At the beginning of January (Jan. 13, 2014, specifically), I received the following from Dr Paul Molinelli, the Director of Professional Development:
Dear Eric,
Don’t worry — FDB doesn’t happen until NEXT year! However, when board members and small staff debriefed last year’s FDB season, we decided that all tenured faculty members should receive digital copies of their most recent letters from the Board (yes, about time we moved beyond dead tree skins).
As a result, I’m attaching your most recent letter, and an invitation to meet with me or any of the assistant principals about questions relating to any Board recommendations in your FDB letter. Of course, by around May 1st, you’ll receive Patrick’s formal invitation to participate in the FDB process during the 2014-15 school year.
Again, let me know if you have any questions.
I don’t have a whole lot of time right now to think about this, with a rather large piece of our iPad program pivoting in the next month, and the beginning of the Track & Field season, but I do want to make note of this process here. As such, I’ve created a new tag for my blog, tenure.
Attached below, for future reference, is the letter I received from the Faculty Development Board in 2009:
2009 Tenure Letter by Eric E Castro
As I look through the Recommendations in the letter, I’m struck by how few I’ve accomplished over the past five-years — largely because the circumstances of my employment have changed. In 2009, I was teaching freshmen for World History 1, but now I have seniors for AP Psychology. I’ve added Track & Field to my work, and the time-commitment to “special projects,” for lack of a better title, has grown significantly. As to Recommendation #1, “build more positive, productive relationships with a broader range of faculty,” I’ll have to think about that one a little more. Reading it right now, I’m having an emotional reaction to the recommendation itself. As to Recommendation #2 and #3… well, I haven’t progressed much on those.
Fortunately, I have a few months until the end of the year…