Districts are required to have all their teachers properly certified. That a fraction of Glendale Unified’s 1,160 teachers lack their CLAD has been repeatedly noted in independent reviews, the most recent being last week when board members were given their annual audit results.
“Not having CLAD is a bad thing because it shows up in the audit; it makes us less competitive for any, particularly federal, moneys, but it’s a state law,” school board member Joylene Wagner said. “I don’t think we serve our district well by allowing segments of our teaching community to meet less than the requirement, and . . . we need to put to use as many tools as are available to us, and this is a time where we just have to move forward on it.”
The policy gives teachers three more opportunities to take the exam before June 2011. The district is also covering expenses up to $1,500.
But attaining the CLAD is no easy feat, especially for those who have families and extracurricular responsibilities, some teachers said. The test is six hours and given twice yearly in a setting similar to the SAT.
“The student is taught and prepared, and they know what’s coming [when they are tested],” said Nick Doom, a government and history teacher at Clark Magnet High School. “I, on the other hand, was faced with losing my job, and my 21 years mean nothing because I’m not ‘qualified’ in the eyes of some bureaucrat because I don’t have this under my belt.”
Doom is no stranger to CLAD. The subject comes up regularly in the nighttime classes he teaches for teacher candidates at Cal State Los Angeles.
“The classes I teach fulfill the CLAD requirements for those students, but not for me,” he said.
