What do you think? I think that if they didn't specify which agency had to do the accreditation that they shouldn't penalize these teachers.
Online doctorate questioned by schools
By Jackie Harrison-Martin, The News-Herald
PUBLISHED: August 4, 2004
Teachers with a doctorate degree and 10 years of service at the top end of the district's salary scale during the 2003-04 school year earned $83,243 annually.
HURON TWP. — District officials no longer want to pay a higher salary to a teacher with a doctorate from a suspected online "diploma mill."
The teacher earned the degree from Cambridge State University, which has a post office box in Hawaii, but its offices are in California, according to district officials.
School Supt. Thomas Hosler said the university was forced out of Louisiana when legal action began there against it. It is featured at
www.ripoffreport.com.
Another Huron teacher is in the midst of obtaining a degree from the university and a third has started the initial process, but has not taken any course work yet, according to the district.
At issue is the university's accreditation. While the school is accredited, Hosler said the accrediting firm for the university is "a sham."
The superintendent said the accrediting firm in question does not come in and look at teaching certificates, check course offerings and requirements or explore who is teaching in what areas. Standard accrediting firms make all of those inquires.
Hosler contacted officials at the Michigan Department of Education on the matter and said he was told no teaching degree from that university would be accepted here.
In this region, the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges, a long-standing firm, is the accrediting body for schools.
The superintendent said the district has offered to reimburse the tuition costs already paid by the teachers, but will not compensate them with an increased salary for the advanced degree obtained through that school.
The individual has until Sept. 1 to accept or decline the offer.
Teachers with a doctorate degree and 10 years of service at the top end of the district's salary scale during the 2003-04 school year earned $83,243 annually. That salary is about 20 percent more than a teacher with a master's degree, Hosler said.
If the teacher with the doctorate accepts the district's proposal, it would reduce that teacher's salary to the master's level.
Last year, that salary was $69,369 annually.
The teacher in question has been paid at the higher salary since the spring, Hosler said.
The district will have to go through the State Tenure Commission if the teachers decide not to accept the district's proposal.
The commission views lowering a teacher's salary as a demotion and that would require justification and possibly arbitration.
"I hope they take the offer," Hosler said. "It's a generous one."
A representative from the teachers' union could not be reached for comment.
Hosler found that other school districts in the Downriver area have policy language that addresses the type of degrees acceptable by the district.
Huron's policy requires degrees to be earned from an accredited institution. Some districts take that a step further, requiring accreditation to come from specific accrediting firms.
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