WHAT IF?
The Athletic Director notifies you, the superintendent, that he heard rumors that some of the high school athletes are buying steroids at a local gym. What action should you take first?
A. Tell the athletic director that it is his responsibility to deal with this situation
B. The superintendent notifies the leadership team together to review the rumor that the alleged steroid use and plan for an investigation.
C. Informed the parents at the children are using steroids.
D. Contact the police immediately.
A high school teacher was dismissed because he had written a letter to a local newspaper that criticized the Board of Education and the superintendent. He claimed that his letter was protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The State Supreme Court upheld the school district’s decision. The case was brought before the Supreme Court; what was the final outcome?
A. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the school district had the right to dismiss the teacher.
B. The United States Supreme Court overturned th State court’s decision to dismiss the teacher.
C. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the teacher’s dismissal was proper because statements in his letter were false and intended to create animosity toward the superintendent and Board of Education.
D. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the teacher should be suspended for sixty days without pay and then reinstated.
The Director of personnel prepared a posting for a vacancy for an elementary school assistant principalship. The posting indicated that resumes were to be forwarded to the director of personnel. At the appropriate time, the director reviewed the resumes for the following criteria: certification and experience, gender, age and nationality. Which one of the criteria is appropriate to examine?
A.Certification and experience
B. Gender
C. Age
D. Nationality
Due to an increase in the number of altercations throughout the district, the assistant superintendent for Instruction was charged with the responsibility of investigating character education programs for district adoption. After researching a variety of character education programs, what is the next step in this process?
A. Establish a district committee for character education including administrators, teachers, support staff and parents.
B. Make with the school building leaders to describe programs initially reviewed.
C. Meet with the superintendent and have him mandate the desired program.
D. Send a memorandum to the guidance counselors to pick the best program from the list included in the memorandum.
In the United States v. Ohio Universities the district court ruled:
A. University disciplinary records fall under FERPA.
B. University disciplinary records are not covered by FERPA.
C. School Districts are exempt from FERPA regulations.
D. Parents can access disciplinary records for their children over 18 years of age.
A culture exists within the school district in which teachers excessively take days off from work on Mondays and Fridays. The superintendent issued a memorandum indicating the teachers taking off on Mondays and/or Fridays without a doctor's note would be docked two days’ pay. Of the choices provided below, which choice would not be an option to reduce or change teachers absence in the school district?
A. The superintendent would require a teacher in the district union representative to meet with him regarding the teacher’s absence.
B. The superintendent issues a memorandum to school building leaders holding them responsible for the teacher's absence.
C. The superintendent would speak at each school’s faculty meeting encouraging teacher attendance.
D. The superintendent offers a mandatory incentive to good teachers for good attendance.
A female high school student had a sexual relationship with one of her teachers. After having been caught in the act, the teacher was dismissed by the district. The district did not have a grievance procedure for sexual harassment complaints in place. The student sued for damages. The Federal District Court found the school was not liable unless an employee with supervisory power knew of the abuse and failed to act. The case was heard before the United States Supreme Court and…
A. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the student receive damages because the district did not provide adequate security on school property.
B. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the student should receive damages and the teacher should be reinstated since the sexual relationship was consensual.
C. The United States Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Federal District Court.
D. The United States Supreme Court ruled that a teacher could not have a relationship with a student unless that student consented.
The superintendent was informed that a male parent chaperone on an overnight trip was having a liaison with one of the female teacher chaperones on the trip. They were seen drinking in the hotel bar and leaving the hotel together. Another teacher told her building school building leader upon return from the trip that this took place. The building school building leader immediately called the superintendent. What should be done about the employee and parent?
A. Tell the teacher that her conduct is inexcusable.
B. Have the teacher put the parent on the phone and advise him that he has to stop seeing the teacher.
C. Give the teacher a copy of the rules of conduct for professionals and require her to resign.
D. Conduct an investigation, get witness statements and refer the matter to the district’s legal counsel for possible action against the teacher employee.
Due to a midyear reduction and state aid, the assistant superintendent for business must reduce spending. He shared his idea with the superintendent, who share them with the Board. Budget cuts were announced at the next board meeting. Who were not included in developing the budget reduction?
A. Teachers
B. District and school based administrators
C. Non-teaching support personal
D. All of the above
The community based committee dealing with minority issues and concerns approach the superintendent for a meeting about closing the minority achievement gap. What first step should the superintendent make prior to the meeting?
A. Send a memorandum to the Board of Education dismissing the concerns of the committee as unfounded.
B. Set up a meeting with the assistant superintendent for Instructions and the Director of Evaluation to look at the achievement of minority students over the last three years.
C. Meet with the committee dismissing their concerns.
D. Send a memorandum to the Board of Education describing the minority achievement gap and what you intend to do about it.
A Supreme Court ruling in Rust V. Sullivan authorized public libraries and K-12 schools to do the following:
A. Allow the free-flow of information for students’ use in K-12 schools and Libraries.
B. Protect the rights of students and teachers via the first amendment by banning the use of internet filters in schools and libraries.
C. Use internet filters and other measures to protect students from harmful online content
D. Bar the government dictating how libraries and schools create internet use rules
Went to district’s discipline plan is not followed, it opens a doorway for trouble. Word spreads quickly among high school students that there is a way around facing consequences; this creates questions and distrust between staff and administrators. High school students, including those who are not the usual suspects, push limits. Only seniors are allowed to leave campus for lunch. What a non-senior leaves the building without permission, the district's discipline plan requires a one day in-school suspension. Recently student council members, who are not seniors, have been leaving the campus for lunch; the first time they left, their behavior referral required a one day in-school suspension which was never actually served. Uneven adherence to the district’s discipline plan is creating cultural dissonance between teachers, administrators, students and their parents. All of the following solutions are possible except.
A. Involve a team from the high school to implement to discipline plan with equitable punishment for infractions.
B. Institute quarterly meetings of the district and high school administrative staff to address discipline.
C. Deal with all the infections equitably and all situations, with a monthly report of disciplinary infractions and consequences to the superintendent.
D. Change the disciplinary policy to exclude high school performing students.
The superintendent’s vision is to create professional learning communities in each school focused on children’s literacy. The superintendent issues a memorandum to school building leaders to disseminate to the staff information about the creation of these learning communities around literacy. Without doubt, there is resistance. What is one reason that you might attribute to resistance?
A. The school building leaders and teachers were not as interested in participating in professional learning communities.
B. The staff ignored it because the superintendence ordered it.
C. The school building leader did not believe in change.
D. The superintendent did not gather support for the change process by discussing professional learning communities with constituencies.
All of the Following are functions of the Public Employment Relations Board, except:
A. Conciliation of collective bargaining related disputes.
B. Making rulings when employers are charged with unfair labor practices.
C. Responsibility for implementing the Taylor Law.
D. Conducting a trial for municipal or state employees for improper performance of their responsibilitie
The Director of Special Education receives a phone call from an irate parent who stated that her classified resource room child has not received resource room services for the past three days because her child’s teacher was being used as a substitute for another absent classroom teacher. The Director tells the parents she would look into the matter and get back to her. What should the Director do first?
A. Telephone the school building leader to ascertain if the resource room teacher is being used as a daily substitute.
B. Issue a memorandum to school building liters stating the law indicates that resource room teachers may not be used as daily substitute teachers.
C. Go over to the school to see if the resource room teacher is being used as a daily substitute teacher.
D. Telephone the resource room teacher at home to find out from her what is going on.
Just before the football season starts, a vacancy has arisen for an assistant football coaching position. The director of personnel wants to post the vacancy immediately but the athletic director indicates that he has someone to fill vacancy. What is the next step?
A. The director of personnel should let the athletic director fill the vacancy.
B. The director of personnel should ignore the request of the athletic director and post the vacancy immediately.
C. The athletic director should ignore the director of personnel and fill the vacancy with his personal selection.
D. The athletic director should tell his candidate to apply immediately for the vacancy.
The assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction set up a meeting with school building leaders to review the professional development agenda. At the meeting, the assistant superintendent indicated that an extensive agenda for the use of professional development days has been planned already for the upcoming school year. How do you think the school building leader responded?
A. The school building leaders indicated their delight with not having to participate in the planning and implementation of programming for stuff and development days.
B. The school building leaders indicated their displeasure with the plan because their staffs were not involved in the planning and implementation of programming for staff development days.
C. The assistant superintendent indicated that he was following the district’s professional development plan in establishing the current program.
D. None of the above
A superintendent was concerned about the students and teachers communication with each other on social networks. The superintendent contacted the districts legal for a legal opinion. Which response indicates the best possible action the superintendent might take?
A. The superintendent indicated that nothing could be done because it was not the district’s responsibility.
B. The superintendent posted an email to staff and students that inappropriate behavior would not be tolerated.
C. The superintendent, in consultation with the district’s legal counsel, issue strict guidelines for use of social networks by teachers in communicating with children.
D. The superintendent banned the use of social networks by blocking access to them on school computer systems.
The superintendent meets with the Parents’ Council on a monthly basis to discuss issues that are of importance to parents and to present plans and programs the superintendent wishes to share with the parents. At one monthly meeting, the parent brought up the issue of developing a new policy for the children to possess cell phones and other electronic devices in the school. How should the superintendent react to the request of the parent group?
A. Tell the parents to mind their own business and sick to bake sales in fundraisers.
B. The superintendent should tell the parents that he would write a new policy immediately for their consideration.
C. Ignore the parents request.
D. The superintendent should tell the parents then he should share their concerns with the Board of Education since their demand it would require developing a new policy.
A deaf kindergarten student’s IEP stated she should be educated in a regular classroom, use an FM device and receive instruction from a tutor one hour a day and from a speech teacher three hours a day. The parents wanted a qualified sign language interpreter in all classes. This service had been granted for a two week trial period; the district found that the student did not need this service. The parents sued the district to get this service continued. What do you think the outcome was?
A. The parent withdrew the law suit when the district provided the service to save the expense of a long, drawn out law suit.
B. The United States Supreme Court ruled in the student’s favor.
C. The United States Supreme Court ruled in the district’s favor.
D. The district provided half the required service and explained that was all it could afford.
The president of the Parent Organization wrote a letter to the superintendent indicating that their council took a vote that the district could save money by terminating the school district's busing program at the elementary level. She said that the parents would gladly drop off and pick up their children from elementary school daily. How should the superintendent respond to the letter?
A. Send a reply that in order to change the district's busing policy the superintendent would have to place an item on the board of education's monthly agenda for action.
B. Send a reply that in order to change the district's busing policy, the superintendent would have to request an item be placed on that ballot to be voted by the community as part of the annual budget vote.
C. Send a reply that in order to change the district's busing policy, the superintendent would have to consult with the school building leaders of the elementary schools.
D. Ignore the letter completely.
School fields are available for use by the community on weekends. A sign is posted with rules for appropriate use of each field. The signs clearly indicate that no motorized vehicles are permitted on the field. A homeowner whose property is adjacent to one of the schools field takes a six-year-old son for a ride on his go-cart around the field every weekend. School security reports that he refuses to leave saying, “I pay taxes and I can use the field on weekends. I’m not bothering anyone.” You get the name and address of the community member. How do you proceed as the Director of Buildings and Grounds?
A. Wait for the homeowner on the weekend and reprimand him while he is writing on the go-cart.
B. Suspend the homeowner son.
C. Call the police and have him arrested for trespassing.
D. Explain to the homeowner that is sine is clearly posted prohibiting the use of motorized vehicles in the field and failure to abide by the regulation will result in police involvement.
The assistant superintendent for business regularly reviewed expenditures made by all district fiscal responsibility centers. According to district policy, approved reimbursement for dinners while attending a conference is limited to $50 per day. A claim for reimbursement for an approved two-day conference included travel and meal expenses for a district employee who attended that conference. The Claim requested that the district reimburse the employee for dinner in the amount of $185. What should the assistant superintendent do?
A. Authorize the claim be paid since the employee’s conference was approved by the super- intendent.
B. Deny the initial claim be paid since the employee spent more for dinner than legally allowed to reimburse.
C. Authorize the claim be paid after speaking with the superintendent.
D. Deny the claim be paid because the employee did not complete the appropriate paperwork for a large reimbursement.
The director of personnel has prepared a file of all teachers coming up for tenure during the current school year for the superintendent, including their observations, past annual evaluations, attendance and recommendations from their school building leaders. The superintendent reviewed the file and recommended that one teacher on the list be denied tenure.
A. The superintendent can recommend the termination of untenured teachers any time before their tenure date with appropriate notice of termination and due process.
B. The superintendent does not have to consult with the union leadership about recommending the termination of an untenured teacher.
C. The Superintendent can recommend the termination of an untenured teacher without the support of the school building leader.
D. All of the above
There are a growing number of special education students in the Marksonville School District because of the ICT model (integrate co-teaching model). This program has become known among parents with special education children in the surrounding areas as a very desirable. Due to this growth, the ICT classes have increased in size to a less than desirable number of up to 26 children, whereas regular education classes average 24. This model has one general education teacher, one special education teacher, and one classroom aide in the ICT classroom for the entire day. General education students in the class are mostly on grade level with very few academic or social issues; they are expected to serve as model students. Special education classified youngsters have a variety of learning disabilities. What should the school district do to maintain a high standard of instruction for all students?
A. Scatter the special-education students throughout the grade level rather than assigning all of them to one class.
B. Adopt an alternative model in which students would be mainstreamed in a regular classroom and the special education teacher would just “push-in” to every classroom.
C. Have special education teachers regularly pull out students to help catch them up and work on specific IEP goals.
D. Place a greater number of children into a smaller self-contained special education class that would intensely work on their IEP goals.