A new decision from Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott adds clarity to the issue of how much is enough assault leave. TEC 22.003(b) entitles employees who have been assaulted to “the number of days of leave necessary to recuperate from all physical injuries sustained as a result of the assault.” In the case of Harper vs. North East ISD, a teacher appealed the district’s decision to deny her further assault leave after doctors released the teacher to return to work with restrictions. NEISD had granted Harper’s initial request for 20 days of assault leave. After this period, doctors said she could return to work with lifting restrictions. The district agreed to accommodate these restrictions. Harper did not return to work for four more days and the district denied those additional days.
The commissioner held that the term “recuperate” means to recover health or strength from all physical injuries. Furthermore, the commissioner held that an employee is entitled to additional days of leave beyond that only if: (1) the job could not be done because of the injury; (2) returning to work would worsen an injury; or (3) additional days would facilitate the healing process. In Harper’s case, there was no evidence that she could not perform her job, that returning to work would worsen her injuries, or that additional leave would facilitate healing. Therefore, the commissioner denied the appeal.
Harper v. North East Indep. Sch. Dist., Tex. Comm’r of Educ. Decision No. 005-R10-0906 (March 5, 2009).
More than 60 current and former employees of Irving ISD have had their identities stolen and thousands more are at risk. Pat Lamb, the school district’s security director, said identity thieves likely got critical personal information on employees from an old benefits report that somehow ended up in the trash. Thieves have used the names and Social Security numbers of Irving ISD employees from that school year to makes thousands of dollars in purchases.
The Irving police, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Marshals are all investigating. Thus far one person has been charged and a second person linked to the case has been arrested.
Irving ISD plans to offer free credit monitoring to the 3,400 current and former employees whose names were on the list. District leaders will also meet with victims individually to consider compensating them for their estimated damages, including days missed while clearing up credit issues.
Administrators will also take action to improve the district’s records management system, redoubling their efforts to ensure that printed materials are disposed of properly and hiring a new full-time records manager. The district will also consider installing security cameras in the rooms where records are stored.
—“Identity thieves got data on 3,400 employees, Irving school district says,” by Katherine Leal Unmuth, The Dallas Morning News, April 13, 2009.
—“Free credit checks to be offered for Irving school district ID theft victims,” by Katherine Leal Unmuth, The Dallas Morning News, May 7, 2009.
A study of job growth across the U.S. shows that in this down economy, many Texas cities are still among the better places to find a job. That said, the study’s authors were tempted to refrain from referring to cities that made the rankings as the “best” places for jobs, suggesting that “least worst” might be more appropriate.
Texas dominated job growth in 2008 in the Metropolitan Statistical Analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, boasting eight of the top 20 cities for job growth. The top five large metropolitan areas for job growth are Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Dallas. Odessa, Texas, tops the job growth rankings for small cities. Austin, the top big city in the survey, had a very modest job-growth rate of 1 percent in 2008, less than a third of its average since 2003.
There are many reasons for the state’s success, including a healthy energy industry, low taxes and less expensive housing, and a boom in job growth in college towns (Austin and College Station) that have emerged as incubators for new companies and attractive retirement locations.
Most cities on the list—small, medium, or large—have shown they have what it takes to survive in tough times. Also, their less-stressed local governments are better-positioned to develop the local infrastructure to allow them to attract new investors, driving future job growth and bringing the economic expansion the nation needs.
—“New Geographer: Best Cities for Jobs,” by Joel Kotkin, forbes.com, April 14, 2009.
Washington, D.C., Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has been in the news for locking horns with the Washington Teachers’ Union on teacher pay and tenure. She hasn’t made much headway on those issues, but Rhee plans big changes for one item that’s not on the bargaining table: teacher evaluations.
Rhee is working with the district’s chief human capital assistant to expand teacher evaluations to include tracking students’ standardized test growth to determine the effect individual teachers have on student learning over time. Houston ISD has used a similar “value added” approach to measure teacher effectiveness and award bonuses.
Neither teachers nor Rhee are happy with the existing teacher evaluation system, which relies on a series of classroom observations by principals, who often have neither the time nor the subject-matter expertise to fairly judge a teacher’s effectiveness. Rhee has invited teachers to a series of focus group meetings to get their input on what they’d like to see in a new evaluation process.
Student test scores will not be the sole yardstick used to assess teachers. Rhee intends to use multiple measures to gauge teacher effectiveness. One idea that’s been proposed is using impartial master teachers to perform teacher observations, eliminating the possibility of personality conflicts that could taint an evaluation.
—“Rhee Works on Overhaul of Teacher Evaluations,” by Bill Turque, The Washington Post, April 7, 2009.
