8/20/2019 Chapter 5 - William Allan Kritsonis, Lecture Notes

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Chapter 5Public School Law

William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

Almost all administrator and teachercontracts contain a clause that’s says

the superintendent can assign andreassign at his/her discretion. The courtcase of Jett v. Dallas I.S.D. (1998)teaches one that reassignment clauses

should be written to mean what theysay.

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Wrongly motivated reassignments can andusually will lead to litigation. In the court caseof Finch v. Fort Bend I.S.D. (2003) the principalwas reassigned. She felt that her newassignment was based on the clashing with hersupervisors over internal school matters. Sheled a grievance and a lawsuit. ecause the!rincipal was give a memo outlining thereasons for the reassignment" nothingamounted of the matter of general publicconcern.

REASSIG!E"#continue$%

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#ducators salaries vary from district to district.#ach year there are increases or cut bac$s.

 The state has a minimum pay scale that everydistrict must meet for their teachers" librarians"counselors and nurses. The variation in paybetween districts comes from the districts localsupplement. The Weslaco Federation ofeacher v. e!as "d#cation $%enc&  rulingsstated that as long as total compensation is notreduced the local supplement can be.

Compensation

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 Teacher evaluations were done di%erently ineach school district until the passing of the&'() *ouse ill +,. This allowed all districts toadopt the Te-as Teacher Appraisal System tobe used across Te-as. The TTAS paved the wayfor the career ladder which would provideincentives to $eep good teachers in the classroom instead of moving in to administration. In&'' legislature dismantled the career ladderand made signicant changes to the appraisalsystem.

"eacher Appraisal

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 The change made by legislature paved the wayfor the current system of !AS 0!rofessionalevelopment and Appraisal System1. istrictsmust use this system or develop their own planthat address the areas teachersimplementation of discipline managementprocedures and student performance. The planmust be approved by the local board. The lawre2uires the board to accept or re3ect the planas is. The board can’t modify the pan.

"eacher Appraisal#Continue$%

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!AS is based on observable" 3ob4related behaviors.It involves one appraisal by one appraiser. Theteacher can demand a second appraisal by adi%erent appraiser and also permitted to le a

written rebuttal to the appraisal. There are eightassessing domains used in this system. #achdomain has ratings of & 5 ) with e-ceedse-pectations being the best mar$ and

unsatisfactory being the worst. 6oehler v.7a8range I.S.. reveals that administrators arere2uired to verify" document and share rating withthe teacher promptly.

"eacher Appraisal#Continue$%

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Stop" loo$ and listen= This is an option adistrict may use when considering agrievance" but choose not to respond to it. The court case Wil-er#tchins I.S.D. 0,<<&1shows that it is important for employees to betimely when ling a grievance. The timelinestarts from the day that the employee $nows

or should $now of the event claimed of" notthe date when the employee reali;es thelegal conse2uences of the event.

Grie&ance#Continue$%

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School administrators should be careful when itcomes to the rights of employees. This is anissue that can cause a loss of employment. Thecourt case of Sit/ler v. Baers (1992)

mentioned that a principal had told potentialemployers of a former employee that theteacher has led three other grievances andcreated chaos on the campus. The

commissioner in this court case proceeded withreprimanding the principal and then moved torevo$ing the mid4management certicate.

Grie&ance#Continue$%

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 The superintendents authority to assign andreassign certied sta% is limited by theconcept of >same professional capacity.?Also" an educator’s probationary or termcontract will be renewed in the sameprofessional capacity unless the schoolsdistrict follows the procedures for nonrenewalof contract. @ortunately" for superintendents">same professional capacity? covers a lot ofground.

Same Pro'essionalCapacit(

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A reassignment does not a%ect theemployee’s title" position" or compensation"but only the duties to be done on a dailybasis. The typical teacher contract speciesthat the teacher can be assigned andreassigned to such duties as the supervisordeems appropriate. evertheless" challengescan be made.

Duties an$ Sche$ule

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#-actly what benets an employee is entitledto depends to a great e-tent on the actualwording of the employment contract and thepolicies of the school district.

State law does" however" set forth somedemarcations on benets with which school

districts must comply.

Emplo(ment )ene*tsPlannin+ an$ Prep Perio$

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#ach classroom teacher is to have at least)9< minutes within each two wee$ period forinstructional preparation" parent teacherconferences" evaluating students’ wor$" andplanning. #ach planning and preparationperiod must be at least )9 minutes long" andmust be scheduled during the school day.

 

Emplo(ment )ene*tsPlannin+ an$ Prep#continue$%

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:lassroom teachers and full4time librariansalso are entitled to at least a < minute lunchperiod free from all duties and responsibilitiesconnected with the instruction or supervisionof students" unless the district is faced withsuch dire situations as personnel shortage"e-treme economic conditions" or unavoidableor unforeseen circumstances.

Emplo(ment )ene*tsDut(-ree Lunch

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#very school district employee is entitled tove days of personal leave per year.

Although School districts cannot restrict thepurposes for which employees ta$e personalleave" it can impose other restrictions.

*owever" school policy can restrict the timingand limit the use of leave in other ways.

Emplo(ment )ene*tsPersonal Lea&e

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 T#: ,,.<<) re2uires each school district too%er its employees health insurance. Theinsurance can be provided by a ris$ poolinvolving one or more districts" by aninsurance company" or by health maintenanceorgani;ation 0*BC1.

efore a district contracts with an insurer or

*BC" the latter must provide a auditednancial statement showing its nancialcondition.

Emplo(ment )ene*ts.ealth Insurance

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A school district can opt to participate in thestate health insurance program" sub3ect tocertain conditions.

School districts must certify annually to thee-ecutive director of the #mployeesDetirement System that the district’scoverage meets the re2uirements of the

statute.

Emplo(ment )ene*ts.ealth Insurance

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School districts are not re2uired toparticipate in the federal Social Securitysystem" and most do not.

*owever" 8overnment :ode (,,.<<Ire2uires every employee of Te-as publicschool districts belong to the TeacherDetirement System of Te-as.

Emplo(ment )ene*ts"eacher Retirement

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6emerer" E." Walsh" @." F Baniotis" 7. 0,<&<1. The #ducator’s 8uide to Te-as School 7aw0+th ed.1. Austin" TGH niversity of Te-as!ress.

Re'erences

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De2uired by William Allan 6ritsonis" !h