RECRUITING AND HIRING

Transcription

1 RECRUITING AND HIRING 9240 NOTE: In light of the more stringent restrictions imposed under recently updated Commissioners Regulations regarding obtaining 211 waivers for employment, this policy has been updated with language specifying the good faith effort that boards must undertake when filling open positions. The new provision is in italics below. The Board of Education believes that the quality of the district s employees in large part determines the quality of the education offered to the district s students. As the employer for the school district, the Board will provide and maintain qualified and certified instructional and support personnel to carry out the educational programs of the district. The [title of the person who will oversee the district s recruiting and hiring procedures, typically the Superintendent of Schools or the Assistant Superintendent for Personnel] shall implement and maintain a high-quality recruiting and hiring program to attract, secure and retain the best-qualified staff to meet the needs of students and the district. New or Revised Positions The [title of the person who will oversee the district s recruiting and hiring procedures] will develop recommended qualifications for all new positions in the district and review the qualifications for all existing positions as necessary. [If the person developing recommended qualifications is someone other than the Superintendent, insert the following: The Superintendent must approve all recommended qualifications for all new and existing positions.] The Board must approve the qualifications for all new positions in the district and revisions of the qualifications for existing positions. The [title of the person who will oversee the district s recruiting and hiring procedures] shall refer all proposals for the creation or reclassification of all unclassified (non-instructional) positions and a statement of the duties for these positions to the [name of the local civil service authority] for classification. The [title of the person who will oversee the district s recruiting and hiring procedures] shall develop job descriptions that incorporate the qualifications and job duties for all positions in the school district. [If the person developing job descriptions is someone other than the Superintendent, insert the following: The Superintendent must approve the job descriptions for all positions in the district.]

2 Recruiting 9240 The district will seek the most qualified candidates for vacant positions by recruiting from a variety of sources, including present staff. District employees may apply for all positions for which they meet the certification and other stated qualifications. The Board and its employees will adhere to the practice of recruiting and hiring personnel without regard to age, color, creed, disability, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex or any other status protected by federal or state law. NOTE: The text below addresses the previously noted Commissioner s Regulatory change. The Board will practice due diligence in finding the most qualified persons for any open positions. The Board recognizes that some specialized positions are difficult to fill because of shortages of qualified candidates. In rare instances, the Board may need to hire a retired public employee, in which case it will follow the Commissioner s regulations for securing a 211 waiver. When recruiting for an open position the Board will first undertake a thorough and good faith search for a certified and qualified individual who will not require such a waiver for employment Hiring Through standard recruiting and hiring procedures, the [title of the person who will oversee the district s recruiting and hiring procedures] will ensure that candidates for district employment meet all the qualifications set for the position sought. The district will comply with all the requirements of the Education and Civil Service laws, including any fingerprinting requirements. [If the person who oversees the district s recruiting and hiring procedures is the Superintendent, insert the following sentence: The Superintendent will recommend individuals for employment in the school district.] [If the person who oversees the district s recruiting and hiring procedures is someone other than the Superintendent, insert the following sentences: The (title of the person who will oversee the district s recruiting and hiring procedures) will recommend individuals for employment to the Superintendent. The Superintendent must recommend all individuals for employment to the Board.] The Board must approve all individuals to be employed by the school district. Ref: Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 USC 621 et seq. (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of age) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 USC et seq. (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability)

3 9240 Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), 42 USC 2000e et seq. (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of color, national origin, race, religion and sex) Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), 29 USC 794 (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability) Title IX, 20 USC 1681 et seq. (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex) New York State Constitution, article V, 6 (requiring public employees be appointed on the basis of merit and fitness) Civil Service Law 22, 40-44, 61(1) (rules on classified positions) Education Law 1604(8), 1709(16), 2503(3), 2554(2), 3012(1)(a) (board s authority to hire employees) Education Law 1604(39), 1709(39), 1804(9), 1950(4), 2503(18), 2554(25) (fingerprinting requirements) Executive Law 290 et seq. (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of age, color, creed, disability, marital status, national origin, race or sex) 8 NYCRR ( 211 waiver process) Adoption date:

4 STAFF EVALUATION 9420 Note: A policy on staff evaluation is not required by law. However, the Commissioner s regulations require an annual evaluation of all professional staff in the school district and also require the district to develop a Professional Performance Review Plan (PPRP). The following policy should be adopted by a school board because of the importance of staff evaluation in improving the district s operations and to establish the board s role in approving the PPRP annually. The Board of Education believes that the regular, rigorous and meaningful evaluation of staff is necessary to improve the achievement of students and the efficiency of district operations. To this end, the Superintendent of Schools shall be responsible for ensuring that all district employees are evaluated annually and receive additional staff training, if necessary, to improve their skills. Administrators Note: Until the school year, the Commissioner s regulations required administrators to be evaluated annually. However, the revised regulations omitted administrators from the list of professional positions that were required to be evaluated. This is an area for policy. Unless the administrators collective bargaining agreement somehow prohibits annual evaluations, the board should adopt the following language to require annual evaluations by policy. All administrators in the school district shall be evaluated annually by the Superintendent in accordance with any applicable collective bargaining agreement. Professional Employees Note: All the aspects of this section relating to the evaluation of professional employees is required by the Commissioner s regulations, unless otherwise noted. All professional employees (teachers, attendance teachers, counselors, dental hygiene teachers, nurse-teachers, school psychologists and social workers) shall be evaluated annually in accordance with any applicable collective bargaining agreement and the district s Professional Performance Review Plan. The plan shall include criteria for evaluating teachers and other professional employees, assessment methods, plans to improve unsatisfactory teacher performance, and training for evaluators.

5 9420 The Superintendent shall collaborate with teachers, pupil personnel professionals, administrators and parents in developing the plan. The Superintendent shall be responsible for selecting those individuals with whom he or she will collaborate in the development of the plan. The Superintendent shall meet with a group of such individuals at least once each year. Note: The Commissioner s regulations require the Professional Performance Plan to be approved by the board and available for review in the district offices by September 10 each year. However, the regulations do not provide much detail on how this is to be accomplished. This is an area for the board to establish policy. The template policy requires the Superintendent to submit the plan at the July reorganizational meeting. This gives the Superintendent additional time to make changes to the plan if the board wants him or her to reconsider the plan, in which case, the Superintendent would resubmit the revised plan at the August Board meeting. The Superintendent shall submit the district s Professional Performance Review Plan, with any recommended changes, to the Board at its reorganizational meeting each July. At that meeting, the Board may request that the Superintendent reconsider or reexamine certain aspects of the plan, in which case, the Superintendent will resubmit the plan at the Board s first regular meeting in August. Note: The Commissioner s regulations do not necessarily require that members of parent organizations and the teachers union president comment on the plan in open session at a board meeting. All that is required is an opportunity to comment on the plan before it is adopted. This may be done by sending a written copy of the plan to these groups before the adoption of the plan and ask for their comments on the plan. However, the method provided in this policy does not require the district to identify all of the organizations that may be considered parent organizations in the district. The Board will provide members of parent organizations and the president of the teachers union the opportunity to comment on the plan, prior to its adoption, at a meeting at which the plan is considered. The Board must approve the plan before it becomes effective. The approved plan for each school year will be available in the district offices by September 10 of each year. Each year, the Superintendent shall provide a report to the State Education Department on information related to the district s efforts to address the performance of teachers rated unsatisfactory.

6 9420 Support Staff Note: Only professional staff members are required to be evaluated annually under the Commissioner s regulations. Although there is no legal requirement that support staff be evaluated annually, this policy does provide for annual evaluations in accordance with sound human resources practices. However, if a support staff collective bargaining agreement provides for something less frequent than annual evaluation, the board should omit the word annually in the second sentence of this policy and in the following sentence. Support staff (those staff not required to be evaluated under the Professional Performance Review Plan) shall be evaluated annually in accordance with any applicable collective bargaining agreement. The Superintendent shall ensure that all required evaluations take place. Training The Superintendent shall ensure that all staff that are required to evaluate other staff are provided sufficient training in assessment and evaluation. Cross-ref: 9700, Staff Development Ref: 8 NYCRR 100.2(o)(2) (Professional Performance Review Plans) Adoption date:

7 9700 STAFF DEVELOPMENT NOTE: Although not required by law, the following policy should be adopted by a school board because of the importance of staff development in improving the effectiveness of employee performance and to establish the Board s role in establishing the Professional Development Team and approving the PDP annually. The Board of Education believes that staff training and development help ensure the success of educational programs and improve the efficiency of the district. Therefore, the district will provide development opportunities to staff to increase their effectiveness and job performance. The Superintendent of Schools shall be responsible for implementing and administering staff development programs for the district s employees. Administrators Note: The Commissioner s regulations do not require that a professional development plan be developed specifically for administrators. The regulations do, however, require administrators to receive training on school violence prevention and intervention (8 NYCRR 100.2(dd)(2)(iii)) and conducting staff evaluations (8 NYCRR 100.2(o)(2)(iii)(b)(5)). This is an area for policy. The Board should adopt the following language to provide for staff development for administrators. All administrators in the school district will receive appropriate training and professional development in accordance with law, regulation or any applicable collective bargaining agreement. The Superintendent will be responsible for providing such training and development. Teachers Note: All the aspects of this section relating to professional development for teacher employees are required by the Commissioner s regulations unless otherwise noted. All teachers will be provided with substantial professional development opportunities directly related to student learning in accordance with any

8 9700 applicable collective bargaining agreement and the district s Professional Development Plan. The plan shall include: A needs analysis, goals, objectives, strategies, activities and evaluation standards for professional development in the district and a description of how the district will provide all teachers substantial professional development activities directly related to student learning needs identified in school report cards and other sources. A description of how the professional development provided will align with New York standards and assessments, teacher capacities and student needs, including linguistic, cultural diversity and special needs. Activities must be articulated across grade levels and subject areas and show how they will be provided and measured in a continuous manner. A description of how it will provide teachers holding a professional certificate with opportunities to maintain their certificate in good standing by successfully completing 175 hours of professional development every five years. A mentoring program to provide support for new teachers in order to ease the transition from teacher preparation to practice, thereby increasing retention of teachers in the public schools, and to increase the skills of new teachers in order to improve student achievement. The Board shall establish a Professional Development Team to review and revise the district s Professional Development Plan annually. The Board shall appoint members to the team at the first regular Board meeting in September. NOTE: The majority of the team will be teachers who are selected by their bargaining unit. Other members include the Superintendent or designee; a school administrator, selected by the bargaining unit; at least one parent, selected by a recognized parent group or the superintendent; at least one curriculum specialist; and a higher education representative, when feasible. Optional team members including community members and/or a representative from a professional development organization. The Professional Development Team shall meet on or before October 1. The Superintendent or his/her designee will serve as the chair of the team and will be responsible for ensuring the timely review and revision of the district s Professional Development Plan. NOTE: The Commissioner s regulations state that the Professional Development Team must be given at least 180 days to develop its recommended Professional Development Plan. The April 1 date in the following language provides slightly

9 9700 more than 180 days from October 1, by which time the team should have already met once. The Professional Development Team will submit any recommended revisions to the Professional Development Plan to the Board by April 1. The Board will consider the recommendations at its first regular meeting thereafter. The Board may accept or reject the recommendations of the team in whole or in part. The Board may also request any additional information or data needed to evaluate the success of the program in achieving its objectives. Any further changes in the plan must be submitted to the Board by June 1. The Board will consider and act on the revised plan by June 30th. The Board reserves the right to make changes to the revised plan. Other Professional Staff and Support Staff The district will provide staff development activities for other professional staff and support staff within the financial constraints of the district budget and in accordance with applicable collective bargaining agreements. Other Staff Development Opportunities The Board recognizes that many staff development opportunities are provided through non-school district sources. Within budgetary restraints, district employees may attend conferences, workshops, study councils, in-service courses, summer study grants, school visitations, and other relevant staff development opportunities. Released time and reimbursement for such activities will be available upon approval of the Superintendent and in accordance with applicable collective bargaining agreements. The Superintendent may establish regulations pursuant to this policy to establish the circumstances under which such released time and reimbursement may be available. Staff members who attend such activities will be required to prepare a report or summary of the activity attended. Cross-ref: 9420, Staff Evaluation Ref: Education Law 3604(8) (Superintendent conference days) 8 NYCRR 100.2(dd) (Professional Development Plans) 8 NYCRR 100.2(o)(2)(iii)(b)(5) (required training on conducting staff evaluations)

10 Adoption date: