{"id":3025,"date":"2011-11-15T11:48:07","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T16:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=3025"},"modified":"2011-11-16T22:18:09","modified_gmt":"2011-11-17T03:18:09","slug":"hillsborough-teacher-suspended-after-objecting-to-evaluator-posts-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/11\/15\/hillsborough-teacher-suspended-after-objecting-to-evaluator-posts-emails\/","title":{"rendered":"Read the Emails Between Suspended Hillsborough Teacher and Union Officials"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/11\/5017855_evaluation_270.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3037\" title=\"5017855_evaluation_270\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/11\/5017855_evaluation_270-300x151.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/11\/5017855_evaluation_270-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/11\/5017855_evaluation_270-220x111.jpg 220w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/11\/5017855_evaluation_270.jpg 533w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>A Hillsborough County high school teacher suspended last week over his objection to a new evaluation has apparently posted his <a href=\"http:\/\/fundamentalfairness.webs.com\/emailswithhcsdandcta.htm\">emails with school and union officials online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Newsome High School teacher Joseph Thomas <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/education\/k12\/teacher-suspended-after-defying-hillsborough-school-districts-evaluation\/1201139\">objected to a peer evaluator<\/a> he believed did not have enough experience. The review is part of a new teacher evaluation system paid for with a <a href=\"http:\/\/communication.sdhc.k12.fl.us\/empoweringteachers\/?page_id=36\">$100 million Gates Foundation grant<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was informed during the EET (Evaluating Effective Teachers) orientation session last year that I would only be observed by a peer teacher that had experience in my level and field,&#8221; Thomas wrote in an email to evaluator Justin Youmans on October 7. &#8220;I thus refuse to be evaluated by any teacher who has no experience teaching Social Studies in a Hillsborough County High School.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Under the Hillsborough County system, trained colleagues observe and grade teacher performance. Youmans, 29, has taught elementary and sixth grade, according to his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sdhc.k12.fl.us\/eet\/mentors.htm\">district bio<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/08\/15\/merit-pay-could-mean-big-rewards-for-florida-teachers\/\">Merit Pay Could Mean Big Rewards for Florida Teachers<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/08\/23\/hillsborough-wins-principal-development-grant\/\">Hillsborough Wins Principal Development Grant<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/08\/03\/can-schools-depend-on-teacher-evaluations\/\">Can Schools Depend on Teacher Evaluations?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/07\/Floridateachers1-550x403-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/topic\/merit-pay\/\">Does Performance-Based Pay Have Any\u00a0Merit?<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The peer review is <a href=\"http:\/\/communication.sdhc.k12.fl.us\/empoweringteachers\/?page_id=309\">one part of the evaluation<\/a> &#8212; comprising 30 percent &#8212; of the overall score. A principal review comprises another 30 percent while student learning gains are the final 40 percent. Learning gains are determined by a statistical formula that considers testing and other data.<\/p>\n<p>School officials disagreed with Thomas that Youmans was unqualified.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mr. Youmans is certified in Social Studies K-12 and has been trained and calibrated in high school social studies classes,&#8221; wrote Stephanie Woodford, a supervisor for the teacher evaluation program. &#8220;He has passed testing and has been granted certification. Therefore, he is qualified to observe your classroom.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Union officials advised Thomas to continue through the evaluation process while discussing a new evaluator with the district.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Your apparent refusal to allow the Peer, Mr. Youmans, has certainly garnered much attention,&#8221; Chuck Kiker with the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel compelled to suggest that you allow the current peer to complete his assignment with you while this issue is being discussed. I say that with the fervent hope that we can contain our discussions (CTA and the EET Office) to peer assignment at the sites versus peripheral issues that may arise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Thomas was unbowed, arguing it is unfair that he would be evaluated by someone who has never done his job.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am aware that I am putting my career at risk here, but at this point I acknowledge that my career is in jeopardy anyway. Especially if the county is going to use such arbitrary methods to professionally evaluate me. I would appreciate any help that the union could give me in this regard, but I am aware that to some degree your hands are also tied.&#8221; Thomas wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the county does not want to treat me or my colleagues fairly than so be it. I am an 18 year veteran with a strong record of high student performance and outstanding evaluations. If the county wants to come after me then so be it. I will be glad to take this to the press.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Union officials said there is little they can do because they agreed to the evaluation system. What do you think of the dispute?<\/p>\n<p><em>Update: Suspended Hillsborough teacher Joseph Thomas is back on the job. Read about the compromise he made on the new evaluation system <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/education\/k12\/in-compromise-over-new-system-hillsborough-teacher-to-be-evaluated-by-two\/1201891\">here.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h5><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Hillsborough County high school teacher suspended last week over his objection to a new evaluation has apparently posted his emails with school and union officials online. Newsome High School teacher Joseph Thomas objected to a peer evaluator he believed did not have enough experience. The review is part of a new teacher evaluation system [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[1007,90,1016],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}