VEA Protests Bills Passed by General Assembly « PWC Education Reform Blog

VEA Protests Bills Passed by General Assembly « PWC Education Reform Blog:

VEA Protests Bills Passed by General Assembly

February 14, 2012 — pwceducationreform

The VEA has sent out a flyer asking teachers to wear black on Friday Feb 17 2012 to protest what they claim is a “lack of commitment to public education and loss of respect accorded teachers by our elected officials.“ (see 2012BlackFridayFlyer).

So what terrible, horrible, awful, no good, very bad things has the VA General Assembly done to cause this uproar?

Several things, actually.

(1) The House has passed HB 576 “relating to public schools; teacher contract and evaluation policies.“ The bill has been read on the Senate floor and is currently hanging out in the Senate Education Sub-Committee awaiting debate.

What does this bill do?

Changes for Principals and Assistant Principals.

Increased their probationary period from 3 to 5 years, except for Principals who were previously teachers. For Principals who