3120 - EMPLOYMENT OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF
The School Board recognizes that it is vital to the successful operation of the Corporation that positions created by the Board are filled with qualified and competent personnel.
The Board shall approve the employment of and also, when not covered by the terms of a negotiated agreement, fix the compensation and establish the term of employment for each professional staff member employed by this Corporation.
Individuals employed in the following categories shall be considered members of the professional staff: Those defined by the teacher contract.
Such approval shall be given only to those candidates for employment recommended by the Superintendent.
When any recommended candidate has been rejected by the Board, the Superintendent shall make a substitute recommendation.
All applications for employment shall be referred to the Superintendent.
Anti-Nepotism
"Relatives" include: children, stepchildren, siblings, half-siblings, step-siblings, spouse, domestic partner, parents, stepparents, in-laws, or bona fide dependents/living in the same residence of a staff member.
Relatives of staff members may be employed by the Corporation, provided the relative being employed is not placed in a position in which the relative would be supervised directly by the staff member.
Corporation employees may not date, develop romantic relationships with or have sexual relations with individuals who are the employee's supervisor or those that they supervise.
Any professional staff member's intentional misstatement of fact or omission material to qualifications for employment or the determination of salary shall constitute grounds for dismissal.
The employment of professional staff members prior to approval by the Board is authorized when their employment is required to maintain continuity in the educational program. Employment shall be recommended to the Board at the next regular meeting.
Wherever possible, positions shall be filled by properly-licensed professionals.
No candidate for employment as a professional staff member shall receive recommendation for such employment without having proffered visual evidence of his/her certification or pending application for certification. Such certification must indicate all of the areas in which the candidate has been certified. No deletions are acceptable.
The Corporation shall review, in accordance with any applicable terms of the negotiated agreement, a candidate's previous teaching experience at a college, university, or certified nonpublic school in determining his/her position on the salary schedule.
A teacher who is employed by a school corporation subject to a community school corporation reorganization, loses his/her job in the school corporation due to a community school corporation reorganization, and not later than one (1) year after the teacher loses his/her job is subsequently employed by a community school corporation created by a reorganization shall retain the rights and privileges under I.C. 20-28-6 through I.C. 20-28-10 that the teacher held at the time the teacher lost his/her job in the original school corporation.
The Superintendent shall prepare administrative guidelines for the recruitment and selection of all professional staff.
VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS
If a staff member is a volunteer firefighter and has notified the School Corporation in writing the School Corporation may not discipline the staff member for:
absence from duty by reason of responding to a fire or emergency call that was received prior to the time the staff member was to report to duty;
leaving to respond to a fire or an emergency call if the staff member has prior supervisor authorization to leave duty in response to a call received after reporting to work.
However, when an emergency call is received while the staff member is on duty, the staff member should notify the principal before leaving so coverage can be arranged;
an injury or absence from work because of an injury that occurs while the staff member is engaged in emergency firefighting or other emergency response, provided the staff member's absence from work due to each instance of emergency firefighting activity or other emergency response does not exceed six (6) months from the date of injury.
The Corporation shall require that the staff member present a written statement from the officer in charge of the volunteer fire department at the time of the absence confirming the staff member was engaged in an emergency call at the time of the absence.
The Corporation shall require that the staff member who was injured while engaged in emergency firefighting or other emergency response provide evidence from a physician or other medical authority confirming treatment for the injury at the time of the absence and a connection between the injury and the employee's emergency response activities. Any such evidence shall be retained in a separate medical file created for the staff member and treated as a confidential medical record.
REQUIREMENTS FOR TITLE I TEACHERS
All teachers newly hired for a Title I supported program must be "highly qualified."
"Highly Qualified" means:
full State certification as a teacher or passed State teacher licensing exam and holds current license to teach; certification or license requirements may not be waived on emergency, temporary, or provisional basis;
for elementary teachers new to the profession, this also requires:
at least a bachelor’s degree;
passing a rigorous State test on subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, math, and other areas of elementary curriculum (State certification test may suffice);
for secondary or middle school teachers new to the profession this also requires:
at least a bachelor’s degree, and
passing a rigorous State test in each of the subject areas s/he will teach (State certification test may suffice), or
for each academic subject taught, having an academic major, course work equivalent to an undergraduate major, a graduate degree, or advanced certification or credentialing;
for elementary, middle, or secondary school teachers with prior experience, this also requires:
at least a bachelor’s degree, and
meets standards for new teachers (above), or
demonstrates competence in all academic subjects s/he teaches based on a uniform State standard of evaluation (standard for academic subject matter and teaching skills set by the State).
REQUIREMENTS FOR TEACHERS GENERALLY
The highly qualified status requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act have been replaced by the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Although the reporting of highly qualified teacher status by the Corporation is no longer required, teachers in Title I programs must be highly qualified. Additionally, ESSA requires teachers be ''properly licensed." In order to ensure teachers are properly licensed, refer to https://www.in.gov/doe/educators/educator-licensing/what-can-i-teach-with-my-license/ for the most recent "assignment code" language.
Although the requirements concerning highly qualified teachers have been removed from the IDEA and Article 7 regulations, the requirement that students be taught by teachers appropriately licensed to teach the subject area remains.
A special education teacher must hold the appropriate licensure based on a student's disability to be assigned as the student's teacher of record. A special education teacher may teach a core academic subject only if the student is being taught to alternate achievement standards. A teacher who holds any special education license is properly licensed to teach any applied course.
Revised 1/14/03
Revised 12/9/03
Revised 10/12/04
Revised 11/11/14
Revised 10/12/21
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