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Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

BTU MEDIA BRIEFING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

School Employees Issue Superintendent Report Card Today

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 4, 2009 -- Superintendent Jim Notter will receive his report card via e-mail today as parents of Broward County's 260,000 students wait for their students' grades in the U.S. mail. For the first time ever, thousands of the school district's teachers and employees completed a report card for Superintendent Notter and it is now available for all parents and the members of the public to view at www.btuonline.com.

BTU President Pat Santeramo said Superintendent Notter's complete report card with about 40 pages of employee comments was published online so the district's leader as well as taxpayers can easily access it. He said so many employees participated in grading the superintendent, the union is considering doing it again.

The BTU also will be publishing the report card on a giant mobile billboard mounted on a truck that will drive around the district?s downtown headquarters from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for school board members and officials to view. The truck will also travel through the city center in an effort to inform even more members of the public. The report card results have also been published in local newspapers.

"The response to the superintendent's report card has already been so overwhelming that the BTU is thinking about making it an annual activity," Santeramo said. "We believe it is important for all employees to have a voice in the workplace."

Santeramo said the superintendent's report card process worked as follows:

The superintendent's grading form is based on Association of School Administrators' superintendent evaluation sample forms so it matches those used by school boards throughout the nation.

A link to the superintendent's report card form was e-mailed twice to all BTU members starting Tuesday, January 27, 2009 and the employees' grading of the district's leader ended on Tuesday, February 3, 2009.

Employees graded the superintendent on the eight major categories of personnel management, employee relations; fiscal management, budget management, labor management, operations management, leadership, waste management and communications.

The employees used traditional letter grades ranging from A for excellent to F for failure.

Like student report cards, the employees also had the opportunity include comments with their letter grades.

The employees produced approximately 40 pages of comments.

Santeramo added that only district employees could access the online report card and each employee was limited to completing the form one time. The online version includes a downloadable and printable report card for people who want to keep a copy.

He said the teachers used traditional letter grades ranging from an A for excellent to an F for failure for each of the subjects ranging from personnel relations to waste control. The employees also included comments like they do when grading students.

"The employees' comments about the superintendent and district provide remarkable insight into the county's school system. I encourage all members of the public to go online and read it," Santeramo said.

Sent by:

Broward Teachers Union

Campaign Launched:
February 03, 2009