Educator Effectiveness

Reviews of First Year Waivers

To:	Superintendents of Schools, Leaders of Horace Mann Charter Schools, Directors of Collaboratives and Approved Private Special Education Schools
From:	David P. Driscoll, Commissioner of Education
Date:	August 7, 2006

As you may recall, in my April 18, 2006 update I reminded you of the requirement to hire licensed educators. If after making a good faith effort you are unable to hire a qualified candidate who is licensed, you may apply for a waiver from the Commissioner exempting you for one school year from the requirement to employ licensed personnel. To qualify for a waiver you must demonstrate that you made a good faith effort to hire a licensed educator. Documentation of these efforts must be retained by the district and are subject to review by the Department. The Department will be randomly selecting first year waivers to review the documentation that the district did in fact make a good faith effort to hire a licensed educator. If you are randomly selected for a review, the documentation that you will be asked to submit includes the following:

Verification of all actions taken, beyond internal postings, to recruit an appropriately licensed person for the position (for example, letters sent to placement officers/agencies, participation in a job fair and copies of advertisements placed in the media).
The name and license number of any appropriately licensed educators who applied for the position, an explanation of why they were not appropriately qualified to perform the duties, and/or the name and license number of any appropriately licensed candidates who declined the position.

As a reminder, during the time that such a waiver is in effect, service of an employee of a school district to which the waiver applies shall not be counted as service in acquiring professional teacher status or other rights under M.G.L. Chapter 71, Section 41.

Last Updated: August 8, 2006