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Freshman Palm Harbor Lawmaker Drafts School Security Bill
Teacher Carl Zimmermann has drafted a bill to keep students and teachers safe during situations like a school shooting. It's one example of how he's using his experience in the classroom in his new role as legislator.
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Teacher Carl Zimmermann has drafted a bill to keep students and teachers safe during situations like a school shooting. It's one example of how he's using his experience in the classroom in his new role as legislator.
Jared Leone
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Newly elected teacher-turned-lawmaker Carl Zimmermann thinks a simple change in Florida classrooms could help save lives during a threatening situation like the recent shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. It's an idea that could pretty much only come from a teacher's perspective.
Zimmermann, who is State Representative for District 65, wants to change the locks on classroom doors, so they lock from the inside.
"In many schools, teachers have to leave the classroom to lock the door, because the doors only lock from the outside," he told Palm Harbor Patch.
"The recent shootings made everyone aware of this," he said.
Zimmermann, who teaches broadcast journalism at Countryside High School, says this would be especially helpful at schools that do not have a main entrance. He says the doors to the classrooms are located on the outside of their respective buildings, instead of inside a main hall in the building. Zimmermann thinks that making sure these classroom doors can be locked from the inside will improve safety.
"You have to have safe places for everybody. It's not safe if you can't lock the door," he said.
Currently, there are two types of locks on classroom doors at Pinellas County Schools, according to Michael Bessette, Associate Superintendent of Operational Services.
Double-cylinder locks are installed at the newer schools. They can be locked from the inside and outside. Many of the older schools have what Bessette calls "old model handles" that lock from the outside.
"We've been in the process of changing them over during the last three years," he said.
The school district has added security features over the years, but money limits how much they can do. "We don't have millions of dollars," said Bessette.
Zimmermann is also proposing another security measure in his legislation. He thinks classroom doors should be enforced with bullet-proof windows.
The freshman lawmaker submitted his draft of the bill Tuesday evening, along with the draft of an education bill. "Since I work in the schools, I know the problems that need to be addressed," he said.
The second bill he's proposing is actually a rewrite of an existing law about teacher evaluations.
Zimmermann wants to simplify the teacher evaluation process by creating a system in which students would be tested prior to taking a course and again when they finish the course, to see how much they learned. He says these tests would provide an accurate reflection of student progress and a teacher's effectiveness in the classroom.
This is one of the three top problems that Zimmermann mentioned to Palm Harbor Patch during his campaign for office.
Zimmerman says he plans to take leaves of absence from his job as teacher, as needed, while serving in the legislature. He's hired veteran legislative staffers Doris Burns and Betsy Collins to work with him. Burns and Collins happen to be Republicans.
"I really plan to be the most non-partisan legislator in Tallahassee," said the freshman Democrat lawmaker.
Zimmermann will open up his district office in Dunedin the third week in January. It will be located at 1106 Pinehurst Rd. in Dunedin, (727) 733-8267.
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Howard
7:58 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
I admire his efforts but wonder about the value. His approach to teacher evaluation is particularly troubling. "Zimmermann wants to simplify the teacher evaluation process by creating a system in which students would be tested prior to taking a course and again when they finish the course, to see how much they learned. He says these tests would provide an accurate reflection of student progress and a teacher's effectiveness in the classroom.." Two questions: First - What if the test shows half the students made no progress? Second - will the non-performing students be evaluated to determine if something other than the teacher is the problem? This test may be of some value in Palm Harbor University High but is it also valuable in schools where many of the students don't want to be in class and refuse to participate or are disruptive? It seems to me - but I am not a teacher - that it is unfair to measure individual performance on the assumption the quality of the student and condition of the teaching environment are equal.
Sunde Farquhar
9:14 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Thanks for stopping by Howard. You raise an interesting point. Anyone teachers or parents out there have any thoughts about this?
Carl
1:00 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Howard,
You raise great points. We do have students that put no effort into school or barely ever show up. How they are dealt with by the system would be a different discussion, but how that reflects on the teacher's evaluation is already accounted for in the current evaluation system and would continue under my revisions. Near the end of the course the teacher is given a roster of students that were in his/her class. The teacher indicates those students that were absent more than allowed and those students do not count in their evaluation. The problem with the evaluation system currently in law is that 50% of the teacher's evaluation is based on how students in their class perform on a standardized test (FCAT) compared to a composite student based on three years data. The results are measured in writing, reading and math. If a teacher is a shop teacher, they are not evaluated on how the students may have excelled in shop, but instead on those three categories. If a teacher teaches any subject that isn't in an FCAT grade level, up to 50% of their evaluation is based on the school's grade. The current system does not effectively measure a teacher's impact. Hope this helps explain it.
Carl Zimmermann
Howard
4:29 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Thanks for the information, Carl. Things are so dramatically different from when i was a student here that I really don't know what I'm talking about. I remember some of my teachers very fondly and others not so fondly. I credit them for their patience and knowledge - they all were dedicated to teaching us. My experience so long ago colors my attitude about today - I hate the idea of a standarized test in such a non-standard environment. It seems to me the effort is to micro-manage the teacher rather than giving him or her the necessary tools and some leeway. But - so many people seem to think teaching is easy and teachers are overpaid, I can well imagine the politicians problem when the question is, "what do you intend to do about it?". Couple that with the incredible increase in knowledge which means kids today have to learn much more than my generation and I don't envy the teacher or administrator. Thanks for your dedication to a very difficult task.
Justice Forall
4:14 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
So smart but yet so stupid. In every reply it is well pointed out that FCAT and evaluation systems are not accurate~ or even close. Sometimes the answer is simple, "back to basics". Why REPEATEDLY spend money on things that don't work? If it isn't going to be accurate, or even close to it, why continue to spend money on these so called tests and evaluations? It is easy for these idiots to spend tax dollars on this waste, over and over~ I bet if it was money out of their own pockets the FCAT, evaluations, and other ineffective measures would be a thing of the past LONG ago!! There are passing students and failing students and its been this way since the beginning of time. There are also good teachers and bad teachers, in which bad teachers should not be teaching. Years ago, if teachers couldn't teach, they actually got...fired! fired? Yes, fired!! This brings me to my take on this topic~ If teachers got fired for not teaching, students got kicked out for not attending, and parents were actually held accountable for their children maybe things would get (a little bit) better. As long as everyone can point the blame at every one else for their own problems than no one will ever be held accountable and if no one is held accountable than NOTHING will ever change and everything will continue to get worse!
Paul Allen
6:31 am on Sunday, January 13, 2013
It is an extremely difficult task evaluating teacher performance. There's a lot of variables that that come into play with student performance. Most of the solutions are political "feel good" solutions. For the most part politicians worry about one thing, the next election.