Section 51.210  Establishment of the List of Second Evaluators; Qualifications

a)         Before a school district's first remediation relating to a dismissal under Section 24-16.5 of the School Code and this Part, the school district shall establish a list of at least two evaluators who meet the qualifications set forth in subsection (b) of this Section to serve as second evaluators.

1)         The school district shall provide written notification to the teacher representatives identified pursuant to subsection (e) of this Section of the names and qualifications of the individuals it has chosen to include as second evaluators.

2)         The teacher representatives may submit in writing to the school district the names and qualifications of additional individuals to be included on the list of second evaluators, provided that they shall not submit more teacher evaluators for inclusion on the list than the number of evaluators submitted by the school district (Section 24-16.5(c)(1) of the School Code).  Each individual whose name is submitted by the teacher representatives to serve as a second evaluator shall meet one of the qualifications specified in Section 24-16.5(c) of the School Code; that is, either:

A)        holds certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, with no "unsatisfactory" or "needs improvement" performance evaluation ratings in his or her two most recent performance evaluations; or

B)        has obtained a performance evaluation rating of "excellent" in two of the three most recent performance evaluations, with no "needs improvement" or "unsatisfactory" performance evaluation ratings in his or her last three ratings.

3)         If the teacher representatives fail to submit in writing any names of additional second evaluators within 21 days after receiving the written notification specified in subsection (a)(1) of this Section, then the school district may proceed with a remediation using a list of second evaluators that includes only those names identified by the school district.

b)         Each second evaluator shall be qualified to serve as an evaluator under Section 24A-3 of the School Code [105 ILCS 5/24A-3].

c)         The list of second evaluators may be revised either by the school district or teacher representatives at any time, with the party initiating the revision providing at least three days notice to the other party of its intent to revise the list.  The process to revise the list shall be made in accordance with this Section and Section 24-16.5(c)(2) of the School Code.

d)         Establishment of the Process for Selecting a Second Evaluator

1)         Before a school district's first remediation relating to a dismissal under Section 24-16.5 of the School Code and this Subpart, the school district also shall, in good faith cooperation with its teacher representatives, develop a process to be used to select a second evaluator from the list established pursuant to subsection (a) (see Section 24-16.5(c)(2) of the School Code).

2)         The process may be amended at any time in good faith cooperation with the teacher representatives.

3)         If the teacher representatives are given an opportunity to cooperate with the school district with respect to the establishment or amendment of the process and elect not to do so, then the school district may, at its discretion, establish or amend the process for selection.

4)         Before the hearing officer and as part of any judicial review of a dismissal under Section 24-16.5 of the School Code, a tenured teacher may not challenge a remediation or dismissal on the grounds that the process used by the school district to select a second evaluator was not established in good faith cooperation with its teacher representatives.

e)         For the purposes of this Section, "teacher representatives" shall mean:

1)         the exclusive collective bargaining agent, or its designees, if the teachers are represented by a collective bargaining unit; or

2)         a group of teachers, whose number shall not exceed the number of school district representatives participating in the selection process, who have been chosen by their peers to serve in this capacity.

(Source:  Added at 36 Ill. Reg. 12829, effective July 25, 2012)