Administrator's certification lapsed

WINSTED — It appears a lack of required paper work — and not a lack of qualifications — caused a top administrator for Winchester Public Schools to be temporarily out of compliance with the state’s educator certification requirements.

The certification file of Catherine Tower, the district’s pupil personnel service director, was flagged for lack of compliance during a routine annual audit of the district’s teacher certifications by the state Department of Education.

The electronic sweep found that Tower — who had served as a school administrator in Massachusetts prior to coming to the Winchester School District in October 2007 — had applied for and been granted an intermediate administration and supervision certificate on Dec. 15, 2008. The certificate is valid until Dec. 14, 2016.

But as the director of pupil personnel services, the position that oversees the district’s special education program, Connecticut’s Department of Education regulations require that an administrator “hold both the intermediate administrator or supervisor certificate and certification in the service category to be supervised.�

In Tower’s case, she is required to hold a certificate in special education in addition to the intermediate administration certification she obtained in 2008 to be able to serve as a pupil personnel services director in a Connecticut school district.

As an administrator who came to work on a Connecticut school district from out of state, state regulations gave Tower a one-year grace period from her date of hire — Oct. 1, 2007 — to obtain both certifications required to serve as a director of pupil personnel services here.

In the meantime, Tower’s Massachusetts certifications in administration and special education served as her education credentials, allowing her to legally work in her post within the Winchester School District as she worked on meeting Connecticut’s requirements.

Unfortunately, according to state education department spokesperson Thomas Murphy, although she had begun the application process, Tower was never issued a certificate in special education by the Oct. 1, 2008, deadline because her file was missing information required to complete it, such as college records and transcripts.

“There was a period that she did not have full certification,� Murphy said, adding that although it appears that Tower was “working on this all along and just had to do a few extra things,� as an administrator it was her “personal and professional duty� to ensure she held the required certifications by the time her grace period expired.

“She should have made certain that she was certified,� he said.

After contacting the school district and Tower about the lack of certification compliance last September, Murphy said the department of education eventually received the information needed to issue her a “nonrenewable interim initial educator� certificate in special education in March.

The validity of the certificate, however, was backdated by the state department of education to July 1, 2009. It expires on June 30.

This means that from Oct. 1, 2008, to June 31, 2009, Tower was out of compliance with the state’s certification requirements.

“She was fully certified in the eyes of the state on July 1, 2009,� he said.

He added, however, that at no time was the district or Tower under investigation by the state Department of Education for certification violations, as was reported by another newspaper last week.

“It was not that this individual was not qualified,� Murphy said of Tower. “All the things were in place, there just wasn’t a [complete] record of it. And so we couldn’t issue a certification.�

Murphy said to maintain her certification, Tower must now take and pass the Praxis II exam in special education before her nonrenewable special education certification runs out at the end of next month.

“All educators in the state of Connecticut have to take that test,� he said.

Superintendent of Schools Blaise Salerno told The Journal Tuesday that all of the proper applications had been put through the system upon her hire. And, although there was a period when Tower was not fully certified, she was never denied certification.

“Our belief was that she was certifiable,� Salerno said. “It was just a paperwork issue.�

He added that he went through a similar process four years ago when he returned to Connecticut from New York to serve as Winchester’s superintendent. Even though he had been certified as the superintendent of the Watertown Public School system previously, it had been more than five years, and so he had to obtain new certification.

“I had to start the process all over again,� he said.

Murphy said with Tower currently in full compliance, the only penalty she may face is the loss of a portion of her pension plan issued through the Connecticut Teacher’s Retirement Board that would have been accrued during the noncompliance time period.

“That’s why it was important to backdate the certification,� he said.

In addition, Murphy said he does not expect the district to be assessed any penalties by the state due to the period that Tower served as the director of pupil personnel services and was not fully certified.

He added, however, that some parents of special education students may decide to request new Planning and Placement Team (PPT) meeting reports that were issued during the noncompliance time period that Tower was “directly involved in.�

The meetings serve as a tool to determine if a child qualifies as a special education student, what their disability or disabilities may or may not be, as well as to create an approach or plan to serve and meet that student’s needs.

But Salerno said the reports are issued through team meetings, and parents must sign off on the agreement before a PPT becomes valid.

The issue, he said, is if any parents were denied their rights to challenge their child’s PPT report and/or findings during the period Tower was not fully certified in Connecticut. He said he is not aware of that happening to any student or parent during that that time.

Tower did not respond to phone messages or an e-mail requesting comment for this story. Salerno, however, told The Journal that the administrator felt the only person who should speak to the press on district issues such as this was the superintendent.