SERIES 4000: DISTRICT EMPLOYMENT
4400 Professional Staff
4405 Reduction in Force and Recall
A. Teachers
When making program and staffing decisions, the Board will retain the most effective teachers who are certified and qualified to instruct courses within the applicable curriculum, academic levels, and departments. The Board has the exclusive right to determine the size of the teaching staff based on curricular, fiscal, and other operating conditions. To the extent that the determinations involve Revised School Code Section 1248 requirements, this Policy will guide the implementation of that statute.
- General Provisions
- The Superintendent will be responsible, acting within the approved budget, for establishing the number and nature of teaching assignments to implement the approved curriculum. If the Superintendent determines that insufficient funds are budgeted for the existing teaching staff or that a reduction in teaching staff is necessary due to program or curricular considerations, the Superintendent will recommend to the Board the teaching positions to be reduced.
- If after a reduction of teachers, the Superintendent determines that the District’s remaining programs and curriculum cannot be delivered through the existing teaching staff and that sufficient funds are budgeted to support an increase in the number of teachers, the Superintendent may recommend to the Board that teachers be added.
- Decisions about the reduction and recall of teachers will be guided by the following criteria:
i. Retaining the most effective teachers who are certified (or otherwise approved or authorized) and qualified to instruct the courses within the curriculum, academic level(s), and department(s).
A) This Policy does not require the retention or recall of a probationary or tenured teacher whose most recent performance evaluation contains an overall rating of ineffective or minimally effective in preference to any probationary or tenured teacher rated either effective or highly effective, as reflected in that teacher’s most recent performance evaluation.
B) A probationary teacher rated as effective or highly effective on the teacher’s most recent annual year-end performance evaluation is not subject to being displaced by a tenured teacher solely because the other teacher is tenured under the Teachers’ Tenure Act.
ii. Teachers must be properly certified, approved, or authorized for all aspects of their assignments. The teacher’s certification, authorization, or approval status will be:
A) Determined by applicable statutes and regulations, including the Revised School Code, Teacher Certification Code, and MDE’s Rules for Special Education Programs and Services; and
B) Based on documentation on file with the Superintendent’s office.
1) A teacher must maintain current and valid certification, approval, or authorization, as applicable, and will be responsible for filing a copy of the teaching certificate, approval, or authorization with the Superintendent’s office in compliance with Revised School Code Section 1532.
2)If a teacher petitions for nullification of the teaching certificate or any endorsement, the teacher must promptly provide written notice of that petition to the Superintendent’s office.
iii. In addition, teachers must be fully qualified for all aspects of their assignments, as determined by the Board, based upon documentation on file with the Superintendent’s office, including:
A) Compliance with applicable state or federal regulatory standards, including standards established as a condition to receipt of foundation, grant, or categorical funding;
B) Compliance with applicable accreditation requirements;
B) Professional training and academic preparation for an instructional assignment that is anticipated to contribute to the teacher’s effectiveness in that assignment;
C) Formal or specialized training in the subject area(s) or grade level(s); and
D) Prior teaching experience relevant to the instructional assignment and anticipated to contribute to the teacher’s effectiveness, including:
1) Experience in a relevant building or department or at a relevant academic/grade level;
2) Experience teaching relevant instructional subjects;
3) Recency of relevant and comparable teaching assignments;
4) Previous effectiveness ratings;
5) Disciplinary record, if any
6) Attendance; and
7) Other relevant factors as determined by the District.
iv. Teachers must provide the District with current information and documentation supporting the teacher’s certification and qualifications.
A) Reduction and recall decisions will be based on the teacher’s certification and qualifications in the District’s records at the time of the decision.
B) A laid off teacher must maintain current contact information (address, phone, and email address) with the Superintendent’s office.
C) Failure to maintain current contact information may negatively impact the teacher’s recall.
v. Teacher reductions and recalls are by formal Board action.
vi. Before the Board authorizes a teacher reduction, the Superintendent or designee will notify, in writing, the affected teacher of an opportunity to respond, either in person or in writing, to the proposed reduction.
vii. The Superintendent or designee will provide written notice of Board reduction in force or recall decisions to each affected teacher.
viii. A teacher’s length of service with the District or tenure under the Teachers’ Tenure Act will not be the primary or determining factor in reduction in force and recall decisions.
d. Teacher reduction in force decisions will be implemented by the following:
i. If 1 or more teaching positions are to be reduced, the Superintendent will first identify the academic level(s) or department(s) affected by the reduction. Among those teachers who are certified, approved, or authorized and qualified to instruct the remaining curriculum within the affected academic level(s) or department(s), selection of a teacher(s) for reduction in force will be based on the year-end effectiveness score identified in Policy 4403.
ii. Teachers within the affected academic level(s) or department(s) who are certified and qualified for the remaining positions and who received the highest year-end effectiveness score will be retained. Teachers within the affected academic level(s) or department(s) with the lowest year-end effectiveness score will be laid off.
iii. When a teaching position is identified for reduction and there exists a concurrently vacant teaching position for which the teacher in the position to be reduced is both certified and qualified, and the teacher has received an overall rating of at least effective on that teacher’s most recent year-end performance evaluation, that teacher may be assigned to the vacant position unless the Superintendent determines that the District’s educational interests would not be furthered by that assignment.
iv. If more than 1 teacher whose position has been identified for reduction is certified and qualified for a concurrently vacant teaching assignment, the teacher with the highest year-end effectiveness score, if at least effective, will be given priority for the assignment unless the Superintendent determines that the District’s educational interests would not be furthered by that assignment.
v. If the reduction or recall decision involves more than 1 teacher and multiple teachers have the same year-end effectiveness score, the Board may approve and implement a tiebreaker mechanism using a discrete part(s) of the evaluation system. For example, if the reduction or recall decision involves more than one teacher and multiple teachers have the same year-end effectiveness score used to determine each teacher’s effectiveness rating, the teacher with the higher year-end effectiveness score reflected in the [insert Board preference] portion of the evaluation will have preference for reduction or recall, as applicable. If this year-end effectiveness score is also tied, seniority (as established by the most recent seniority list for the bargaining unit to which the tenured teachers belong or, if none exists, the District’s records) will determine preference for reduction or recall.]
At least 30 calendar days’ notice of reduction in force will be provided, absent extenuating circumstances.
2. Teacher Recall Process
a. A teacher is eligible for recall under this Policy for 12 months from the date the District implemented the reduction in force.
b. The Superintendent will first identify the academic level(s) or department(s) where a teaching vacancy exists.
c. Before or in lieu of initiating the recall of a laid-off teacher, the Superintendent may reassign teachers to fill vacancies in accordance with Policy 4402.
d. After or in lieu of any reassignment of existing teaching staff, the Superintendent may take either of the following actions to fill a vacancy:
i. Recall the laid-off teacher with the highest overall effectiveness score on the teacher’s most recent year-end evaluation under the performance evaluation system adopted by the Board and who is certified and qualified for the vacancy, provided the teacher was rated at least effective.
ii. Post the vacancy and consider all applicants if the Superintendent determines that:
A) the District’s educational interests would not be furthered by recalling an otherwise eligible laid-off teacher who meets the certification and qualification standards for the position and who received the highest overall effectiveness score on that teacher’s most recent year-end evaluation; or
B) no teacher on layoff meets the certification and qualification requirements for the position as otherwise stated herein.
e. The Superintendent or designee will provide written notice of the Board’s recall decision to any recalled teachers and will establish the time within which a teacher must accept recall to preserve the teacher’s employment rights.
f. A laid-off teacher who is offered an interview for a vacancy and who fails to appear at that interview forfeits all rights to recall and continued employment.
g. A laid-off teacher who is recalled and fails to accept recall by the time designated in the recall notice, or who does not report for work by the deadline specified in the recall notice after filing a written acceptance of recall with the Superintendent, will forfeit all rights to recall and continued employment unless the Superintendent, in the Superintendent’s sole discretion, has extended the time limit in writing.
B. Reduction in Force and Recall of Non-Teaching Professionals
For Non-Teaching Professionals governed by a collective bargaining agreement, the Superintendent will implement the collective bargaining agreement’s standards and procedures that pertain to reduction in force or recall when recommending a reduction in force or recall to the Board.
If no collective bargaining agreement exists, or if an existing agreement does not address reduction in force or recall of Non-Teaching Professionals, the Superintendent will recommend a reduction in force or recall among Non-Teaching Professionals using the same standards and procedures as set forth in this Policy for teachers.
C. Unemployment Compensation
A teacher or Non-Teaching Professional who is laid off and who is paid unemployment compensation chargeable to the District during the summer immediately following a reduction in force and who is recalled on or before the beginning of the next school year will be paid according to an annual adjusted salary rate such that the employee’s unemployment compensation received plus the adjusted annual salary rate will be equal to the annual rate of salary the employee would have earned for the school year had the employee not been laid off.
Legal authority: MCL 38.71 et seq.; MCL 380.11a, 380.601a, 380.1248, 380.1249, 380.1532; MCL 423.215
Date adopted: 08/09/2021
Date revised: 06/19/2023
