Pollicino Decision Strengthens SLT's

State Education Commissioner Mills issued his decision in Pollicino v. NYCDOE on Dec. 31, 2008. It is a major victory for parents and teachers on school leadership teams. The NYCDOE had attempted to give total control of SLT's to principals by revising Regulation A-655 ( Dec. 2007) to give principals final determination on the development of the CEP and school budget. Commissioner Mills ruled this change concerning the CEP violated State Education Law 2590h-15 (see link).

The Commissioner's decision restores SLT's to shared decision making status rather than just advisory. The SLT collaboratively develops the CEP using a consensus model of shared decision making. The Commissioner did rule that principals have final determination on the school budget. However, SLT's have a major role to play in aligning the budget with the CEP. In addition, Commissioner Mills emphasized that principals must consult SLT's before budget decisions are made.

The decision was also a victory for the CEC's and District SLT's as Commissioner Mills ruled that the process the NYCDOE used to revive A-655 was flawed by not following CR 100.11 (see link). He ordered the NYCDOE to revise the current A-655 Regulation and submit it to the CEC's for input and approval.

You can read the Commissioner's decision by clicking the title of this post.