DESE plan may change how districts train staff

School districts in Missouri may seek professional development services for teachers and program guidance from private vendors should the state make certain changes in 2012.

Cheri Fuemmler, director of the Southeast Regional Professional Development Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, said the directors of the state's nine regional centers were told by representatives of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that when consolidated contracts for federal programs expire in June, professional development services may be awarded instead to private vendors who submit proposals.

Fuemmler said the center isn't privy to the reasons behind the potential change and expects more details during meetings of the center directors next week. In the meantime, she said, she does know the centers will be different next year.

Representatives of DESE could not be reached for comment.

The centers were established by DESE and are funded through an annual grant from the department with monies generated by Senate Bill 380. The Southeast Regional center is also supported by Southeast Missouri State University and membership fees of participating school districts. It provides services to teachers and administrators that improve student achievement. The Southeast Region center serves school districts in 16 Southeast Missouri counties. The center could lose funding if a vendor's proposal were instead chosen by a district.

The main services now provided by the center that could be stopped by the change include professional development in special education, professional learning communities, positive behavior support and migrant education, according to Fuemmler. Also included could be the work of special-education compliance consultants. Fuemmler said out of 15 consultants who travel out of the office to offer services, 11 are federally funded.

"If we do not have federal funds to support those, that would be our areas where we could lose out on providing services, especially to smaller schools," she said.

That means smaller districts might not get the benefit of services at all, should funding be reduced by the changes and the center be forced to close, she said. Those smaller school districts often can't afford vendor services and can't afford travel to areas where services are available, such as Jefferson City, Mo., or Columbia, Mo., she said.

The center is training staff in various programs throughout local school districts.

One example of where the training is needed is during schools' attempts to use school improvement plans as required by No Child Left Behind sanctions, to improve the development of highly qualified staff to result in higher student achievement. During Monday's Cape Girardeau School Board meeting, principals of Clippard and Alma Schrader elementary schools presented school improvement plans. Both mentioned the use of the center for professional development when talking about reaching the goals that are included in the plan.

According to Dr. Sherry Copeland, a former director of a regional professional development center in Missouri and now assistant superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District, private vendors can charge much more money than a public center. The way the department would make the change, she said, puts school districts at the mercy of vendors.

Dr. Jim Welker, superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District, said the Southeast Missouri Superintendents Association sent a letter last month to the commissioner of education asking that the department not change the way services are provided through the centers.

"We rely on them very heavily, and we are very much in favor of them continuing to provide the services as they are, rather than it being given out to a private vendor that wouldn't be as local," Welker said.

The Cape Girardeau School Board will send a letter to DESE by the end of the week in support of keeping the services as they are, according to board president Stacy Kinder.

eragan@semissourian.com

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