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Brevard Public Schools To Cut Evaluations to Grow Time for Learning and Leading, Says BPS

By  //  April 6, 2017

ABOVE VIDEO: Message from Dr. Blackburn

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Superintendent, Desmond K. Blackburn, promised to free more time and resources for teaching and leading in Brevard Public Schools.

Today, he and associations representing BPS teachers and administrators announce changes that should help with that.

First, the school district will eliminate Professional Growth Plans – commonly known as PGPs – in the next school year. Many educators found the extensive PGPs to be time-consuming and sometimes confusing.

“I want our babies kept emotionally and physically safe, I want our babies to exceed learning goals, and I want the caregivers of our babies to have an awesome relationship with this school district,” said Blackburn.

“Those things are impossible if our educators are too busy with a bunch of compliance documents.”

Second, BPS will cut, in half, the required minimum classroom observations for all instructional personnel. This will give principals the flexibility to focus more of their time on the classrooms that need it most.

Third, BPS is changing its approach to new teachers and experienced teachers who happen to be new to Brevard. They will still get the required minimum observations during their first year. But those observations will be reduced by half after one year of experience.

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Finally, for administrators, BPS will end the “deliberate-practice portion” of their evaluations, a form akin to the teachers’ PGP.

These changes are the result of collaboration between BPS leaders and two key organizations:
· The Brevard Federation of Teachers, led by President Dan Bennett.
· The Brevard Association of School Administrators, represented by Gary Shiffrin.

“I’m grateful for the leadership of Dan Bennet, BFT, and Gary Shiffrin, BASA, in driving this effort,” Blackburn said. “I’m especially honored to work for school board members who ‘get it.’”