Day 2 of the conference had a lot more to do with the business of the PSBA than Day 1.
During the morning session the PSBA adopted its Legislative Platform for 2009. One of the things the PSBA is good at is lobbying. Each year the organization adopts a number of platforms that it will try to advance through its lobbying efforts. Day 2 of the conference involved discussion surrounding the inclusion or exclusion of certain topics to this platform.
Here are some highlights of the adopted 2009 PSBA Platform:
1) Under Buildings and Construction- The PSBA support legislation that provides school districts with the same options for school construction and/or renovation projects that are available to te private sector. This includes relief from the Prevailing Wage Act and Separations Act ... and the opportunity for school districts to contract with a single firm to design and build school facilities.
2) Under Educational Programs and Assessment- The PSBA opposes any effort to reduce or remove the authority of local school districts to establish graduation requirements
3) Under School Governance- The PSBA supports legislation calling for the nonpartisan election of school directors.
4) Under Federal Issues- The PSBA support efforts that allow local decision making and flexibility to better serve students in implementation of the No Childe Left Vehind Act and the IDEA.
Sounds boring, right? Actually, this platform is probably the most important part of what PSBA does in my opinion. The PSBA's opposition to the statewide Graduation Assessment was instrumental in getting that program blocked this year. The PSBA was also instrumental in securing higher minimum State school funding in this past budget. That effort resulted in MTLSD receiving a 3% minimum increase in State funding as opposed to the orignally proposed 1.5%.
After that part of the conference I was ready for some real fun. I decided it was time to dig deeper into Pennsylvania's Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators. This session was dedicated to reviewing how school district employees are responsible for behaving within some ethical guidelines set by this organization. The Professional Standards and Practices Commission put this seminar on and it was interesting to learn how they operate and what they do. Mt. Lebanon had a recent, very public case that was before the commission. Under certain circumstances the PSPC has the ability to revoke the certificate of those that violate the standards of the organization.
The lunch break came and I attended the vendor showcase in the Great American Hall. I will share the information gleaned from this part of the conference at another time.
After lunch I attended a session that reviewed recent case law that will have an effect on how all school districts operate in Pennsylvania. We reviewed the effect that even some local cases will have on our District. You may remember a case in northern Allegheny County where a student decided to put up a web page that was insulting to an employee in the school district. There was a similar case in Central PA where a student started a Facebook page mocking a school principal. The outcome of each case was very different. School Districts need to find out how to operate in an environment with laws that seem to contradict. There was another case where a student reported to a teacher that another student had drugs on her. The teacher reported to the vice-principal this information and the vice-principal then found the suspected student on campus. He brought the student to the office, had her empty her pockets and sure enough, the evidence was found. The case against this student was later deemed to be inappropriate search and seizure and there was no action that the District could take under these circumstances. We learned how to protect our rights in this instance so that if we are faced with a similar case we would be able to properly move forward without violating the Constitution.
Later in the afternoon there was a PSBA business meeting that dealt with the election of new officers to their positions.
That's all for now.
Thanks for reading.
James
