In February, Kirk presented a legal update at the WASDA New Superintendents Academy, focusing on practitioner HR issues. His talk covered five major topics:
- Part 1: The Teacher Contract
- Part 2: The Right to a Representative, Management & Supervision
- Part 3: Use of Administrative Leave, and Protected Activity
- Part 4: Employee Speech, as well as Staff & Religious Accommodations
- Part 5: Employees & Technology
In this five part series, we’ll cover all of these topics in an effort to help Wisconsin superintendents and districts be up to date, and better prepared, for these practitioner HR issues.
Let’s get started with Part 1 …
THE TEACHER CONTRACT: THINGS TO WATCH FOR (OR MAYBE EVEN CHANGE)
- Teacher job duties language.
- Make sure it doesn’t limit the district’s reasonable expectations to avoid the claim that “it’s not in my contract” (e.g., have something that provides “… and shall also perform such other duties and responsibilities as may be assigned, provided by policy and/or handbook, or as are reasonably expected of a professional teacher at expected levels of performance”).
- Example: “Teachers’ duties may include, but are not limited to, daily preparation, supervision of extra and co-curricular activities, attendance at staff meetings and in-service training, participation in meetings with parents/guardians, curriculum writing, assessment, collaboration, professional development and supervision of study halls, cafeteria, and corridors, expectations outlined in the teacher job description, and such other duties that the board or administration may direct.
- IT IS FURTHER AGREED that said services shall be performed at a level deemed acceptable, as the board may direct through the office of the District Administrator and his/her administrative staff …”.
- Promises to provide teachers with all applicable rules and policies should no longer be made. Promise only to provide access to relevant policies, handbooks, etc. If you don’t, a teacher might claim that you didn’t give them notice of the rules as required by contract and, therefore, that you cannot, e.g., nonrenew or discharge.
- Language that incorporates the board’s policies and/or handbook. Most handbooks state that they are not to be treated as though they are a contract. But if you incorporate the terms of a handbook or policies into a contract, you may have accidentally created additional contract provisions.
- Language that provides a different level of job security than what you actually want, language that differs from what appears in the handbook or board policy, or language that does not provide any statement about job security at all, that is, the standard for terminating the contract (which will create a scenario where common law takes over and provides common law cause).
- Language specifying a teacher’s specific assignments in the contract itself. This type of language can inhibit your ability to transfer or reassign, since a teacher could argue that they have a contract right to a particular assignment.
- Example: “The teacher’s assignment is subject to change as educational needs dictate. The district reserves the right, in its discretion, to determine whether educational needs require a change in teaching assignments.”
- Language that establishes not only the number of days for the contract but the calendar parameters for those days. Make sure that you have the room to make up days and to schedule those days.
This brings us to the end of Part 1 of the series. In Part 2, we’ll jump into the right to a representative, and management supervision.
Until then, here are a couple of articles that may prove of interest: