How Changes To NYSED Part 83 Regulations Treats A Teacher Like A Convicted Criminal On Probation.

One of the many changes in the punitive teacher evaluation system are the changes to the New York State Education Department Part 83 Regulations on an educator's "Moral Character".   Presently, if the State finds that the educator was terminated in a 3020-a hearing for misconduct, resigned under charges of misconduct, or found guilty criminally, it triggers a Part 83 review that usually results in the educator being stripped of their teaching license.  Now it seems under the new and punitive teacher evaluation system the educator will be treated like a convicted criminal who is on probation with the inclusion of this paragraph in the budget.


Certificate holders shall notify the department of any change of name or mailing address within thirty days of such change. Willful failure to register or provide such notice within one hundred eighty days of such change may constitute grounds for moral character review under subdivision seven of section three hundred five of this chapter. 


That's right, if an educator moves his or her residence, or changes their name and fails to inform the NYSED, the educator can be brought up on charges of misconduct and lose their license!  Unbelievable, but apparently true.

Imagine, as a women, you get married and change your last name to your husband's and fail to tell the State, this can trigger the "Moral Character" clause.  Moreover, you frequently change your address as you move from place to place and fail to notify the State.  That also can trigger a "Moral Character" review.  To my knowledge only convicted criminals who are released on probation are subject to this notification requirement.

This is yet another example of the punitive nature of the teacher evaluation system as it makes educators subject to rules that no other State employee is subject to and the notification requirement is similar to criminals who were released from jail and are on probation.

While our UFT President, Michael Mulgrew, claims victory, the reality is quite different and this punitive teacher evaluation system will result in producing a teacher shortage and hurt the "high needs" student population as they will never have "quality teachers" willing to put their career in jeopardy working with this student population.