Principal Didn’t Plan On Getting License, Until Now
BRIDGEWATER — Bridgewater Village School Principal Tedd Brown has been working without a license for the past year, after a rare, one-year extension of his provisional license expired in June 2014, according to state records.
Brown was given a temporary, two year provisional license when he was hired by the Windsor Central Supervisory Union back in 2011.
Brown was hired because he was “experienced” and came “highly recommended,” and it was difficult to find other qualified candidates willing to head the school part-time, Superintendent Alice Worth said.
But Brown, who is licensed in Massachusetts, has never held a full license in Vermont, according to state records. Brown was formerly a principal at New Braintree Grade School in Barre, Massachusetts, according to his resume.
He came to Bridgewater in 2011 not expecting to stay long.
“It wasn’t an intentional neglect to responsibility,” he said of his lack of licensure. “When I started, it wasn’t something that I planned on pursuing.”
Brown even submitted his resignation from the school last year, but stayed at the school because the supervisory union couldn’t find other qualified candidates, he said.
Brown, who currently lives parttime in Massachusetts, holds a school guidance license for pre-K through ninth grade in Massachusetts, along with an assistant principal license for pre-K through sixth grade. They were both renewed in 2013 and expire in June 2019.
The license requirements between Vermont and Massachusetts are similar. Most Vermont educators start with an initial license (or level I), which requires 45 hours of professional development, and is good for three years. After that, an educator can seek a professional license (or level II), which requires 90 hours of coursework and is good for five years.
A superintendent can decide if a person is qualified enough to fit the needs of the school, despite the lack of a license, and can request the educator be given a provisional license. They are granted for two years to give employees time to get paperwork together.
Superintendents can request an extension to that license for an additional year under extenuating circumstances, which Worth did because of the nature of the school.
“We had a small school in a rural part of the state with a challenge to hire a part-time principal. The agency understood that dilemma and granted an extension,” she said.
To extend a provisional license again requires review from the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators—which Brown has yet to be approved by. He submitted a portfolio to be approved for Vermont licensure back in December, he said.
“The meaning and the intent is that the provisional (license) is meant to give you the time needed to get the license, not to be an indefinite license,” said Vermont Agency of Education Deputy Secretary Amy Fowler.
There are currently five principals in the state with provisional licenses, according to officials.
Fowler said an extension to a provisional license is “rare” and a second extension is “very rare.”
The uncertain future of Bridgewater Village School contributed to the licensing delay, according to Worth. A consolidation study has been underway for two years and just last week, voters decided by a sweeping majority that the Bridgewater Village School would close and all students would go to the Pomfret School building.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have somebody as competent as Tedd at the wheel of a school that was in limbo for two years — potentially closing,” Worth said.
The Agency of Education holds superintendents accountable when they employ an unlicensed educator. Fowler said the agency doesn’t have jurisdiction beyond licensing.
She admitted that there is no mechanism for superintendents to know when educator licenses are about to expire.
“It would have been very challenging to know for certain that this person had not done what they needed to do,” Fowler said. “It would have required a bit of investigation. If the person was doing a good job you might not have thought to ask that question.”
To avoid this situation in the future, the state has a new electronic system that will be in place at the beginning of the next school year to alert superintendents by email when educator licenses are about to expire.
In the meantime, Brown is in the process of submitting his portfolio to the state, which features examples from his work experience in an effort to meet Vermont license standards, he said. He received his portfolio back about a week ago after the state found some issues with it, he said.
“The issue is around the arrangement of the portfolio, not the quality of the information,” Worth said.
Brown is scheduled to have peer review later this month to get his license, she said.
“He’s expected to be licensed before the beginning of the next school year should he wish to pursue a position in the supervisory union,” Worth said.
Even though Bridgewater’s school is closing, Brown still plans on pursuing his Vermont license. He’s unsure what he’ll do with it.
“Each year becomes more engaging and involving and I don’t think my job is done here yet,” he said