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Tenure for teaching staff members, teachers, secretaries, and clerks The passage of TEACHNJ brought several important changes for the attainment of tenure as well as the conditions under which a teacher or teaching staff member can lose tenure. There are two groups affected by most of the components of TEACHNJ. There is the large group of teaching staff members who require a license or certificate to work in a school district. This includes principals, assistant principals and those with educational services certificates such as child study team members, school counselors, school nurses, etc. A smaller subgroup of teaching staff members are “teachers.” Teachers are those staff members who require an instructional certificate to work in a school district, such as elementary, special education, and secondary teachers. All teaching staff members attain tenure beginning with the first day of the fifth year of successful performance in the district. In order to earn tenure, teachers must earn an effective or highly effective annual summative rating on their evaluations in at least two out of three years following their first year of teaching. For teaching staff members who are not teachers, there is no requirement tying evaluation ratings to tenure. Secretaries and clerks continue to attain tenure on the first day of their fourth year, with no ties to the evaluation system. While under tenure, a staff member cannot be dismissed nor reduced in salary except for proper cause. A board can reduce the number of tenured employees, but for teaching staff members this must be done under a statutory system of seniority. 62 – AR Handbook Seniority must be negotiated for all other employees. All employees, regardless of tenure status, are entitled to maternity leave. Evaluation and Tenure TEACHNJ created a connection between evaluation ratings and tenure. For teachers (not all other teaching staff members), there is an automatic trigger for tenure charges in some conditions. The law requires four levels of summative ratings in evaluation. Highly Effective, , Partially Effective, and Ineffective. If a teacher receives two consecutive years of Ineffective summative ratings or a Partially Effective rating followed by an Ineffective rating, the superintendent is required to bring tenure charges. If a teacher has two Partially Effective ratings or an Ineffective Rating followed by a Partially Effective Rating, the superintendent has the option of bringing tenure charges or waiting for a third year to see further improvement. If a teacher suspects that they will be receiving a second less-than-effective summative rating, the local should contact the UniServ office immediately, as the teacher’s job and career may be at jeopardy. Corrective Action Plans All teaching staff members who receive a summative rating of less than effective are required to have a Corrective Action Plan (CAP). If the summative rating is developed before June 30 then the CAP must be developed before September 15 of the following year. If a summative rating is determined after June 30 (teachers in tested subjects with an mSGP score) then the CAP must be written within 15 days of the notification of the district by the NJDOE of the summative rating. Corrective Action Plans run from one summative rating to the next. The Corrective Action Plan should be developed collaboratively between the designated supervisor and the teacher. The CAP must include: Areas in need of improvement identified by the evaluation rubric; specific, demonstrable goals for improvement; responsibilities of the evaluated employee and the school district for the plan’s implementation, and timelines for meeting the goal. The CAP replaces the teachers individual Professional Development Plan (PIP). Progress towards the CAP must be discussed at each post observation conference. Completion of a CAP does not guarantee an effective summative rating. Teachers on a CAP are required to have one more observation than the number required by the district for other teaching staff members and are required to have a mid-year evaluation with the School Improvement Panel. For teachers whose CAP is written prior to September 15 the mid-year evaluation must take place prior to February 15. For CAPs written after September 15, the midyear evaluation takes place half way between the writing of the CAP and the annual summative evaluation conference. Your Employment Contract Normally, you and your board are both committed to 30 to 60 days notice before you can be released from your contract. Some contracts, without a termination clause, may bind both parties for the entire school year. If a termination clause is in the contract, it applies to the summer months even though you may not


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