Please contact your Delegate TODAY and urge him or her to VOTE NO on SB377.
SB377 (Bell) will reinstate the three-member fact finding panel for teacher grievances and it will also eliminate the fifteen-day time period for scheduling grievance hearings. The problem with this bill is that, with no timeframe for setting the hearing, the teacher and their representative can delay the grievance process for weeks and even months. (This is, in fact what used to happen and was one of the main reasons for the changes that were made to the grievance procedure several years ago.)
SB377 erodes a local school board’s ability to resolve teacher grievances in a prompt manner. This unnecessary legislation will lead to costly and prolonged legal proceedings for school boards seeking to remove ineffective teachers, during which students are most often being taught by long-term substitutes.
The current grievance procedure is designed to provide ample due process to teachers while also ensuring each of our students have an effective teacher in the classroom. SB377 will prevent the swift resolution of grievances, while benefiting ineffective teachers and their lawyers to the detriment of our students.
Please ask your Delegate to VOTE NO on SB377.
Here is a link to find your Delegate: https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/
Here is a link to the bill: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB377
