Cobb BOE to Vote on Teach for America at Upcoming Board Meeting

After the Cobb County Board of Education’s discussion about Teach for America, Cobb Schools Superintendent Michael Hinojosa committed to presenting a recommendation to the board next week.

The board agreed that TFA can be allowed in South Cobb schools if four stipulations are met:

• Principals will have full autonomy over hiring teachers for their schools.
• TFA teachers can displace no Cobb teachers.
• TFA teachers will be evaluated against an established set of metrics.
• No more than 25 TFA teachers can be hired for FY 2014.

Cobb BOE Vice Chairman David Morgan, who represents South Cobb schools, said, “I was happy that Teach for America was back on the agenda. It would give us the opportunity to have some of the best and brightest standing in front of them (South Cobb students) to add to some of the great teachers we already have in that area.”

Hinojosa will submit his recommendation to the board, including the four stipulations, for a vote at its next meeting. If the item passes, Hinojosa will be able to begin fundraising to pay the $2,000 fee needed for each TFA teacher’s two-year commitment.

The $2,000 pays for ongoing, intense training and coaching of each teacher in the specialized program.

The proposal to bring in 50 TFA teachers to South Cobb for the upcoming year was pulled in January before a board vote. Hinojosa said he requested the item be pulled from the agenda because he felt the timing was wrong. At the time, the district was considering elimination of 350 teaching positions. Now, those jobs have been eliminated through attrition.

Board member Kathleen Angelucci questioned why the proposal was back on the table after being pulled in January.

Angelucci said the proposal was initially yanked because the superintendent felt that he did not have the support, and she questioned what changed in the three-month period for the proposal to resurface.

Cobb BOE Chairman Scott Sweeney answered that Hinojosa said he planned to bring the item up again for another fiscal year, which is what they were doing.

Angelucci then asked if there had been any discussions between board members before the meeting.

All board members responded that there had been no discussion.

“None, Mr. Morgan?” Angelucci asked.

“None,” he answered.

Hinojosa said he wanted to get authorization from the board to begin fundraising and “didn’t want to do anything behind the board’s back.”

The board members each expressed their views about the program and its possible impact on the achievement gap in South Cobb.

For Board member Alison Bartlett, the vehicle for those with backgrounds in critical subjects, but who lack teaching degrees, is already available. She knows because she took that route. She has an engineering background, but decided to go into teaching at a later point in her life, earing a teaching certificate.

Bartlett also said she feels the timing is still off to bring in TFA teachers when the district is facing a $40 million deficit and will “probably end up cutting another 300 or 400 teaching jobs next year.”

Stultz agreed that, although he believes TFA can help in closing the achievement gap in South Cobb, the timing is wrong as the district continues to “lose human capital.”

Sweeney asked what was wrong with adding more applicants to the talent pool when the principals would have the final say on who would teach at their schools.

Angelucci said, ““I feel like this is a slap in the face to them (Cobb teachers) ….I’m not in favor of any of this.”

However, board members Lynnda Crowder-Eagle and David Banks were more open to considering TFA if it would help close the achievement gap and was something parents in South Cobb wanted. Although both of them said they could only support the proposal if the four caveats are followed.

Banks said, “I think we need to stay focused on what we’re trying to accomplish and that is to close the achivement gap. The superintendent has brought forth the option of how we could possibly close that achievement gap. Currently, we have not been able to do so.  But if this is a viable option, and all indications are that it is, and we’ve already laid out some pretty stringent criteria of how this process and how this option would be put in place, I think to continue to debate it is not going to accomplish much.”