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Littleton Public Schools Policy |
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Policy Code GCK Policy Name Licensed Staff Assignments and Transfers Adoption July 2, 1984 Revised April 23, 1998 |
In-Building Teaching Assignments
The term “assignment” refers to a teacher’s job position within a building including all associated duties. It shall be the responsibility of the building principal to determine the assignment and other responsibilities of licensed staff. Such assignments shall conform with District policies and the licensed staff member’s demonstrated qualifications. Assignments may be changed whenever the best interests of the District will be served. All assignments of licensed staff within a building are subject to approval of the assistant superintendent of human resources.
Teachers will not be assigned to a subject or grade level outside the scope of major and minor fields of their preparation or, unless an exception is made in writing by the assistant superintendent of human resources, an endorsement area in which they have not taught within the past 15 years.
Itinerant Licensed Staff
Itinerant licensed staff are those assigned teaching responsibilities in more than one building. They shall be provided a reasonable period of time to travel from one school to the next and such time shall not infringe upon either their planning or lunch time. The designation of a home school principal for the purposes of evaluation and assignments/duties shall be determined by the assistant superintendent of human resources and notification made to the itinerant licensed staff member and home school principal by September 15 of each school year. When possible, probationary itinerant licensed staff will be assigned the same home school principal during their probationary period of employment.
Transfers
Transfers will be considered a change in teaching position or endorsement area from one building site to another.
Prior to reporting open positions to transfer applicants for an ensuing school year, building principals will provide opportunity for existing building staff to apply and be considered for reassignment to any known openings.
Administrative Transfers
Family Relationships
In no instance shall an assignment be permitted if it places one person in a supervisory or evaluative relationship with another member of his/her immediate family. Transfers to eliminate family conflicts shall be the responsibility of the assistant superintendent of human resources. A member of the immediate family is defined as spouse or significant other, child, parent or stepparent, brother, sister, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandparent, or grandchild. If a dispute arises whether a significant other relationship exists, the decision of the assistant superintendent of human resources shall control.
Transfers Due to Unique Situations/Differences and Conflicts
In rare circumstances, a transfer may be used to resolve significant ongoing differences and/or conflicts between staff members within a building or between a building principal and a staff member. This procedure, which shall not be used as a means of avoiding the voluntary transfer procedure, evaluation and/or remediation procedures, or the procedures for reduction in an individual building’s licensed staff, shall be as follows:
The building principal or a licensed staff member must initiate a request for consideration of an administrative transfer under this section prior to the first day of the second semester unless the assistant superintendent of human resources waives this requirement based on special circumstances. The initiating party must first meet with the other party and provide the reasons for the request. The request shall be in writing and submitted to both the assistant superintendent of human resources and to the other party. It shall set forth the reason for the request and shall recite the efforts that have been made within the building to resolve the problem without the need for a transfer. If one party does not agree to the transfer, he/she may submit a written statement of the reasons for the disagreement. Such written statement must be submitted within ten working days after receiving a copy of the request. In evaluating the request, the assistant superintendent of human resources will ensure that the request meets the intent of this procedure. If the assistant superintendent of human resources, in his/her sole discretion, believes the attempts to resolve the issue have been inadequate, he/she may require additional efforts before acting on the request. Such efforts may include, but are not necessarily limited to, a meeting of the disagreeing parties and the assistant superintendent of human resources or other third party facilitator. Either or both parties may have one representative in any meetings under this provision.
Reduction in an Individual Building’s Licensed Staff
When it becomes necessary to transfer employees between schools because of staff reduction, the building principal of the school affected shall determine in which grade level or subject area the staff must be reduced.
The building principal shall first seek, in writing, voluntary transferees from the determined grade level, department, or subject area. Each person affected will respond to the principal’s request for volunteers in writing. If there are no volunteers, the building principal shall select the teacher to be transferred. In making the selection, the principal shall consider each teacher in the determined grade level, department, or subject area, in ascending order of seniority from the least senior to the most senior teacher. The individual selected for transfer will be the teacher with the least time of service in the District whose transfer would not, in the judgment of the building principal, negatively impact legitimate program needs. The building principal will meet with the staff member selected and explain the reasons for the transfer recommendation. The principal’s written recommendation, and reasons for that recommendation, will be forwarded to the assistant superintendent of human resources.
If the recommendation is that a staff member other than the least senior member in the department is to be administratively transferred, such staff member may submit to the assistant superintendent of human resources, in writing, his/her disagreement with the principal’s decision. In reviewing the principal’s decision, the assistant superintendent of human resources will consider any written objections submitted by the teacher and may request that both parties attend a meeting to discuss the matter. Either party may bring one representative to that meeting. If the assistant superintendent of human resources decides against the recommendation for transfer, he/she shall refer the matter back to the building principal for reprocessing in accordance with this policy. If the assistant superintendent of human resources approves the recommendation, the approved recommendation shall be forwarded to the Board of Education for action.
Placement of Administrative Transfers
A list of open positions in the District will be made available to all licensed staff members being administratively transferred. A person shall be deemed qualified for an open position that is within the endorsement area in which the person currently holds a position or has held a position within the last five years. When there is more than one position for which the staff member is qualified, such staff member may indicate an order or preference. If only one administrative transferee requests a specific open position, that transferee will be placed in that position if qualified. If more than one administrative transferee requests a specific open position, the building principal will interview all transferees requesting the position and will make a recommendation to the assistant superintendent of human resources. The assistant superintendent of human resources may waive the qualification criteria in the best interest of the District.
Staff members who served in a building previously and were transferred out of that building or reassigned within that building for no other reason than loss of student enrollment or staffing allocation may choose to be reinstated into the former position if the position is reestablished in the following school year. In the event there are fewer reestablished positions than teachers choosing reinstatement under this paragraph, the selection of the teacher or teachers to be reinstated shall be made by the building principal in his/her sole discretion.
Administrative Transfer Timelines
Administrative transfers will take place prior to voluntary transfers or new hires unless there are no administrative transfers in a particular assignment(s).
Voluntary Transfers
When a vacancy occurs in a building, the building principal shall notify the assistant superintendent of human resources of such vacancy as soon as possible after determining that such vacancy will not be filled by reassignment of building staff. The assistant superintendent of human resources shall notify District staff of known vacancies for an ensuing school year by posting a notice in each building and by placing them on the phone system “job line.” Vacancies shall be held open on the job line for at least one full week prior to being advertised for nondistrict applicants.
The person requesting a transfer will be required to file an application, on a form provided by the Human Resources Office, with the Department of Human Resources indicating the position(s) desired and his/her qualifications. If it is felt that special circumstances should be brought to the attention of the assistant superintendent of human resources, an appointment should be made by the staff member. A licensed staff member may apply only for a position for which he/she has a current endorsement. A copy of the application shall be forwarded to the applicant’s building principal by the assistant superintendent of human resources. All applications for transfer shall be kept in an active file until the beginning of the next school year following the date of application. An employee who has received notice of nonrenewal may not submit an application under this transfer policy.
After determining the application meets the requirements of this policy, the Department of Human Resources shall forward the application to the principal(s) of the building(s) in which the vacancy exists. If there are three or fewer applicants, all applicants will be interviewed. If there are four or more applicants, applications will be screened and at least three finalists interviewed by the principal or, at the principal’s discretion, representatives of the building staff. All transfer candidates will be notified whether or not they were selected for an interview.
Requests to the building administrator for constructive feedback from voluntary transfer candidates who were unsuccessful in interviews will be honored, provided, however, such candidates will not be given reasons why the successful appointment was chosen.
Voluntary Transfer Timelines
Interviewees under this policy will be interviewed for known open positions on a schedule decided and announced annually by the assistant superintendent of human resources, provided that candidates for voluntary transfer will be interviewed after administrative transfers are made, but before interviewing potential new hires.
Voluntary Transfers—Placement
There will be no voluntary transfers during ten working days prior to the first day of student contact. Any vacancies which occur within this time frame will be filled by a one-year or one-semester contract of a new employee.
Openings that occur as a result of a licensed staff member being on an approved leave for less than one year will be filled by a permanent substitute and are not open for transfer.
Voluntary transfer applicants shall be considered on the basis of qualifications for the position. The building principal shall determine which, if any, of the voluntary transfer applicants is the best qualified based upon the following criteria which are not listed in weighted or priority order:
Success in previous assignments
Length of service in the District
Academic preparation and experience in grade level, organizational level, or subject area
Recency of teaching experience in the grade level, organizational level, or subject area
License endorsements
Evidence of positive human relation skills
Academic and/or experience qualifications for unique curricular or extracurricular needs of the school, grade level, and/or department. Established building, grade level, or department priorities will be used by the building principal in determining unique needs.
If the principal determines that there are no voluntary transfer applicants who are sufficiently qualified for the open position, he/she shall so advise the assistant superintendent of human resources, and may thereafter interview nondistrict applicants for the position.
The building principal will forward his/her decision to the assistant superintendent of human resources. Voluntary transfers will be made upon the recommendation of the assistant superintendent of human resources and the approval of the Board of Education.
Transfers—Other Timelines
Openings that occur after the first day of any semester will be filled by a permanent substitute or limited-term contract employee and will be open for in-district transfer the following year, if that position exists.
Reference: Human Resources Procedures Handbook