Judge denies former Tennessee Rep. Scotty Campbell's lawsuit for sexual harassment records
NEWS

140 Nashville schools teachers need to renew licenses, audit finds

Jason Gonzales
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

An ongoing audit of Metro Nashville Public Schools discovered more than 140 educators who needed to renew teaching licenses, one of numerous issues raised in the review.

About 40 of those teachers are still working to renew their licenses, though they are not yet out of compliance.

"As far as our processes, it’s not just related to licensure, but various pieces of human resources," said Deborah Story, Metro Schools human resources director said. But, by shoring up the processes, she said it will ensure the paperwork gets completed.

The educators that don't finish the process of renewing their licenses with the Tennessee Department of Education will be ineligible to work in the district.

"As we determine cases where a district has a teacher who does not have an active license, we will ask that he or she be removed from that position and an appropriately licensed teacher serve in his or her place until the educator meets our state’s licensure requirements," Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman Sara Gast said in an email statement.

Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Shawn Joseph hired a new human resources director in September, three months after the contract of Susan Thompson wasn't renewed.

While the district has been working on the audit since Story was hired in late September, the need to better document how staff is hired was showcased last week when the Tennessee Department of Education began looking into numerous principals and administrators that hadn't completed paperwork to become licensed.

The lack of documentation has also caused other pieces to fall through the cracks, Story said, and the audit has helped the department start to become more proactive.

The district found through the audit that because of changes in state licensing requirements, more than 140 teachers were needing to renew teaching licenses, said Sharon Pertiller, director of talent strategy. That number has been lowered to about 40, and the human resources team is working with teachers to bring meet the state's upcoming deadline to have paperwork completed.

Pertiller said the district had no mechanism to flag teachers that might need to renew a license.

Several Metro Nashville Public Schools principals started year without Tennessee teaching licenses

"We want to be proactive in our approach and make sure everyone is compliant," Pertiller said.

Gast said several other districts throughout the state have seen issues, but almost every educator is in compliance after the change to the way the state documents and monitors licenses. The changes only affected those teachers needing to renew a license, she said.

Story took over the human resources department months after Director of Schools Shawn Joseph decided not to renew the contract of former Human Resources Director Susan Thompson. Thompson left her post on July 1.

Board member Anna Shepherd said the lack of a director in human resources likely helped contribute to the issues the district saw last week when the state flagged three principals without state licenses and several other administrators without state licenses.

Even if a principal or administrator has an out-of-state license, they must apply for a Tennessee license, and Shepherd said she would be asking Joseph to ensure compliance.

The administrators were new to the state and part of a round of hires by Joseph that brought in numerous out-of-state principals and administrators upon. The news of the licenses was first reported by News Channel 5 WTVF.

31 Principals hired for new Nashville school year

The three principals have since obtained a state license.

The district has also sent job descriptions and duties to the Tennessee Department of Education. The department is determining if any of those roles require state licenses.

District administrators aren't required to hold a Tennessee teaching license unless 50 percent of their time is focused on supervising instruction.

"We are continuing to work through the licensure decisions for the central office, and we anticipate we will make those determinations in the next couple of weeks," Gast said. "At this point, MNPS has sent us 21 job descriptions."

Reach Jason Gonzales at 615-259-8047 and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales