

Partial Grow Your Own• Look more closely at your teachers’ transcripts.

• If someone already has units towards a hard-to-fill specialty, see if that person would be willing to take more units, become HQ in that area in return for the District underwriting part or all of the cost.

• Again, make sure that the person also contracts to work for the District for a period of time in return for the cost of the classes.

Loan RepaymentMany college graduates have loan payments. If you can’t provide a raise,

you could offer a “loan pay-off” fringe

benefit:

– For every year a teacher works at the District at one of the top two performance levels, the teacher would have $1,000.00 (or some amount) of their student loan paid down.

– Decisions as to the amount of loan pay-off might be based on the need for that type of teacher; i.e., may pay more for Special Ed, math.

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If you can’t afford to offer a raise, you may still be able to offer some money as a retention bonus or a signing bonus.

– A signing bonus gives those teachers who sign by a certain date, before the end of the 15 business days teachers are given to sign the contracts, a certain monetary incentive to do so--$50,$100….

– A retention bonus would be paid as a fringe benefit to those who sign contracts for a second or more years and might reflect higher amounts for every 5 years at the school.

Reward Longevity Non-monetary Rewards• Designating a parking space for a top

employee (covered?)

• Recognition in a “personality piece” for the newspaper (or student newspaper).

• Recognition on the school marquee/website.

• Designation of a “Day”

• Recognition in a Board Meeting

• Recognition at a game.

Borrow

Sharing Limited

Teacher Resources

BORROW• Use an IGA to share a teacher between

nearby Districts.

– Teacher drives between districts.

– Teacher is employee of one district, the other district pays a portion of the teacher’s salary and benefits

• Use an IGA to share a program.

– Students are transported to a district with the program, teacher

– District pays tuition for the transported children.

Borrow From Yourself

• Check Teachers’ transcripts.

• Does someone already have the education, certificates, endorsements to teach a hard-to-fill position, but has been teaching in a less hard-to-fill position?

• ASBA policies CBA and GCK will let you place teachers where they are needed, so put them in the hard-to-fill area, then fill their former position.

STEAL

“Who REALLY Loves You?”

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STEAL• “Stealing”--recruiting a teacher from another

District is a time honored method of securing personnel

• If the person has already signed a contract with the other District, however, the teacher will be in violation of A.R.S. §15-545…it says a teacher, “shall not resign after signing and returning his contract, unless the resignation is first approved by the governing board.”

If the Board Fails to Approve

• The teacher “shall be deemed to commit an unprofessional act and, upon request of the governing board, shall be subject to such disciplinary action, including suspension or revocation of certificate, as the state board of education deems appropriate.”

• The other District may, instead, choose to charge the teacher liquidated damages.

Questions to Ask Yourself…• If the other Board requests the certificate be

suspended or revoked, and if the State Board does so, will we be able to secure another teacher?

• If this teacher was willing to bail on a contract with that other District, will the teacher do the same with my District?

• Is the teacher we are stealing worth the potential risk?

The Alien Option

Wait – not that kind of alien!

• U.S. immigration law classifies everyone that is neither a citizen or national of the United States as an “alien”

The Bizarre Immigration Laws of the U.S- 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act- Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1989- Immigration Act of 1990- Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant

Responsibility Act of 1996- American Competitiveness and Workforce

Improvement Act of 1998- American Competitiveness in the Twenty First

Century Act of 2000- Visa Waiver Permanent Program Act of 2000- Extension of 245(i) and other new laws for 2001- PATRIOT Act of 2001- Border Security and Visa Reform Act of 2002- Not to mention all the implementing regulations

passed by the Department of Labor, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, and many more agencies…

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Enter the Temporary Work Visa

• H-1B

• J-1

• F-1/OPT

• TN

• E-3

H-1B “Specialty Occupation”Temporary Worker

• Annual cap: 65,000 visas, minus 5,800 reserved for Chile and Singapore + 20,000 for individuals holding “advanced” U.S. degrees (does not apply to many school districts)

• Initial entry of 3 years

• Maximum stay of 6 years

– Extensions beyond 6 years are possible … at times

J-1 International Exchange• U.S. immigration law encourages

international cultural and educational exchanges through the J-1 Visa program

• Must come to the U.S. via a Department of State approved J-1 Exchange Agency (no such agency in Arizona right now)

• Maximum stay of 3 years

• Teacher must typically return to home for 2 years at the end of the program

• $$$$

F-1/OPT

• International students attend U.S. universities under F-1 visas

• At the end of their studies, they may qualify to continue their education via optional practical training in

their field of endeavor

TN

• Made available through NAFTA

• Limited to Mexicans and Canadians

• Only available in limited circumstances (not teachers)

E-3

• Like H-1B but limited to Australians

• 10,500 Annual Limit

• No Cap Exemptions

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Matthew Whitemlw@udallshumway.com | 480.461.5304 Direct

UDALL SHUMWAY PLC

1138 North Alma School Road, Suite 101Mesa, Arizona 85201

Candyce Pardeecbp@udallshumway.com | 928-373-3409 or 1-800-863-6718

UDALL SHUMWAY SOUTHERN ARIZONA BRANCH OFFICE

4250 W. 16th StreetYuma, Arizona 85364

Samantha Keltysbk@h2m2law.com | 928-226-0000

HUFFORD HORSTMAN MONGINI PARNELL & TUCKER, P.C.

120 North Beaver Street ~ Post Office Box B

Flagstaff, Arizona 86001

Robert Kelty, Ed.DRobert.Kelty@teachforamerica.org | 646.483.9429

TEACHFORAMERICA