Life School Teachers,

In our on-going pursuit of aligning our goals and actions to the District Strategic Plan and our goal of becoming the Employer of Choice (1.3), we have begun the process of qualifying for the state’s new Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) program.

We value your engagement, opinions, and perspective and thus have created a District System Development Committee (DSDC) to increase stakeholder engagement. The DSDC is a group of Life School administrators, teachers, and other district-level leaders tasked with designing the district’s local optional teacher designation system. Every Life School campus is represented by at least one teacher or administrator who will serve as the TIA Ambassador for their campus.

Our DSDC has held two meetings in recent weeks. Since the first meeting, the team of 27 members has been broken down into subcommittees focused on: spending and funding, scoring rubric development, determination of the student growth component, teacher observations, stakeholder engagement, and communications.

During the meeting, each subcommittee was given the opportunity to share their goals and progress. A few of the topics discussed were:

Spending & Funding

• Should the allotment be eligible for TRS? If so, what avenues do we need to explore to be able to do so?
• How much compensation will be allocated?
• When/how frequently will teachers be compensated? (i.e monthly, bi-annual, annual)?

 We will seek input and feedback from the teachers on the items above.

Stakeholder Engagement

• The importance of having relevant information to share with stakeholders and keeping everyone informed was emphasized.
• What mechanisms do we use to keep teachers updated with critical information?

Student Growth

• Explored the various methods allowable under TIA and narrowed down to two methods that serve the best interest of teachers and the district.

* We will seek input and feedback from the teachers on the two methods.

Scoring Rubric

• Explored the options for the weights under the TIA designation system.
• The determination was made that only the two required components would be used, student
• growth and teacher performance.
• Work was done on creating a weighted rubric factoring in the two components to designate who would qualify under the TIA local designation system.

Teacher Observation

• Methods and strategies were discussed to ensure calibration across campuses and the district.
• The importance of all rating practices should be fair and equitable across the district was emphasized.
• An additional factor will be discussed related to teachers maintaining observation levels year-to-year because the certification is good for 5 years.

Communication

• Using diversified methods of communication will be important to ensure employees have access to important information in addition to being able to provide feedback and ask questions.
• The creation of static and dynamic places for information will be essential for staff to stay up to date throughout the process.

As we continue to explore this program we will provide opportunities for teachers to learn more about the TIA program and provide feedback.

For more information or any questions, please contact your campus TIA Ambassador.

Sincerely,

Life School DSDC Committee Members

• Alissa Russell-LSOCS
• Devonne Hutson-LSCO
• Jolie Bishop-LSL
• Megan Beck-LSCO
• Ana Cardona-LMSW
• Dewayne Volentine-LSOCS
• Joy Shepherd-LSCO
• Megan Rollins-LSMC
• Ann Glasco-LSCH
• Isabel Green-LSOCE
• Kelli Whicker-LSRO
• Scott Fuller-LSCO
• Bryan Craun-LSOCS
• Jenna Evans-LSC
• Kim Riepe-LSCO
• Stephanie Colwell-LSCO
• Casey Ballard-LSCO
• Jenna Ruebman-LSL
• La Rosa Barnes-LSOCE
• Stephanie Wolf-LSCO
• Dana Johnson-LSOCS
• Jennifer Villavaso-LSC
• Lee Coleman-LHSW
• Timothy McInvale-LSOCS
• Danielle Dillard-LSRO
• Jessica Barlow-LMSW
• Malissa Allen-LSCH

Thank you for your resilience and perseverance as we continue to work to provide effective and meaningful educational opportunities for our students. Teachers and staff are being challenged like never before and we are thankful to have such an amazing team that continues to rise to the challenge, day after day.

Dear Staff, Every employee is responsible for taking action to make Life School an even better place to work––completing the employee engagement survey is a crucial step towards key organizational development and change. Your survey responses are entirely anonymous. Gallup will receive all results and will report overall scores at the workgroup, campus, and organization-wide levels. No reports will have either information about individual employees or information that enables a manager to determine individual responses.

Life School has prepared an infographic to help explain the district's response to House Bill 3.