Pearl River School District Submits APPR Plan

Pearl River Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Morgano announced Tuesday that the district was the first in Rockland County to submit its plan for Annual Professional Performance Reviews (APPR) when it did so two weeks ago.

Governor Andrew Cuomo continued to push for state-mandated reviews of teachers and administrators when he unveiled his proposed 2012-13 state budget in January, putting the pressure on districts to get a plan in place. Each district had to work the process out with unions representing its teachers administrators because those existing contracts did not allow for the process.

Morgano praised the work of Director of Human Resources and Community Services Diana Musich for her work in that area.

"It was important to submit our plan in a timely manner," Morgano said. "This represents a major change in how teacher are observed and evaluated and how administrators are evaluated. My hat is off to Diana for all of her hard work. To reach an agreement on such a sensitive issue and in such a timely manner is a great accomplishment."

Adding to the complication of the process, the state changed the guidelines it sent to the districts multiple times and did not send out the template used to submit the plan until late in the process. 

While there has been resistance to APPR, Morgano said back in January that it was inevitable and it was time to move forward with it. The state accepted approximately $700 million in federal Race to the Top funds that was contingent on the implementation of such a system. For more information on APPR, check out this report of a discussion Patch on teacher and administrator evaluations in January with Morgano, Musich and Assistant Superintendent Sue Wheeler.

The state will review the submitted plan and let the district know if it is approved, most likely at some point during the summer.