Committee reviews tenure recommendation process and state APPR changes

At the same Feb. 3 human resources committee work session, members reviewed the district’s tenure-recommendation process and the role of the annual professional performance review (APPR) in tenure decisions.

Zach Jin, the HR presenter, told the committee that tenure recommendations are a board action and summarized the typical probationary period in New York. “In New York state, usually, the probationary period is 4 years,” he said, and described the superintendent’s role in recommending teachers for tenure to the board.

Speaker 3 (identified in the transcript as speaking from a union perspective) described the district’s current APPR and the state’s recent change that allows districts to convert from the 3012-d framework to the 3012-e Steps program. “We are currently under the 3012-d system with some modifications that came into play in July 2024,” the speaker said, and added that the Steps program requires multiple metrics in addition to observations.

Committee members were reminded that observations and APPR scores are an important element of evaluation but, under the 2024 law, cannot be the sole basis for denying tenure. “It cannot be the sole reason that we can't base tenure denial on APPR scores,” a speaker said. Members discussed other factors that can inform tenure recommendations, including chronic professional shortcomings (for example failing to submit grades or being nonresponsive), and the district’s use of improvement plans and coaching for staff who are developing.

Timing requirements were highlighted: for teachers in a final probationary year, the transcript records a March 1 deadline to complete two announced observations and one unannounced observation. The presenter said the district will notify teachers earlier if the evaluation timeline will not be completed.

The presenter also told the committee the district is preparing to renegotiate APPR in labor talks and is exploring alternative metrics allowed under the state’s Steps program, including portfolios, action projects and student-learning objectives to supplement observations. Committee members requested clearer counts of how many teachers are currently in the not-yet-tenured pool (the presenter estimated “probably 100 teachers” in the process) and asked staff to provide a template showing what information the board will receive with each tenure recommendation.

No tenure decisions were made at the meeting; staff will provide the requested counts and examples of the tenure packets the board would receive.