Leadership Matters - March 2013

ISBE releases presentation on exchange of certificates for licenses

The Illinois State Board of Education has created a 15-minute online presentation explaining the ongoing transition from a certificate system to a licensure system for Illinois educators. This is the first in a series of tutorials leading up to implementation of the new Educator Licensure Information System (ELIS) system. ELIS will replace the Educator Certification System (ECS) on July 1, 2013. This particular tutorial gives an overview of the change from ECS to ELIS, including important milestone dates, the three types of licenses, endorsements, renewal cycles and other general information about the new licensure system. The narrated online tutorial can be accessed by clicking here .

Certificates For Licenses

TRS analysis of the various pension proposals Please click here to access the Teachers Retirement System analysis of the various pension reform proposals now pending in the General Assembly.

School Nurse story —————————————————————————

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are schools serving their students well without CSNs?  Is this an unfunded mandate that, given the times, is unaffordable in most districts?  Is it feasible under the current rules to upgrade currently employed RNs to CSN status?  Are there enough CSNs currently available to fill all of the school nursing positions? ISBE and Dr. Koch are to be commended for understanding and addressing this problem, listening to superintendents and delaying the July 1 implementation. But there is more to be done, such as:  Reviewing the whole situation in terms of what schools really need and can support in the area of nursing staff.  Evaluating who can actually do a medical review besides a CSN. The current rules seem arbitrary and do not give much credit to RNs.

 Increasing the opportunities for currently employed RNs to earn a Type 73 certificate by encouraging on-line, evening and weekend classes and reducing or eliminating the 300-hour internship for those who have experience.  Devising a mechanism for school districts to petition ISBE to keep currently employed RNs. Stay tuned!

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