CHAPTER 565
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 58
DIRECTING THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION TO DIRECT THE NEW CASTLE COUNTY PLANNING BOARD OF EDUCATION TO ADMINISTER THE STATE CERTIFICATION RULES CONCERNING GUIDANCE PERSONNEL WITHOUT ANY LOWERING OF STANDARDS.
WHEREAS, the State Board of Education is responsible by law for determining the certification of professional personnel employed in the public schools of Delaware; and
WHEREAS, the Laws of Delaware require in 14 Del. C., Section 1092 that "every employee of a reorganized school district must meet the standards for qualification as adopted by the State Board of Education and be certified or otherwise licensed in accordance with these standards in order to be placed on the official payroll of the reorganized school district"; and
WHEREAS, in the Opinion of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware dated January 9, 1978, the Court made the following requirement:
"Fourth, to ameliorate the racial pressures on students undergoing desegregation and to prevent resegregation under the guise of curriculum or program choices, the NCCPBE must institute an effective and nondiscriminatory counseling and guidance program..."; and
WHEREAS, in the Order of the said Court issued on January 9, 1978, the Court further indicated that:
"In the event of the necessary transfer or reassignment of any school employee, who is certified under state law in any of the Component Districts to a position in the New District for which such employee is not qualified for certification by the State Board of Education or other certifying authority, as the case may be, such school employee so reassigned shall remain in a fully certified status for so long as he or she holds any assigned position in the New District"; and
WHEREAS, on or about April 5, 1978, the New Castle County Planning Board of Education in announcing vacancies for the position of Guidance Advisor set forth the following in a statement of qualifications:
"Although guidance certification is not a requirement, a strong interest in helping students, and some training
and/or experience are necessary especially in job and/or college placement for students"; and
WHEREAS, it is the desire and intention of the General Assembly of the State of Delaware that if desegregation is to occur in New Castle County by the reassignment of pupils from one school to another, the services provided to those pupils in this difficult time of transition should indeed be the best services available.
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the 129th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, with the approval of the Governor, that the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is directed to immediately advise the New Castle County Planning Board of Education through its Superintendent Designate that the persons employed for guidance positions necessary to the transition from eleven to one school district in New Castle County shall be persons appropriately certified according to the existing rules and regulations of the State Board of Education.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall further direct the New Castle County Planning Board of Education that in hiring personnel for the guidance positions necessary, it shall be guided by the Opinion of the Court concerning the quality and necessity of that program; and that in the application of the Order of the Court, the Board shall make every effort to avoid "... the event of necessary transfer or reassignment...to a position in the New District for which such employee is not qualified for certification by the State Board of Education.