Lake County’s pre-kindergarten teachers, who were excluded by state guidelines from the Best and Brightest Teacher Program, will receive a $1,000 recognition bonus, according to a memo of understanding signed Wednesday night, January 22.
The memo was signed by Assistant Superintendent of Human Relations Chad Farnsworth, representing the School Board, and Lake County Education Association (LCEA) President Stuart Klatte. “It is the intent of both the Lake County School Board and LCEA to reward as many high performing eligible instructional Pre-K teachers as possible,” it reads in part.
To be eligible for the bonus award, recipients must have achieved a final summative evaluation rating of “effective” or “highly effective” for the 2018-19 school year and be currently employed with Lake County Schools on the date the agreement was signed. Any teacher who already received an award from the Best and Brightest Teacher Program during the 2019-20 school year is excluded from the agreement.
The state of Florida recently revised the Best and Brightest Teacher Program to recruit, retain and recognize classroom teachers who meet the needs of the state and have achieved success in the classroom. But state guidelines defined “classroom teacher” as those instructing students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Pre-K teachers were not eligible for Best and Brightest awards, according to the state guidelines. Neither were Pre-K Teacher Assistants.
“We are eager to get back to the table with SEIU to discuss what we can do to award Pre-K teacher assistants, as well,” Farnsworth said.
