Policy No. 5180 Dismissal Procedures

1. Non-renewal of Contract 
   1. Provisional Educators – A provisional educator is an employee who has had less than three years of successful teaching in the Cache County School District and who is hired without the expectation of continued employment. If the District does not intend to renew a provisional educator’s contract, notification will be made at least 60 days before the end of the current contract term (school year). 
   2. Career Educators – A career educator is an employee who has had at least three years of successful teaching in the Cache County School District and who is hired with the expectation of continued employment. If the District does not intend to renew a career educator’s contract, notification will be made at least 30 days before the end of the contract term (school year), and the procedures outlined in the Utah Code 53G-11 School Termination Procedures will be followed. 
2. Termination During the Contract Year 
   1. If termination of either a provisional or career employee educator becomes necessary during the contract year, the process as outlined in the Utah Code 53G-11 Termination Procedures will be followed. 

III. Reduction in Force (RIF) 

1. Educators shall not experience a reduction in force or be laid-off unless there is a decrease in the number of students enrolled in the District, or there is a shortage in the revenues of the District, or there is a reason to discontinue a program or service, or school consolidation becomes necessary. 
   1. Reduction in force will be determined in accordance with the following procedure:
      1. Project the enrollment and program needs.
      2. Determine the staff in each grade and/or program area.
      3. Estimate the following year’s staff, including those taking or returning from a leave of absence, taking or returning from a sabbatical, not being renewed, or leaving the District. 

2. If it is necessary for the Board to reduce the number of certificated employees, the Association shall be notified at least fifteen working days prior to any final action taken by the Board. 

3. Within five working days after the notification has been given, the superintendent or his/her designee will meet with the officers of the Association to discuss the reasons necessitating the reduction and to consider alternatives to reducing the number of certificated employees.

4.Prior to any action by the Board to reduce the number of certificated employees, the Association shall have the right to propose alternatives to the superintendent and Board of Education if submitted at least five working days prior to the pending reduction. 

5. When layoffs are expected due to a reduction and/or loss of District funds, or a drop in enrollment, reduction shall be reviewed pursuant to the following: 
   1. The District will look at transferable funds. 
   2. Consideration will be given to reducing or eliminating extracurricular programs prior to cutting any non core programs.
   3. The District shall consult with the Association and other affected associations when prioritizing non-core programs. A list will then be given to the Board with the recommendation to eliminate first those programs deemed to have least priority.
   4. Core programs will be reduced last.
   5. The District shall consult with the Association and other affected organizations in determining less essential expenditures of educational funds. Recommendations how these can be reduced or eliminated will then be given to the Board.
   6. The final decision shall be made by the Board, upon the recommendation of the superintendent, as to budget cuts. 

IV. Procedure of Reduction (Temporary) 

1. (Whereas the School District does not presently utilize a quantifiable job performance evaluation, the District will, with the collaboration of the Association, earnestly strive to formulate a quantifiable job performance evaluation and to implement such process as soon as practicable. When the job performance evaluation processes implemented, the parties agree to renegotiate the procedure of Reduction section of the policy. Job performance score and seniority score will then be the determining factors when calculating retention points in the event of a reduction in force. Until the new agreement has been negotiated, seniority, as defined in the policy {7.Seniority} will be the sole factor in determining a reduction in force.) 
   1. When a reduction in force becomes necessary, over-staffed positions within the District shall be identified by subject and by grade. The District shall first ask educators within the affected subject area(s) for volunteers to be terminated prior to sending notices of termination to non-volunteer employees. 
   2. If further reductions are necessary, educators shall be listed by subject and by area of certification in the order of seniority. Necessary termination of educators will be made from lowest to highest seniority. In cases where more than one person’s seniority is the same, termination will be decided by drawing lots in the presence of two persons representing the administration and two persons representing the Association. 
   3. An educator effected by reduction within the over-staffed subject area(s) will replace the educator with the least seniority in any other subject area for which the first educator holds a valid credential. 
   4. All affected educators shall receive a letter from the District stating that the loss of their positions was due to a reduction in force. The District shall, upon request, send a duplicate of this letter to any placement or personnel file.
   5. The Association shall receive a list of educators sent notification of the education in force along with each educator’s area(s) of certification, education and experience including his/her seniority ranking.
   6. Educators who are re-employed following termination due to reduction in force shall be placed on the next step of the salary schedule they were on prior to termination unless in the intervening time they have qualified themselves for a lane change, in which case they shall be placed on the higher lane. 

B.Recall rights: 

1. All educators shall be recalled for vacancies in reverse order of the reduction.
2. The District shall give written notice of recall by sending a certified letter to the educator. 
3. Benefits to which educators were entitled at the time of their being subject to reduction in force, including unused sick leave and other accumulated leaves, shall be restored to educators upon their return to active employment. 
4. In cases where it is mutually advantageous to both the District and the educators, a job-sharing arrangement may be implemented which must comply with/current job sharing policy. 
5. All laid-off educators shall be recalled immediately upon the resolution of any circumstance which may have precipitated the reduction in staff. No new educators shall be employed by the Board while there are laid-off educators, with proper certification to fill any vacancy which may arise, who desire employment. Failure to responding to the certified letter within fifteen days will indicate non-interest in the openings. 

Legal References: 

Utah Code 53G-11 School Termination Procedures 

Synopsis: 

Approved by the Board of Education: January 1, 1974. Last Revised: October 1, 2005. Prior Revised Dates: 1/1/1987; 07/01/1988, 06/01/1996, 04/01/1999

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