Re-Elect Sarah Stevens for House
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Stevens co-sponsors safe schools act
In the past, problem teachers facing dismissal have been able to move on to another school system while leaving their baggage behind — but that’s changing, thanks to legislation backed by a Surry County lawmaker.
Rep. Sarah Stevens was among four primary sponsors of the “Safe Schools Act,” which is aimed at protecting students, parents, teachers, principals and school superintendents. It will place an automatic flag on teachers’ records if they try to resign after a superintendent recommends their firing to the school board.
“It’s happened a couple of times here,” Stevens said of cases in Surry County where a previously allowed loophole has caused problems with teachers being able to remain in the classroom. However, she was quick to add that only a tiny percentage of educators have fit that negative mold and most are dedicated professionals.
House Bill 1377, which won passage during the recent short session of the N.C. General Assembly, will protect children by not allowing those employees who commit conduct worthy of dismissal to resign and apply to another school district without review.
Closing The Loophole
The legislation sets forth clear parameters for educators, including administrators, who resign without the consent of the superintendent, “so we won’t pass these people on,” Stevens said.
Too often in the past, teachers and other personnel who were being recommended for dismissal due to misconduct would resign at the last stage of the process. According to Stevens, the law allowed an employee recommended for firing to resign at any point during a dismissal procedure covering 30 pages, which superintendents must comply with when employees are being fired.
Such principals, teachers and administrators would apply to another school district and sometimes be hired because their record did not reflect the events of their recommended dismissal, Stevens said.
This loophole has enabled problem educators to subvert the system, undermining the effects of diligent reference checks and an existing database of fired teachers.
But the new Safe Schools Act closes the loophole by requiring superintendents to report that a school employee resigned without the consent of the superintendent to the state Board of Education. It controls the licensing process for North Carolina teachers, whose certificates will be jeopardized by a resignation under the new legislation that strengthens existing rules on that issue.
“This is about sunshine,” said Rep. Dale Folwell of Winston-Salem, another co-sponsor of the bill, who along with Stevens is a Republican. He says it will restore citizen confidence in government.
Folwell said Stevens provided a unique vantage point as the measure progressed through the Legislature, where it eventually passed both the House of Representatives and Senate unanimously.
“She was the only attorney of the four primary sponsors,” Folwell said of Stevens, who practices law in Mount Airy. “So that was very valuable to us.” He explained that the expertise supplied by the local lawmaker was instrumental in the passage of a bill that addresses all legal issues while offering additional safeguards against problem teachers.
Support By
School Groups
The bill, which reflected input from both small and large school systems, was endorsed by the North Carolina School Boards Association, state Department of Public Instruction and North Carolina Association of School Administrators. Additional support came from the Professional Educators of North Carolina and North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE).
A spokesman for the latter group, which represents about 65,000 teachers, believes the new legislation strikes a balance between the need for openness and teachers’ right to due process, according to one published report.
The changes initially drew resistance from the NCAE, but it endorsed the bill after negotiations.
Folwell believes the legislation will stop situations in which teachers have committed bad acts and simply migrate to another district. “The important thing is, school superintendents never knew what to say,” he added of cases involving problem educators.
Read more: Mount Airy News - Stevens co sponsors safe schools act
In the past, problem teachers facing dismissal have been able to move on to another school system while leaving their baggage behind — but that’s changing, thanks to legislation backed by a Surry County lawmaker.
Rep. Sarah Stevens was among four primary sponsors of the “Safe Schools Act,” which is aimed at protecting students, parents, teachers, principals and school superintendents. It will place an automatic flag on teachers’ records if they try to resign after a superintendent recommends their firing to the school board.
“It’s happened a couple of times here,” Stevens said of cases in Surry County where a previously allowed loophole has caused problems with teachers being able to remain in the classroom. However, she was quick to add that only a tiny percentage of educators have fit that negative mold and most are dedicated professionals.
House Bill 1377, which won passage during the recent short session of the N.C. General Assembly, will protect children by not allowing those employees who commit conduct worthy of dismissal to resign and apply to another school district without review.
Closing The Loophole
The legislation sets forth clear parameters for educators, including administrators, who resign without the consent of the superintendent, “so we won’t pass these people on,” Stevens said.
Too often in the past, teachers and other personnel who were being recommended for dismissal due to misconduct would resign at the last stage of the process. According to Stevens, the law allowed an employee recommended for firing to resign at any point during a dismissal procedure covering 30 pages, which superintendents must comply with when employees are being fired.
Such principals, teachers and administrators would apply to another school district and sometimes be hired because their record did not reflect the events of their recommended dismissal, Stevens said.
This loophole has enabled problem educators to subvert the system, undermining the effects of diligent reference checks and an existing database of fired teachers.
But the new Safe Schools Act closes the loophole by requiring superintendents to report that a school employee resigned without the consent of the superintendent to the state Board of Education. It controls the licensing process for North Carolina teachers, whose certificates will be jeopardized by a resignation under the new legislation that strengthens existing rules on that issue.
“This is about sunshine,” said Rep. Dale Folwell of Winston-Salem, another co-sponsor of the bill, who along with Stevens is a Republican. He says it will restore citizen confidence in government.
Folwell said Stevens provided a unique vantage point as the measure progressed through the Legislature, where it eventually passed both the House of Representatives and Senate unanimously.
“She was the only attorney of the four primary sponsors,” Folwell said of Stevens, who practices law in Mount Airy. “So that was very valuable to us.” He explained that the expertise supplied by the local lawmaker was instrumental in the passage of a bill that addresses all legal issues while offering additional safeguards against problem teachers.
Support By
School Groups
The bill, which reflected input from both small and large school systems, was endorsed by the North Carolina School Boards Association, state Department of Public Instruction and North Carolina Association of School Administrators. Additional support came from the Professional Educators of North Carolina and North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE).
A spokesman for the latter group, which represents about 65,000 teachers, believes the new legislation strikes a balance between the need for openness and teachers’ right to due process, according to one published report.
The changes initially drew resistance from the NCAE, but it endorsed the bill after negotiations.
Folwell believes the legislation will stop situations in which teachers have committed bad acts and simply migrate to another district. “The important thing is, school superintendents never knew what to say,” he added of cases involving problem educators.
Read more: Mount Airy News - Stevens co sponsors safe schools act
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