Gadsden dismissing 40 teachers with emergency certification

  SAN LUIS, Ariz. - A new regulation from the Arizona Department of Education has impacted the Gadsden Elementary School District and will keep 40 teachers with an emergency teaching certificate out of the classroom.

 The Arizona Department of Education issued a statement saying that it will not issue emergency teaching certificates as of July 1 and that anyone who has an emergency teaching certificate does not meet highly qualified requirements.

 “We were just notified about this on March 27," said Olivia Zepeda, assistant superintendent, who informed the district board members on Tuesday about the state department’s directive.

  "The teachers who have emergency teaching certificates will no longer work for the district. This is for schools classified as Title I, which in our case are all the schools in the district. We were working with these teachers for the last three years and trusted that after three years they would have their teaching certification.”

 Teachers under emergency certification had been a resource for districts with a problem attracting mentors. The emergency certification is issued by the state department to meet the vacancies in Title I schools, which are in great need because they have a high number of low-income students.

 However, according to No Child Left Behind emergency-certified teachers do not meet the requirements to be considered highly qualified. Of the teachers affected by the new rule, 20 teach at San Luis Middle School, nine at Southwest Junior High and the rest at other Gadsden district schools.

 “What is happening at Southwest Junior High is amazing. Last year they were able to come out of the underperforming label and they did so with the work of emergency certified teachers. Those teachers helped us get the school to this point and now we have to let them go," lamented Superintendent Raymond Aguilera.

  "This new regulation is ridiculous. It doesn’t see the good that can come out of these teachers. It doesn’t make sense, but the law is the law.”

 The district invested in professional development for those teachers but “unfortunately, they haven’t been able to pass the exam. The other problem is that the program offered by Northern Arizona University, the one most accessible to them was closed by the department of education,” said Zepeda.

 The exam and coursework are requirements for full certification, she said, but the teachers had difficulty meeting them.

 Aguilera said certified teachers being released by other school districts could fill the vacancies produced by these dismissals. Another option could be to return to the classroom certified teachers who are in administrative positions.

 In addition to eliminating emergency certified teachers, 11 administrative positions will not be included in the budget for next year, among them two assistant principals, counselors and reading coaches.

 “The state is pressuring districts to reduce their administrative budget, but the category of administrative costs is very broad and doesn’t only include officer personnel but personnel that works directly with students,” he said.

 Aguilera said that some good news is that with the federal stimulus package for Title I and Special Education, they will be able to hire seven interventionists to help children in small groups.

 The district will receive $1.5 million through Title I funding and $450,000 in special education funding but “these funds do not help the maintenance and operation budget for the district nor can they offset the state budget cuts,” said Aguilera.

 In Somerton, the school district approved a measure to not hire five counselors, anticipating that there will be no funds to pay their salaries.

 This was the only measure taken to meet the state budget cuts, “but the cuts may not be as much as anticipated and maybe some counselors will be able to return next school year,” said board member Martha Camacho.

 Camacho pointed out that a month ago, a 10 percent cut was expected, but now it is much less and if it comes down to 4 percent, cutting personnel may not be necessary.