Policy 408.04
Certificated Employee Reduction in Force
Reductions in force of certificated employees may be required due to decreasing enrollments, limited financial support, changes in financial support, budget restriction, changing programs, or other changes in circumstances. If such changes occur and a necessary reduction of certificated staff may not be accomplished through normal attrition, the Superintendent (or the Superintendent’s designee) shall recommend to the Board those certificated employees to be reduced under the reduction in force provisions of the continuing contract laws provided, however, that no permanent (or tenured) employee may be reduced through a reduction in force while a probationary (non-tenured) employee is retained in a position to perform a service that the permanent employee is qualified by certification and endorsement to perform, or where certification is not applicable, by reason of college credits in the teaching area. Dates of notification to certificated staff shall correspond with state law. Certificated staff shall not be reduced in force unless it is specifically found that there are no other vacancies on the staff for which the employee to be reduced is qualified by endorsement or professional training to perform.
Due to the often intimate, confidential and unique personal working relationship necessary between the administration and the Board of Education, a certificated employee who is not currently serving in a predominately administrative capacity shall have no rights under this policy to any administration position within the school system.
This policy shall specifically permit and allow reductions in force to occur which deal with total elimination or termination, or amendment of contracts or positions, which deal with reductions in force from full time to part time, which deal with reductions in force from part time to a lesser part time, or which deal with any other reductions in force, which result in the termination or amendment of a certificated employee’s contract or employment position.
The selection of personnel to be reduced will involve consideration of the following (not listed in order of importance): (1) programs to be offered, (2) areas of certification and endorsement, (3) state and federal regulations which may mandate certain employment practices, (4) special qualifications that may require specific training and/or experience, (5) contributions to activity programs (defined as history of acceptance of extra duty assignments), (6) seniority (defined as the number of years of uninterrupted service within the District), (7) the organizational and educational impact created by multiple part-time certificated employees, and (8) qualifications based on performance and competence (as defined by the use of employee evaluations over the immediate past three years).
Employee evaluations (including frequency of the evaluation, evaluation forms, number and length of classroom observations, if applicable) used for purposes of this policy shall conform to the Board policies and administrative rules, regulations, forms and practices related to the periodic evaluation of certificated staff members in effect or as amended from time to time, all of which are incorporated herein by this reference as they exist or as they are amended from time to time as though set forth in full.
Any certificated employee whose contract shall be reduced in force shall be considered to have been dismissed with honor and shall upon request, be provided a letter to that effect. Such employee shall have preferred rights to reemployment for a period of twenty-four (24) months commencing at the end of the contract year, and the employee shall be recalled on the basis of length of uninterrupted service to the school district to any position for which the employee is qualified by endorsement or college preparation to teach or perform. Certificated employees shall, upon reappointment, retain any benefits that had accrued prior to the reduction in force, but such leave shall not be considered as a year of employment by the district.
It shall be the responsibility of all certificated employees to file with the Superintendent a copy of such certificated employee’s teaching certificate or administrative and supervisory certificate or other license, including endorsement, upon initial employment with the District. On or before March 15 of each year thereafter, or so long as the employee is employed in the school system or has rights of recall, the employee shall file evidence of any changes in such employee’s certification, endorsements, or licensure which have occurred since the previous year.
Any certificated employee whose employment contract is reduced in force shall, during the employee’s period of recall, report the employee’s current address to the Superintendent, and shall inform the Superintendent of any changes of address thereafter. If a vacancy occurs in the school system for which a certificated employee has rights of recall, the offer of such employment may be sent by the superintendent to the employee’s last known address. If no acceptance of such offer is received within fourteen (14) days of mailing, and the Superintendent has no personal knowledge of the whereabouts of the employee, the employee shall be deemed to have waived the employee’s right to recall to said employment position.
Legal Reference:
RRS 79-846 to 849
Adopted: July 13, 1992
Revised: August 12, 1996
Revised: February 13, 2006