Allegations
of Curriculum Deficiencies
Professional
employees, commissioned officers, parents of students, and other residents of a
school entity (as defined in 22 Pa. Code § 4.3) may submit complaints
containing allegations of curriculum deficiencies to the Pennsylvania
Department of Education’s (PDE) Secretary of Education (Secretary). PDE will not accept or process anonymous
complaints and may share complaints with respective school entities. Complainants should provide PDE with their
email addresses, if any, as email is PDE’s preferred method of contact.
Upon
receipt, the Secretary will forward the allegations to appropriate PDE staff members
to log and determine whether the allegations are curricular in nature as
contemplated by 22 Pa. Code Ch. 4. Examples
of curricular allegations may include a school entity’s failure to provide
required instruction in any of the content areas listed in 22 Pa. Code Ch. 4,
including, but not limited to: science and technology; environment and ecology;
social studies; arts and humanities; career education and work; health, safety
and physical education; family and consumer science; mathematics; language
arts; and foreign languages. Examples of
non-curricular allegations may relate to a school entity’s staffing, such as
guidance counselors and nurses, and facilities, such as building capacity and
conditions. PDE staff members may
request additional information from the complainant to determine whether an
allegation is curricular in nature.
If the
allegations are not curricular in nature, PDE staff members will determine
whether the allegations merit referral to an existing complaint procedure
within PDE (e.g., special education,
gifted education, educator misconduct) and, if so, will make the referral as
appropriate. If the allegations do not
merit referral to existing complaint procedures within PDE, then PDE staff
members will forward the allegations to the school entity and will take no
further action.
If the
allegations are curricular in nature, PDE staff members will notify the school
entity of the allegations and will investigate the allegations to determine
whether a curriculum deficiency exists based on the curricular requirements set
forth in 22 Pa. Code Ch. 4. As part of
the investigation, PDE may require the school entity to respond to the
allegations and may contact the complainant.
If PDE staff members determine that a curriculum deficiency does not exist,
PDE staff members will notify the school entity and will take no further
action. If PDE staff members determine
that a curriculum deficiency does exist, PDE staff members will notify the
school entity and will require the school entity to submit a plan to correct
the deficiency.
PDE will
make a good faith effort to perform the actions outlined above in accordance
with the following timeline: (1) conduct an investigation within 90 days of a
determination that an allegation is curricular; and, (2) determine whether a
curriculum deficiency exists within 45 days of the completed investigation. Depending upon the nature of the curriculum
deficiency and the resulting investigation, PDE may take additional time for
these steps.
PDE
staff members will review the actions taken to correct the deficiency within
one year of approval of the corrective action plan. If PDE staff members determine that the
school entity has addressed the curriculum deficiency following this one-year
period, PDE staff members will notify the school entity and will close the
matter. If PDE staff members determine
that the deficiency still exists following this one-year period, the Secretary
will send formal notice of the deficiency to the school entity and will take appropriate
action under state law, if necessary.
Subject
to the availability of PDE resources and the number and nature of complaints
received on any given date, PDE staff members will acknowledge receipt of
complaints and notify each complainant of resolution.
The
Secretary and/or PDE staff members may consult with the Office of Chief Counsel
during this process. Complainants may
contact PDE staff members at any time during this process for a status update.
