The Local Professional Development Committee has become the Professional Development Certification Committee to better reflect changes to the teacher recertification process. Teachers will now submit recertification paperwork directly to the Regional Office of Education rather than through both the committee and regional office. The committee will still provide assistance to teachers with recertification. Senate Bill 7 establishes new procedures for reductions in staff, referred to as layoffs. It requires the formation of a joint committee between the school board and union to determine staffing categories and priorities for layoffs. The Performance Evaluation Reform Act implements a new teacher evaluation system incorporating student growth measures alongside traditional evaluations. It requires training for all evaluators and the establishment of categories for teacher performance levels by

1. WOODLAND UNITED
V O L U M E 1 0 I S S U E 1 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1
LPDC Becomes PDCC
INSIDE The Local Professional Development Committee has become the
T HI S Professional Development Certification Committee. The change in the
I S S UE : committee’s name reflects a slight change in the recertification
process. Instead of having to submit your Statement of Assurance to
the former LPDC and having them approve it before being sent onto
the Regional Office of Education (ROE) for their approval, now you
LPDC 1 will submit your Statement of Assurance directly to the ROE for their
Becomes approval. The Statement of Assurance, for your reference, is the final
PDCC electronic document one submits after he/she has entered all of the
appropriate CPDUs or coursework into ISBE’s online Educator
Senate 2 Certification System. Since the ROE can handle this function, the
Bill 7 need for the LPDC was not as strong. But the need for the staff to get
assistance with the recertification process is still present, which is why
the PDCC was put in place. This committee, which includes one
PERA 3
member from each building, allows the staff to continue to have a
colleague in their building in addition to the Human Resource
Health 4 Department to help them with the recertification process. Each of the
Insurance members on the PDCC previously served on the LPDC, so they are
Committee
very knowledgeable and will be a great resource for any staff member
who certification needs to be renewed in the future. The committee
members along with their respective building are Katie Jones –
Primary, Linda Ufheil – Elementary West, Kerry Winston –
Elementary East, Jeri Steele – Intermediate, and Jackie Beegun –
Middle School.

2. PAGE 2
Legislative Update - Senate Bill 7
This bill, effective this year, establishes new Reduction in Force
(RIF) and recall procedures. The bill will also change the
terminology used, as the reduction in force will be referred to as
layoffs or honorable dismissals. The terms will be able to be
used interchangeably and can include the honorable dismissal of
tenured or non-tenured teachers. The first step is the
categorization of teachers. The school district must categorize
each teacher into one or more positions for which the teacher is
legally qualified to hold and any other qualifications established
by the district in a job description that may exist. This list must
“committee
be completed no later than May 10 of any school year prior to a
must be school year during which a layoff might occur. A joint
established committee composed of equal numbers of representatives
and meet selected by the school board and the Union must be established.
The committee must be established and meet for the first time on
for the first or before December 1, 2011 in the initial year of the law. In the
time on or initial year of the law, as well as the subsequent years, this joint
before committee’s work is required to be completed by February 1 in
order for the agreement of the joint committee to apply to the
December 1,
sequence of dismissal determined during that school year.
2011” Subject to the February 1 deadline for agreements, any
agreement made by the joint committee remain in effect until
amended or terminated by the joint committee. Also, within
each position and subject to the agreements made by the joint
committee on layoffs by February 1 of each school year, the
school district must establish four grouping of teachers qualified
to hold positions. In the end, the district must, in consultation
with the Union, provide an honorable dismissal list categorized
by positions and four groupings. Copies of this list must be
distributed to the Union at least 75 days before the end of the
school year. The groups will be partially determined by a
teacher’s performance evaluation. An edition of Woodland
United focusing on the new laws will include information on the
four groups and the procedure for honorable dismissals will be
published in the next month.
WOODLAND UNITED

3. PAGE 3
Performance Evaluation Reform Act - PERA
This legislation put evaluators by recommendations
into place a new September 1, 2012. for the Illinois State
teacher evaluation The training shall be Board of Education
system that provided or (ISBE) on rules,
incorporates approved by ISBE. default models, and
measures of student PERA also requires state supports for the
“incorporates growth along with the establishment of new evaluation
measures of the traditional a Union/ system. The council
student professional administration includes three
practice. The most committee to subcommittees that
growth” immediate negotiate the use of meet between the
application of the data as part of the monthly PEAC
new legislation is incorporation of meetings. The
the requirement of 4 student growth subcommittees are
rating categories by measures. One for the teacher
September 1, 2012. important part of evaluation design,
The four rating PERA that must be principal evaluation
categories will be kept in mind is that design, and
excellent, proficient, the inclusion of evaluator training,
needs improvement, student growth in a prequalification and
and unsatisfactory. teacher’s evaluation support. More
The district and won’t be information
Union will be implemented until regarding PEAC and
working to September 1, 2016. it’s
incorporate these Between now and recommendations to
new rating then many of the ISBE can be found
categories into our preliminary ideas at http://
current rating regarding this www.isbe.net/peac/.
categories important new More information on
(excellent, aspect of a teacher’s the new rating
satisfactory, and evaluation will categories will be
unsatisfactory). finalized. The included in the same
Another important Performance edition of Woodland
component of PERA Evaluation Advisory United that focuses
is the required Council (PEAC) has on the groups for
evaluator training been meeting since honorable dismissals
and pre- May of 2010 to outlined in Senate
qualifications for all create Bill 7.
WOODLAND UNITED

4. VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1 PAGE 4
Health Insurance Committee
The joint committee comprised of Union and Administration
representatives has been established and held their first monthly meeting
on September 27th. The first meeting was productive as each member
introduced themselves along with their reasons for serving on the
committee. An overview of the current cooperative, Educational
Benefits Cooperative (EBC), the district belongs to was provided. The
district is in the first year of a 3-year membership. The cooperative
provides the district with some cost leverage for purchasing benefits and
allows the district to control the plan of benefits. Our current insurance
vendors are Blue Cross Blue Shield (PPO/HMO), Medco for
prescription, MetLife for dental, Reliance for life, and Discovery for
COBRA and Wellness. The goals of the
committee were also d i s cu ss ed . Th e
preliminary goals seem to be 1) gaining a better
understanding of our current benefits and to
pass that information along to the staff 2)
explore other options that would meet the
staff & district’s needs. The committee is also
looking to create a survey for the staff
regarding insurance. The administrative
members of the committee are Bob
Leonard, Kim Burke, Scott Snyder, Holly
Collin, David Brown, and Marianne Porreca. The Union members of the
committee along with their respective building are Tracy Mann and
Claudia from Middle School, Nicole Cooper and Bridget Hengels from
Intermediate, Elissa Barnabee and Ann Tussing from Elementary West,
Irena Hamadeh and Carrie Cross from Elementary East, Robin Payne
and Kathy Novak from Primary, and Julie Lucarelli from Transportation.
The Union’s Vice Presidents, Sharon Anday and Leslie Newman, and
Union President, Peter Lasko are also part of the committee. If you have
specific concerns or questions you would like to see the committee
address, please pass them along to one of the committee members.