Appendix I: Obtaining § 3020-a Decisions

APPENDIX I:OBTAINING §3020-A DECISIONS

Although information regarding the government’s minimum standards for New York’s public school teachers can only be found in § 3020-a decision, those documents are not publically available and can only be obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request. In July 2007, as a graduate student at Teachers College, I submitted New York Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request requesting all § 3020-a decisions regarding New York City teachers that were filed from July 1, 1997 through June 30, 2007. 61 This request was partially successful. The State Education Department prohibits release of § 3020-a decisions in which the teacher was “found innocent” of all charges preferred, and access to those decisions was therefore denied.62 According to a letter from the head Records Access Officer in the New York State Education Department, a total of 270 decisions were filed over the ten-year period. Of these, 263 (97%) included a judgment of guilt of at least one charge, while seven exonerated the teacher of all charges. Since the number of “innocent” decisions was so small, the state apparently granted me access to almost all of the decisions submitted. However, I ultimately received only 208 decisions, sent in three separate mailings over the course of over a year, after repeated phone calls and written reminders. The New York State Education Department now claims that these 208 decisions are the total for the ten-year period, but has refused to confirm this in writing. (I subsequently filed a FOIL request for the total number of decisions issued each year for the period. The state denied this request; the Records Access Officer wrote: “Please be advised that SED [State Education Department] does not possess a ‘record’ of the total number of decisions.”) Of the 208 decisions I received, 53 decisions regarded charges unrelated to teaching competence (such as “insubordination” or criminal activity). Thus, I received a total of 155 cases directly related to teaching competence for the ten-year period from July 1, 1997 through June 30, 2007, which were the subject of my analysis.

61 This investigation of § 3020-a was part of my research for my Ph.D. dissertation on New York teacher policies. 62 I appealed the refusal to provide the innocent decisions, requesting those decisions with all identifying information redacted. The appeal was denied. This is unfortunate because how and why teachers are found innocent is also crucial to a full understanding of the performance standards used in the § 3020-a framework.