Our students learn as much by watching what community leaders actually do, as by what we tell them they should be doing. We tell them to be honest and to obey the law, yet what kind of example do we set?
I am surprised to learn that many in Anchorage do not yet understand that State regulations provide that
"each district shall ensure that a teacher employed by the district is
highly qualified if the teacher teaches a core academic subject after the
start of the 2006-2007 school year; or was hired after June 13, 2004, and
teaches a core academic subject in a school that receives funding under
20 U.S.C. 6301 - 6339 (Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act)."
4 AAC 04.210(a). Of course, the Board President, a member of the Alaska Bar, is fully aware of this provision of our State regulations.
In fact, ASD has never been in compliance with this regulation, and based on information from ASD HR as reported here previously, up to 50% of new teachers are not HQ as well as some 30% of our existing teaching staff. Yet Ms. Comeau has continued to argue that ASD is in full compliance with state law. Really?!
Apparently the argument goes like this:
Since AKDEED knows ASD is in violation of the law and AkDEED hasn't done anything to enforce the law, that must mean that ASD is not in violation of the law. That is the same reasoning that produces speeding tickets and DUI arrests.
In fact, though the matter has been repeatedly broached to the State Board, the Board has refused to provide authority for a waiver and though I have requested any documentation that evidences AkDEED's granting of permission for ASD to violate this law, AKDEED has provided no such documentation.
And to render this charade a complete farce, the Professional Teaching Practices Commission has determined (apparently with advice of counsel) that it will not consider violation of such state laws as grounds for any investigation.
In other words, while Ms. Comeau is responsible for the knowing and ongoing violation of state law and has misrepresented ASD compliance to the public, the violation of the teachers code (http://www.eed.state.ak.us/TeacherCertification/20AAC10.html) which that conduct represents is going to simply be ignored...... after all, some people are above the law......
