Meeting of the Board of Regents | April 2009
Report of
REGENTS HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE
to
The Board of Regents
April 21, 2009
Your Higher Education Committee held its scheduled meeting on April 20, 2009. All members were present except for Regent Cohen, who was excused.
Consent Agenda
Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents authorize Monroe College to award the Master of Science (M.S.) degree. [HE (CA) 1]
Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approve the amendment to the master plan of the State University of New York authorizing the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome to offer the program in Biology leading to a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree. This amendment will be effective until April 30, 2010, unless the Department registers the program prior to that date, in which case master plan amendment shall be without term. [HE (CA) 2]
Action Items
Daemen College
Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents continue accreditation of Daemen College’s teacher education programs until January 9, 2013, with the following conditions:
- Each semester, starting from spring 2009, the College shall verify that all teacher education programs are in compliance with Sections 52.2(b)(1), 52.2(b)(4), 52.2(b)(5), and 52.21(b)(2)(h) of the Commissioner’s Regulations regarding faculty credentials, teaching assignment, teaching load, and sufficiency of full-time faculty.
- Annual reports shall provide evidence of 1) full integration of New York State Learning Standards into the curriculum of the undergraduate Adolescence Education programs; 2) candidates’ exposure to, and application of, effective use of technology into instruction; and 3) ongoing assessment of candidate achievement and graduate effectiveness and collection and analysis of data for program improvement for all programs, including effectiveness of teaching literacy for candidates and graduates in the Visual Arts Education program.
[HE (A) 1]
Teacher Tenure
The Committee discussed the need for an amendment to the Rules of the Board of Regents concerning the accrual of tenure for teachers who are serving in various instructional support services areas and are therefore not employed as classroom teachers at least 40 percent of the time. A recent Commissioner’s decision under Section 310 of the Education Law revealed a 34-year-old gap in the Department’s teacher tenure regulations. The regulations governing accrual of tenure in a teacher’s certificate area require that he or she be employed as a classroom teacher at least 40 percent of the time. This is a problem for those who have taken on assignments such as curriculum specialists, professional developers, and CSE committee chairs and who were not made aware that taking on these assignments would affect their tenure status or who were assigned to tenure areas that did not exist because it affects their seniority rights and their status for workforce reductions. Staff consulted extensively with interested parties including professional associations and crafted a proposed solution that would allow those affected teachers to have their service in these instructional support services areas be credited to the tenure area appropriate to their certification area. The proposed amendment also addresses, prospectively, this matter for teachers who are employed in instructional support services capacities in the future, and ensures that they will also accrue seniority in the tenure areas for which they are appropriately certified. The Committee approved the proposed amendments to the Rules of the Board of Regents as proposed.
Your Committee recommends that a new subdivision (j) be added to section 30-1.1 of the Rules of the Board of Regents; that subdivisions (b) and (c) of section 30-1.2 be renumbered to subdivisions (c) and (d), new subdivision (b) be added, and renumbered subdivision (d) be amended; that subdivision (a) of section 30-1.9 be amended, subdivisions (b) through (e) be renumbered to subdivisions (c) through (f), a new subdivision (b) be added; that paragraphs (23) through (46) of subdivision (b) of section 80-1.1 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education be renumbered to paragraphs (24) through (47) of subdivision (b), and a new paragraph (23) of subdivision (b) be added; and that a new section 80-5.21 be added, as submitted, effective May 1, 2009, as an emergency action upon a finding by the Board of Regents that such action is necessary for preservation of the general welfare in order to allow a teacher employed by a school district or BOCES to accrue tenure and seniority rights for the performance of instructional support services. [HE (A) 2]
MOTION FOR ACTION BY FULL BOARD
Mr. Chancellor and Colleagues: Your Higher Education Committee recommends, and I move, that the Board of Regents act affirmatively upon each recommendation in the written report of the Committee's deliberations at its meeting on April 21, 2009, copies of which have been distributed to each Regent.
MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION
P-16 Policy Activity Update – The Senior Deputy Commissioner provided an update and meeting times for two important groups that are examining issues related to the preparation, recruitment and retention of teachers in urban school districts. The Regents Work Group on Improving the Preparation and Retention of Teachers for Urban Education will meet on Thursday, April 23 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. As a result of this Workgroup, a subgroup comprised of teachers has been formed. They will meet on April 22 at the same location. Agendas for those two meetings were distributed to Committee members. The Committee also discussed feedback from the field on the new expedited registration process and the March 20 Assembly hearing on New York State's role in keeping community colleges affordable and accessible while assuring quality.
That concludes our report.
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Milton L. Cofield, Co-Chairperson
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Harry Phillips, 3rd, Co-Chairperson