News

September 4, 2010

Emergency certification high in W-B

MARK GUYDISH mguydish@timesleader.com

When Wilkes-Barre Area School Board hired Renee Pizzella – the daughter of a former board president who pleaded guilty to corruption charges – as a full-time teacher in July, Superintendent Jeff Namey rigorously defended the appointment, acknowledging she had begun teaching with an emergency certification, but insisting that was “common practice” in the district.

State records show he was right. Emergency certifications are common in Wilkes-Barre Area – far more common than in most other districts.

Emergency certifications are permits issued by the state Department of Education when the need arises to fill a position but no properly certified applicant is available. Candidates must have a bachelor’s degree and meet all other certification requirements.

From the 2005-06 through the 2008-09 school years, Wilkes-Barre Area annually received more emergency certifications for teachers than nine other Luzerne County districts combined. In 2008-09, the number of Wilkes-Barre Area teachers with emergency certifications was more than double the total of those nine other districts, 52 compared to 24.

When compared to Wyoming Valley West, the next largest district in the county by enrollment, Wilkes-Barre Area is an emergency certification mecca. In 2005-06, Wilkes-Barre Area had 452 classroom teachers, and 48 emergency certifications, more than 10 emergency certification for every 100 full-time teachers. Wyoming Valley West had 300 teachers and three emergency certifications, a ration of about one for every 100. In 2008-09, Wilkes-Barre Area had 487 full-time teachers and 52 emergency certifications, while Wyoming Valley West had 313 full-time teachers and only one emergency certification.

Only Hazleton Area School District – the county’s largest and fastest-growing – has a higher ratio of emergency certifications than Wilkes-Barre Area. In the four years reviewed, Hazleton Area typically had 12 to 14 emergency certifications for every 100 full-time teachers.

Most districts lag far behind Wilkes-Barre Area in the use of emergency certifications. In 2008-09, the next highest was Lake-Lehman, with 153 teachers and seven emergency certifications, a ratio of about four emergency certifications for every 100 teachers.

Why the discrepancies? Namey pointed to two obvious differences between his district and most others: It is the second largest in the county, and it is the only one with three high schools instead of one. Sheer size means more need for emergency certifications, while the number of high schools may mean the district needs more teachers certified in specific subjects (elementary certifications are not subject-specific).
But interviews with Namey and Wyoming Valley West Superintendent Chuck Suppon show another big difference that would cause such large variations in emergency certifications: District philosophy.

“We frown on emergency certifications,” Suppon said, insisting the district goes to great lengths to avoid putting teachers with emergency certifications in classrooms.

“We post any opening in house; if we don’t get someone we advertise. We get applications from out of the area, even out of the state,” Suppon said. If advertising still doesn’t bring a satisfactory candidate, the district contacts colleges and asks for lists of potential candidates.

“We keep expanding the search until we find what we’re looking for, and if we can’t find someone, we try to put in the best person with an emergency certification, but continue to look until we get somebody.”

Suppon cited the lone emergency certification in 2008-09, when the district needed a substitute French teacher and couldn’t find one. The district decided to get an emergency certification in French for a social studies teacher working in the district who had four years of college French, and brought in a long-term substitute already certified in social studies to fill that teacher’s place. When the regular French teacher returned, the emergency certified teacher went back to teaching social studies.

Namey, on the other hand, said Wilkes-Barre Area frequently seeks emergency certification of substitute teachers to try to keep them working with the district for the whole year. “The emergency certification only applies for the district that gets it,” Namey said. A person who receives an emergency certification to teach in Wilkes-Barre Area “can’t use it to teach in another district.”

Namey said it’s also a mistake to assume that those who receive emergency certifications have no certification at all. Often the district has a substitute teacher available who is certified, but may not be certified to teach a subject where someone is needed.

Larger districts like Wilkes-Barre Area and Hazleton Area also have larger enrollments of special education students, Namey said, and each of those students must, by law, have an Individual Education Plan, or IEP. Developing those IEPs takes a teacher away from the classroom, increasing demand for substitutes. “We have weeks and weeks of IEP planning: we have to bring in substitutes for that.”

Wyoming Area Superintendent Ray Bernardi seemed to embrace Suppon’s philosophy more than Namey’s. With about 150 teachers, Wyoming Area had only one or two emergency certifications in the four years reviewed.

“If you have a tremendous need, you advertise,” Bernardi said. “There’s always someone out there.”

 

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