17. A Locked Gate With An Expensive Key

A Locked Gate With An Expensive Key

Remember how the Executive Director of the teacher licensing board (TSPC) (upon being prompted by my State Representative) recently told me that I should have had the FACS (Foods) endorsement all along?  She got back to me and said I’m eligible for it to be printed on my next renewed license if I fill out a form and pay a $100 fee.

She told me that I can have the FACS endorsement as soon as I get the 4.5 graduate credits to renew the license.  It will actually require 9 graduate quarter credits when all is said and done – 4.5 to start the process and get an active license again, before I am eligible to apply for positions.   Another 4.5 before I am eligible for a permanent Oregon license.

According to the licensure laws, the graduate credit to renew must be post-licensure.  I don't need another Master's, but I do need more graduate school.

I did not get the credit to renew yet due to no job and poor prospects, fully aware that my license would expire.  I do not need the grad credit for a substitute’s license, or to write textbooks.

I have earned over 375 post-graduate medical dietetics continuing education credits in the 25+ years since I received my Master’s, which are required to be an RD (75 credits every 5 years).  These are taught at a professional level, assuming a Master’s or a Doctorate.  My professional organization sent a letter to TSPC about my performance in this area.  These credits don’t count – they must be graduate credits germane to my teaching obtained after my first license.

    

Director said that I needed the new credit because my Master’s Degree was decades old.

Was that deliberately meant to be insulting?   

There is no legal expiration date on credits or transcripts.  

My Master’s was current to enable me to pass the various 21^st-century Praxis exams that I took to gain my endorsements (tests designed for current majors in the subjects).  It was current enough to get me recruited to come teach.  Current enough for WOU to accept me into their Post-Bacc.  Current enough for TSPC to grant me my license.

    

I asked the Executive Director of TSPC for a waiver, since over-qualification was my problem in the first place.  

She said no, and that she didn’t have the authority.  She replied personally, and I appreciate her time.  I asked who does have authority.  The reply:  It’s written into law, and everyone must comply.

It is a problem that I already had a graduate degree before coming to teach.

What's more, after I renew, I then must be employed in teaching for several years to gain my final -- permanent -- license.  I could spend all the money for grad school and renew, and still end up out in the cold job-wise and lose my license again with no recourse.      

They don’t know how to open the gates to welcome career-changers.  Do they want to?