Parents’ Right To Know

Under the ESSA federal law, parents and guardians may request information regarding the professional qualifications of their students’ classroom teachers and paraprofessionals. Please contact the Perry County School District 32 human resources administrative assistant Julie Wibbenmeyer at jwibbenmeyer@pcsd32.com to request this information

You have a right to request the following:

• Whether the student’s teacher has met state

  qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels

  and subject areas in which the teacher provides

  instruction.

• Whether the student’s teacher is teaching under

  emergency or other provisional status through which

  state qualification or licensing criteria have been

  waived.

• Whether the teacher is teaching in a field or

  discipline of the certification of the teacher.

• Whether the student is provided services by

  paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

In addition to the information that parents may request, a building receiving Title 1A funds must provide to each individual parent:

• Information on the level of achievement and academic growth of your student, if applicable and available, on each of the State academic assessments required under Title 1A.

• Timely notice that your student has been assigned, or has been taught for 4 or more consecutive weeks, by a teacher who has not met applicable State certification or licensure requirements at the grade level and subject area which the teacher has been assigned.

LETTER TO PARENTS

HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHER INFORMATION

Dear Parent/Guardian:

We at Perry County School District 32 are sending you this information as one way to fulfill our obligations under the “Parents’ Right to Know” requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Under these requirements, teachers must meet general qualifications as well as the specific requirements of the subject they are teaching. This means we will be informing parents whenever a child is taught for four consecutive weeks by a teacher who does not meet the new federal definition of “Highly Qualified”.

At District 32, we are extremely proud of our teaching staff. We work hard to assure that every class has a teacher with the appropriate background, experience, and credentials for his or her current teaching assignment.

We believe that a caring, competent, and qualified teacher for every child is the most important ingredient in education reform, and we want to assure you that we consider all our teachers to be fully qualified for their positions. All of our teachers are currently entitled to teach under Missouri’s strict certification requirements. All of our teachers have college degrees and many have advanced degrees. Our vocational educators are all certified by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In addition, every teacher continues his or her own learning through professional development activities and our teachers are evaluated each year to make sure that their teaching skills remain at the highest possible level.

Most teachers already meet the federal definition of “Highly Qualified.” Those teachers who do not meet this federal standard will be able to do so by engaging in additional professional development or by passing a test.

Additional information on the NCLB Act, as well as on the qualifications of your child’s teacher is available on request. Please contact Assistant Superintendent Jeanie White at 573-547-7500, Ext. 328 if you have questions or would like further information. Working with parents is an important aspect of our efforts to help students learn and we welcome your interest.

Sincerely,

Andy Comstock

Superintendent of Schools