Board approves out-of-endorsement assignments and conditional certificates; union raises concerns about certification barriers

The Franklin Pierce School Board approved staffing items on the consent/new business agendas, including out-of-endorsement teaching assignments and conditional teaching certificates, after Human Resources presented the lists and explained the purposes of each approval.

Human Resources staff said the out-of-endorsement assignments include dual-language teachers teaching courses outside a current endorsement (for example, Spanish-endorsed teachers teaching dual-language sections) and some cases where course coding requires work with OSPI to align the endorsement. The board approved the out-of-endorsement assignments unanimously.

The board then unanimously approved conditional teaching certificates listed on the attached memo. During consideration of conditional certificates, TJ Jelton of the Franklin Pierce Education Association spoke to the board. "Most of these folks are teachers of color who have challenges with passing their endorsement test," TJ said, calling for case-by-case exemptions and stronger pathways for out-of-state certificants and other candidates. "We can't keep doing this," he said, describing personnel and grievance challenges at one building.

Board president Director Sablan thanked TJ for the context and said the district has communicated with the Professional Educator Standards Board over the summer and recognized the process needed improvement. No changes to the district's immediate approvals were proposed; the board completed the votes as presented.

The board also approved routine personnel-related items including conditional certificates and out-of-endorsement approvals previously reported to the board packet.

The motions passed unanimously and staff said they would continue to engage with state-level certification partners and local stakeholders on longer-term solutions.