The House Education Committee met today and acted on the following legislation.
HB 8 was amended in Committee. The amended bill would allow school boards to employ certain honorably discharged veterans of the Armed Forces with at least 10 years active duty experience to serve as armed school security officers. The amended bill was reported on a vote of 12-10.
HB 9 Permits each school board to extend for up to two additional years the three-year probationary term of service that is required for each teacher in the school division before the issuance of a continuing contract and prohibits each school board from reemploying a teacher whose performance evaluation during such probationary period is not satisfactory. The bill provides that, for the purpose of the dismissal of a teacher for cause, the term "incompetency" may be construed to include consistent failure to meet the endorsement requirements for the position or one or more unsatisfactory performance evaluations. The bill also eliminates the option for a school board to conduct a teacher dismissal hearing before a three-member fact-finding panel, requires each such hearing to be set no later than 15 days after the request for the hearing, and reduces from 10 days to five days the minimum period of advance written notice to the teacher of the time and place of such hearing. The bill was reported 12-10.
