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La Crosse Superintendent Advocates for Flexibility
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 13, 2020
La Crosse Superintendent Aaron Engel sent a great appeal to legislators for statutory flexibility. Check it out below!
“Recently some members of our State government sent a letter to superintendents asking that schools reopen for in-person instruction. In response, I ask that the State Legislature take action to make in-person instruction possible.
Attached is a list of common-sense actions the State Legislature can take to give schools the statutory flexibility we need to successfully reopen schools. If you call a special session, and act on these items, we will be able to safely return for in-person instruction sooner than we would otherwise.
I would like to highlight how two of the measures directly impact our ability to reopen.
Broad Flexibility in Teacher and Professional Staff Licensure – We have created a virtual school in order to accommodate families who cannot safely send their students to school due to medical concerns. In order to adequately staff this virtual school we need flexibility in licensing to allow teachers outside their natural license range to teach in an online environment. For those teachers that remain teaching in-person, we also need license flexibility to assign teachers where they are needed. Without this flexibility we are severely limited in our ability to provide in-person instruction.
Retired Teachers/Staff Returning to Work – We were facing a teacher shortage before the pandemic. It is worse now as additional teachers decide to retire early out of legitimate medical concerns. Some of our retired teachers are able and want to teach after they have retired but are limited by the restrictions WRS places on them. Lift this requirement, at least temporarily, and we will be able to fill positions that are currently unfilled. With these additional teachers available to us, we will be able to provide in-person instruction.
Please do your part to provide solutions to the problems we face in reopening schools for in-person instruction. Thank you for your consideration.”
Great job Aaron! Many thanks!
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