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