LK Education Bulletin

I just received an e-mail from the General Counsel to the State Board of Education, Christy Ballard, regarding the Revised Tennessee Special Education Regulations which are effective as of January 18, 2010. I have included a copy of the regulations under the LK University  "articles" section of this webpage for your review. Please note that there is a new section: 0520-01-09-.23 ISOLATION AND RESTRAINT FOR STUDENTS RECEIVING SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES. Please take a look at these revised regulations and forward the information in this post to your special education directors and teachers. Feel free to send them a link to the site itself.

I am currently doing some research about social networking for a program I am going to present at the TSBA Employment Law program in March.  While I was doing this I came across an article entitled "Teachers Guide to Using Facebook."  I have read through the article and it has some very informative information and discusses ways that teachers can use Facebook without jeopardizing their job or license.  I have included a link to the article with this post.  Take a look at this and think about using some of these strategies.  Have a great Tuesday.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16957158/Teachers-Guide-to-Using-Facebook-Read-Fullscreen

The Tennessee Legislature passed a bill on Friday that will affect how teachers and principals are evaluated.  The bill also affects dismissal proceedings for tenured teachers.  Below is a link to the Tennessean's article about the Bill.  Early next week our office will have a summary of the bill which I will post on this site for your review.  Have a great weekend. 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100116/NEWS0201/1160337/TN+schools+one+step+closer+to+grant

Teachers are not the only ones who have a problem using common sense when using Facebook.  Here is a tip:  If you are a judge you should not correspond on Facebook with a person who has a pending case in your Court.  P.S. you definitely should not "joke" about giving that person or their friends preferential treatment in exchange for free massages.  Bellow is an article about a judge who was not aware of these rules and who has now resigned because he got tired of living "under a microscope."

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202437652986&rss=newswire

As most of you already know, Governor Bredesen has called a special session of the legislature next week to address teacher and principal evaluations and tenure based upon student test scores.  Below are two links from the Tennessean regarding this session and Governor Bredesen's thoughts on what the legislature should consider.  The results of this legislative session will be very important this year and for years to come.  Chuck will be in attendance at this session and I will post updates next week as information becomes available.  In the meantime, please review these articles and post your comments.

Thanks,

Sam Jackson

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091216/NEWS04/912160392/Bredesen-calls-special-legislative-session-on-TN-schools

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100105/NEWS02/1050339