Tweet

() Comments

Report

Yes and No, if she has never provided a reference before then
she can claim that the reference letter duty is protected under
the Paperwork Reduction Act. If she has provided reference
letters in the past then the district can argue she waived her
protections under the paperwork reduction act. Her contract
may also explicitly state she is required to provide reference
letters. However, an exemption to the Paperwork Reduction act,
requires a teacher to "provide a summary of student
achievement, progress and performance", there is nothing
prohibiting a district from setting the form of that summary as a
"letter".
Teachers and teacher associations have argued successfully that
the summary may be extremely brief, a couple of words, and no
reference letter that reads "Students progress is acceptable" is
going to impress any admissions officer.

What is very clear and not debatable is that a teacher can not be
asked or required to make any statement that they believe to be
false, deceptive or misleading. A district can require you write a
letter, butt hey can not require you to write a positive one.
What is also clear is that teachers are prohibited from
representing the district and their school in public manners
without their approval. What this means is that a district is
wholly within their authority to prevent and discipline
unauthorized communications, and that using district or school
stationary, letterhead and seals, etc is well within their authority
to control.
So while you can write a negative reference letter for a student
you must have the districts authorization to do so if you are
doing so as an agent/employee of the district, and that using
their letterhead, envelops, postage, seals, etc without
authorization is punishable, perhaps even criminally. A district
would be absolutely within their rights and policy to inspect,
review, and restrict any communication (including a reference
letter) on behalf of the district and school.

So while a district cant make you sign or draft a document that
is false, misleading, deceptive, they can prohibit you from any
communication on behalf of the district or school.

The legal, professional and appropriate means of resolving this
issue is too draft a simple request for professional reference
form. In the form describe that your reference will be personal,
will be on your own stationary or letterhead and will not identify
any affiliation with the school or district and that the student
and legal guardians waive any and all liability for the outcome
of the letter. You should also at this point on the form identify
to the student whether the tone of the letter will be positive,
negative or neutral. Then have the student and parent/legal
guardian sign the form and return it to you with a self stamped
envelope addressed to the appropriate receiver.

When writing the letter make sure your letterhead and
stationary do not identify the school or district, do not use their
emblems or logos or name. Limit your discussion and inclusion
of the schools and districts name. It is advisable to reference
the school/district and the students name together not with
your name.

USE:

"Timmy Smith is a student at West High School in Anytown,
Texas, USA" I was Timmy's fine arts teacher from 2014-2015.

DONT USE:

I am Jane Doe, Timmy's fine arts teacher at West High School,
Anytown, Texas, USA.

It is crucial to pay close attention to the signatory line, and use
the following

Jane Doe, B.FA.
Professional Educator
State of Texas

Refrain from using the School or District name or tile in the
signatory or salutation, doing so indicates that you are attesting
to the document as an agent or officer of the school/district.

DONT USE:

Jane Doe, M.FA.
Teacher
West High School
Anytown, Texas

Do not collect any money even for postage from the student
(hence the self addressed stamped envelope, if you dont want
to use a form, you would still be well advised in following these
letter writing guidelines.

The reason is that your immunity within Texas is very likely to
provide you immunity when acting within your capacity as a
"professional educator" and doing so is not solely restricted to
actions you provide or do on behalf of your employment within
the school environment. So a professional educator providing a
professional reference within their scope as a professional
educator (NOT to be confused with a personal reference) is
going to provide you either immunity or a much better position
if your sued.

On 1/10/15, Curious wrote:
> A person in my department is being pressured by the family
of a SpEd student
> to give a recommendation for an elite professional school.
This student has
> been provided with an enormous amount of support and her
IEP's water down
> even some of the basic skills and principles of the classes
involved. Sadly, the
> administration is terrified of the parents because one is a well
connected
> lawyer.
>
> This student, who I have also had in class, has a low IQ, is
limited in every
> aspect of reading, writing and speaking. In addition the
student has other
> disorders which her parents have taken pains to avoid
revealing to the student
> who is now nearly 18. The parents have basically demanded
every kind of
> implementation available, to the point of even threatening
standardized
> testing organizations if they don't allow the student to
exercise all of the IEP
> demands that include extended time, access to dictionary and
more. They
> didn't ask me for a recommendation because I was very
straightforward about
> this student's abilities. The teacher in my department is a very
sweet lady who
> is dealing with a number of personal issues and the family
and administration
> are using this opportunity to bully her into a
recommendation. So LEGALLY,
> can the administration force the teacher to do this?

Posts on this thread, including this one