Previously, there were two separate systems tracking the same professional development activities. The first is the VDOE license renewal points (PD points). You need 180 of these every 5 years. The VDOE does not stipulate when those points must be earned. You can earn them all in the first year; you can do PD at 1 am or 1 pm, during school, after school, etc.; as long as you're adding to your knowledge and skills for teaching students in an activity that is compliant with the VDOE License Renewal Manual, the activity will count for points towards your license renewal. Each hour you spend on professional development = 1 point.
Previously, we also had the contractual 18 hours from the HCS teacher contract. In their contracts, teachers are paid for 3 extra days per year beyond the days they show up at their official worksites. This allows you to stay after school for PD, go to Saturday workshops, etc., and get paid--but you're paid up-front, rather than afterward. Therefore, it used to be interpreted that these 18 hours had to be done outside of normal working hours. Based on changes to licensure from the VDOE, we have revisited the HCS requirement for 18 hours of professional development outside of contract time. Effective with the 2015/16 school year, Human Resources will no longer track which professional development hours are completed outside of contract time. You are still required to complete 180 points in 5 years in order to maintain your licensure.
Your license renewal points WILL continue to be tracked and housed in Professional Development Database (directions to access your training records are here.) All PD activities can count towards the 180 license renewal points regardless of when they occur.
It is recommended that you submit out-of-division activities for which you would like to receive points as soon as possible after the occurrence of the event in order to keep your record up-to-date.
Still, have questions?
Contact Human Resources for questions regarding the contractual 18 hours. Contact Kate Wolfe (kwolfe@hampton.k12.va.us) for questions regarding VDOE points and approval for these activities.