Pursuant to Education Law Section 3012-d, parents and legal guardians of students may request the final composite rating for each of the teachers and for the principal of the school building to which your child is assigned for the 2017-2018 school year.  Please be advised that the law does not allow and prohibits the release of any additional information about the individual teacher beyond the final composite rating and transitional rating, if applicable.  The purpose of this notice is to inform you of this right and the process by which you may request such information.

Only parents and legal guardians may have access to the final composite rating and transitional rating, if applicable, of the student’s teacher(s) and principal.  The School District is required by the law to take reasonable steps to insure that the person requesting the information is a parent or legal guardian of the student to whom the teacher(s) or principal is assigned.  Therefore, any request must be in writing on the form provided on the district’s website No oral requests will be honored.  The School District may request additional verification such as licenses or other photo identification to verify that the person requesting the information is the parent or legal guardian of the student.  In the case of legal guardians, the School District will require proof of guardianship (e.g. court orders, etc.).  The status of the requesting person will be verified against other information concerning the student in the possession of the School District (e.g. information or documents submitted at the time of registration) and the requesting person will be notified once their request has been verified and approved.

Once the request is approved, an appointment with the administrator, or designated individual authorized to release such information, will be arranged.  At the meeting the composite rating will be verbally provided.  At this same meeting, the parent or guardian will also receive the required explanation regarding the rating to best understand them in the context of teacher evaluation and student performance.  In the event a parent or guardian is unable to meet in person, they may receive the information verbally by phone.

Since all of the information needed to establish final teacher and principal composite ratings is not provided until the beginning of school (i.e. final information is often provided by the State Education Department to school districts on or around September 1^st), the availability to receive the final composite rating for a student’s teacher(s) and principal for the 2016-2017 school year shall not be accessible by parents/legal guardians until September 22, 2017.  Requests for the information may be made anytime on or after that date.

You should also be advised that a teacher or principal may appeal their final composite rating.  This will impact both the timing of when such information can be provided to a parent or guardian since, if an appeal is filed by the teacher or principal to the APPR rating, then the rating will not be available until that appeal process has concluded.

If you have any questions about this procedure, please contact the Superintendent of Schools (or other designated administrator).