DES MOINES — The Commission on Educator Leadership and Compensation informed the Perry Community School District Dec. 10 that their application for creating a teacher leadership program had been approved.
Perry and 96 other school districts across Iowa will begin their teacher leadership program for the 2016-17 school year. The newest additions raises to 295 (88 percent) the number of district statewide that now participate in the initiative.
TLCS (Teacher Leadership and Compensations System) aims to award effective teachers with higher pay and additional opportunities for leadership. The program is designed to create a more promising career prospect for new teachers with competitive starting salaries while generating additional support and great collaboration among all teachers, thereby improving the learning among all students.
As outlined, Perry’s TLCS plan would include teacher leadership and mentor coordination, instructional coaches, professional learning community leaders and model teachers as well as providing mentors for first or second-year or veteran teachers who may be new to the district. The new positions will be filled by current Perry teachers who have at least three years of experience overall and who have taught in the district for at least one full school year.
Employees involved in creating the plan for the PCSD included administrators Shaun Kruger, Dan Marburger, Trevor Miller, Kevin Vidergar, Lynn Ubben and Tinna Walberg from the Heartland AEA along with Perry teachers Kristi Amstutz, Janna Bjork, Eddie Diaz, Matt Hardy, Kim Herrera, Genna Kinley, Nathan Krohn and Ned Menke.
Implementing the system will require the hiring of from 5-7 new teachers to replace those moving into the new positions. The district will begin their selection and application procedures in January of 2016. Additional information on TLCS can be found on the Iowa Department of Education website: https://www.educateiowa.gov/article/2015/12/10/97-school-districts-added-iowa-s-teacher- leadership-system.
