10. Human Resources
a. Demonstrate knowledge of effective personnel recruitment, selection and retention
b. Demonstrate an understanding of staff development to improve performance of staff members c. Demonstrate the ability to select and apply appropriate models for supervision and evaluation d. Apply legal requirements for personal selection, development retention and dismissal e. Demonstrate and understanding of management responsibilities to act in accordance with federal and state constitutional provisions, statutory and case law, regulatory applications toward education, local rules, procedures and directives governing resource management f. Demonstrate an understanding of labor relations and collective bargaining g. Demonstrate and understand the administration of employee contracts, benefits and financial accounts |
Principal leadership in the area of human resources (HR) plays an essential role in hiring and retaining talented staff, maintaining a positive school climate, and creating a dedication to continuous improvement. Principals must understand their responsibilities in working with the HR department or on their own for hiring, firing, and reporting data related to their staff, as well as reporting data for operational statutes such as Title I, Title III, and Special Education. Furthermore, principals must understand provisions in Master Contracts for their various staff members related to scheduling, over time, and leave approval.
For the past three teacher contract agreements, I have served as a negotiator. This experience has given me an in-depth understanding of employment contracts and issues that can arise related to contracts. Through this experience, I have also gained knowledge related to the process of collective bargaining and its effects on various stakeholders. With a team of four-five other negotiators, I have researched issues and prepared proposals for the negotiations process (Artifact 1).
While most HR work is based on processes and procedures that do not directly affect students, staff development and teacher evaluation have a closer link to students. The 2014 Minnesota Teacher Evaluation Statute (122A.41) requires schools to have a plan in place for probationary and non-probationary teacher evaluation. This plan includes multiple measures including standardized assessments and student engagement. Because of this law, principals may have more extensive responsibilities in the area of teacher evaluation. With this better understanding of teacher proficiency, principals and staff development administrators should be able to more purposefully plan staff development.
Staff development has been a passion of mine since the beginning of my career. My very first day of teaching, I presented to the district teaching staff about a new student software option. Since then, I have been involved in staff development and teacher evaluation at the building and district levels, serving for more than twelve years on staff development committees. I attended the yearlong Teachers As Learners and Leaders trainings sponsored by Education Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Education, cognitive coaching training, and many seminars and meetings related to Minnesota’s Q Comp initiative.
Currently, I serve as the Q Comp coordinator, and I am responsible for providing training and facilitation for our district’s peer observation, individual teacher and site level goal setting, and professional learning community (PLC) program. I served as the primary author and core committee leader of the original 2011 Q Comp Plan and have maintained that role through three Plan changes. I have provided initial training to 50+ peer observers on our district Q Comp Observation Rubric, observation techniques, and inter-rater reliability (Artifact 2).
For 2015, I redesigned the PLC format, aligning it better to Rick and Rebecca DuFour’s PLC model. After four years of specific, directed work in PLC’s, this year groups and individuals are able to write their own work plans based on data defined needs, being sure to work in three required work streams annually: 1) curriculum and instruction, 2) assessment, 3) acceleration and intervention (Artifact 3).
Principals have a responsibility to ethically follow through on responsibilities related to human resources. Many times, those responsibilities must be aligned to contracts, procedures, or statutes. Principals have an imperative obligation to continually build teachers’ repertoire of skills in order to attain consistent student growth. As a principal, I will remain an advocate for teacher growth and development, as I address required HR tasks.
For the past three teacher contract agreements, I have served as a negotiator. This experience has given me an in-depth understanding of employment contracts and issues that can arise related to contracts. Through this experience, I have also gained knowledge related to the process of collective bargaining and its effects on various stakeholders. With a team of four-five other negotiators, I have researched issues and prepared proposals for the negotiations process (Artifact 1).
While most HR work is based on processes and procedures that do not directly affect students, staff development and teacher evaluation have a closer link to students. The 2014 Minnesota Teacher Evaluation Statute (122A.41) requires schools to have a plan in place for probationary and non-probationary teacher evaluation. This plan includes multiple measures including standardized assessments and student engagement. Because of this law, principals may have more extensive responsibilities in the area of teacher evaluation. With this better understanding of teacher proficiency, principals and staff development administrators should be able to more purposefully plan staff development.
Staff development has been a passion of mine since the beginning of my career. My very first day of teaching, I presented to the district teaching staff about a new student software option. Since then, I have been involved in staff development and teacher evaluation at the building and district levels, serving for more than twelve years on staff development committees. I attended the yearlong Teachers As Learners and Leaders trainings sponsored by Education Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Education, cognitive coaching training, and many seminars and meetings related to Minnesota’s Q Comp initiative.
Currently, I serve as the Q Comp coordinator, and I am responsible for providing training and facilitation for our district’s peer observation, individual teacher and site level goal setting, and professional learning community (PLC) program. I served as the primary author and core committee leader of the original 2011 Q Comp Plan and have maintained that role through three Plan changes. I have provided initial training to 50+ peer observers on our district Q Comp Observation Rubric, observation techniques, and inter-rater reliability (Artifact 2).
For 2015, I redesigned the PLC format, aligning it better to Rick and Rebecca DuFour’s PLC model. After four years of specific, directed work in PLC’s, this year groups and individuals are able to write their own work plans based on data defined needs, being sure to work in three required work streams annually: 1) curriculum and instruction, 2) assessment, 3) acceleration and intervention (Artifact 3).
Principals have a responsibility to ethically follow through on responsibilities related to human resources. Many times, those responsibilities must be aligned to contracts, procedures, or statutes. Principals have an imperative obligation to continually build teachers’ repertoire of skills in order to attain consistent student growth. As a principal, I will remain an advocate for teacher growth and development, as I address required HR tasks.