The following message was received via email from the President of PSEA on May 6 2005.

What to do if you did not receive an Act 48 grace period notice

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has mailed notices to
individuals who hold PA teacher certification and who have not completed
their required Act 48 hours for the compliance period ending June 30,
2005.  The letter offers a one-year grace period for completing the
requirements, upon application from the certificate holder.  PDE is
offering the grace period because it did not mail an earlier
notification to certificate holders as required by statute.

If you had your certification on or before July 1, 2000, then you are
required to complete the Act 48 continuing professional development
requirements by June 30, 2005.  If you did not receive PDE's letter and
need more time to complete your hours, please see the advice below.  If
you need information about Act 48 requirements, go the PDE website at
http://www.teaching.state.pa.us/teaching/cwp/view.asp?a=11&Q=32371. You
can also learn more about Act 48 on the PSEA website at
(http://www.psea.org/article.cfm?SID=724.

Advice to educators who did not receive PDE notice:

1.  PDE has said that it will only accept requests for the grace period
from persons it has mailed to.

2.   If you did not get your notice, PDE may not have used your current
address.  You should send PDE your current address using their change of
address form which can be found at the PDE website at
http://www.teaching.state.pa.us/teaching/cwp/view.asp?a=15&q=109049 so
that you will receive future mailings.

3.   If you did not get your notice and believe you may need additional
time to complete your Act 48 requirements, we advise you to send a
letter to PDE by certified mail indicating that you did not receive a
notice but that you still want the grace period. Your letter must be
received by PDE by May 31, 2005.  You should send a copy of this letter
to your PSEA UniServ as well so that we are aware that you have not
received your notice.

PSEA does not know if your letter will guarantee you the grace period in
light of PDE's position that it will offer grace periods only to persons
who received its mailing, but this may help protect you in the event you
cannot get your credits in on time.  If you have to send such a letter,
you should make every effort to get your credits in on time to avoid a
problem. If you do not complete your credits in time, PDE may place your
certificate in inactive status and you will need to file an appeal.

James R. Weaver
PSEA President