FILE:  GBA

Cf:  GBAA, GBD

Cf:  GBN, GBO, GBQ

CONTRACTS AND COMPENSATION

CONTRACTS

Contracts of employment between eligible employees and the Rapides Parish School Board shall be executed for a specified period of time and compensation in accordance with state law.  Unless otherwise stipulated, all employees shall meet all stated position qualifications and/or certification requirements before any contract shall become valid.  Renewal or issuance, when possible, of contracts of employment, as well as dismissal or nonrenewal of contract notices, with the exception of performance contracts, shall be issued on or before the last day of each school year, whenever possible.

The execution of an employee contract between the School Board and employee shall be legally binding upon both parties.  Teachers without tenure shall be required to have a written contract.  Teachers who have gained tenure may not be required to sign a written contract each scholastic year, but shall be required to sign such employment contracts at intervals determined by the School Board.  The failure of a non-tenured teacher to sign a contract for the ensuing school session within the specified time, when required, shall be considered as voluntary termination of employment on the part of the teacher, unless under extenuating circumstances, an extension is granted by the Superintendent.  Any subsequent resignation or termination of said contract for reasons other than extreme emergencies, as determined by the School Board, shall constitute a breach of contract against which legal action may be taken by the School Board and the employee dealt with accordingly.  The Superintendent shall receive, finalize, and accept all resignations of all employees.  However, the Superintendent at the next available meeting shall report said resignations to the School Board.

The Superintendent shall sign each teacher contract.

Performance Contracts

Non-tenured administrators and supervisory personnel shall be hired under the terms of a performance contract for a period of not less than two (2), nor more than four (4) years, except when such employment is for a temporary position.  Notice of continued employment, as well as dismissal or nonrenewal of contract notices, with the exception of performance contracts, shall be issued on or before the last day of each school year.

Prior to the School Board’s approval of any initial or subsequent contract which involves an employee being or having been promoted to a position with a higher salary, the Superintendent shall disclose all terms of the contract to the School Board.

Termination or non-renewal of any performance contract shall be governed by the terms of the contract and applicable law.

Renewal of Performance Contracts described in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:444 shall occur no earlier than 120 days prior to the expiration for the existing performance contract of an employee.  Unless the School Board by specific motion dictates a longer term for performance contracts, those contracts shall be for a maximum term of two (2) years.

Issuance of Annual Employment Contracts

It is the policy of the Rapides Parish School Board to issue an annual employment contract to all non-tenured certified personnel and non-tenured bus operators until they reach tenured status.  All non-certified personnel, other than bus operators, will be considered permanent employees after they have served the required probationary period.  Employment of all such non-certified personnel shall be considered to be uninterrupted until or unless such personnel are removed either by resignation, reduction in force procedures, or dismissal for cause after due process procedures have been met.

All employees in the district will receive an annual notification of employment status as near to the end of the school term as practicable.

The issuance of a routine employment contract or the continuance of an existing contract to said employees shall not be construed or interpreted by or between the parties as condoning, forgiving, or time-barring any acts of dereliction of duty, substandard job performance, dishonesty or any other act or action which might support or be a factor in the employee’s evaluation or a later proceeding for termination in accordance with applicable tenure laws and/or School Board policies.

If a particular employee is under active investigation or due process proceedings on the customary date on which annual contracts are to be issued and the personnel director is informed in writing of that fact, the personnel director in his or her discretion may withhold the issuance of the employee's contract for the forthcoming year.  The said employee, however, shall remain an employee in good standing with the Rapides Parish School Board unless and until final termination by the Rapides Parish School Board, and the employee's previous contract shall be considered as having been extended on a day-to-day basis until School Board action on final termination.

In any case, however, the decision of the personnel director to issue a contract for the forthcoming year shall not bar the Superintendent from considering the employee's job performance record during any time period prior to the issuance of any annual contract.

COMPENSATION

Salary Schedules

Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the School Board shall establish salary schedules that shall be used to determine the salaries to be paid to teachers and all other school employees.  The Superintendent shall fix the salaries of teachers and all other School Board personnel in accordance with the School Board-adopted salary schedule and associated regulations and applicable laws.  If a School Board employee’s employment contract states a salary the amount of compensation shall be as provided by the School Board’s salary schedule and associated regulations; in the event of conflict between the contract and the salary schedule as adopted or amended, the salary schedule shall prevail.  The salaries as provided in any salary schedule shall be considered as full compensation for all work required and performed within each employee’s prescribed scope of duties and responsibilities.

Salary schedules established for teachers, administrators, and other certified school personnel shall be based upon the following criteria, with no one criterion accounting for more than fifty percent (50%) of the formula used to compute such employees' salaries:

1. Effectiveness, as determined by the performance evaluation program as provided in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:3881 through 3905.
   
   

2. Demand, inclusive of area of certification, particular school need, geographic area, and subject area, which may include advanced degree levels.
   
   

3. Experience.

No teacher or administrator who is rated ineffective pursuant to the School Board’s performance evaluation program shall receive a higher salary in the year following the evaluation than the teacher/administrator received in the year of the evaluation.

The amount of the annual salary paid to any employee in any school year shall not be reduced below the amount of such salary paid during the previous school year, nor shall the amount of the annual salary paid to any employee be reduced at any time during an academic year.  The limitations on the reduction in the amount of the annual salary paid to any employee shall not be applicable to:

1. The correction of any accounting errors or to a reduction necessitated by the elimination of a state program or state funding;
   
   

2. The reduction of any local salary supplement funded, in whole or in part, from a revenue source requiring voter approval, when such voter approval has not been obtained; 
   
   

3. An employee who has been promoted and subsequently demoted to a lower position. In this case, the employee’s salary shall return to the salary previously received in the lower position from which promoted; or
   
   

4. The elimination, discontinuance, or reorganization of the position to which the employee is assigned that results in the employee working fewer hours, days, or months.  In such case, the employee’s salary for that academic year shall not be reduced.  After that year, the employee’s salary shall be determined in accordance with the applicable salary schedule for the employee’s position.

Ordinarily, no teacher shall be placed on the payroll of the school district unless the teacher holds a valid certificate as required by law, and a copy of the teacher's contract has been filed with the Superintendent.  Exceptions may be made only when qualified teachers with valid certification are not available for employment.

Experience Credit

A year of teaching experience is defined as each scholastic year of employment as a certified teacher in public schools within any of the fifty states of the United States of America, or within any of its territorial possessions; or as a teacher in a private or parochial school, as an employee in a state department of education, or as an instructor in an institution of higher learning.  All such experience must have been as a teacher in an institution or school accredited by one of the recognized regional accrediting agencies in the United States of America (e.g., SACS).  Experience outside the United States of America, its territories or possessions must be in an institution or school accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States of America.

A year of teaching experience shall be granted if the person was employed for at least ninety-one (91) instructional days during one scholastic year, excluding holidays, as verified by the Superintendent.  However, not more than one (1) year of experience shall be granted for a period inclusive of twelve (12) consecutive calendar months.  All experience must have been on a full-time basis.

Any teacher holding a valid Louisiana teaching certificate in the public school system of Louisiana who has transferred to Louisiana from a public school system of another state and who, at the time of such transfer, held a valid teacher's certificate from that state, shall be given full credit under the salary schedule for the years of satisfactory teaching service previously rendered in the public school system of that state.  Credit for previous teaching experience shall also be granted to anyone employed who holds a valid Louisiana teaching certificate and is employed or has been employed by another public school system in the state.

A maximum of three (3) units (years) of experience credit shall be allowed teachers for active duty military service earned since December 7, 1941 to the present time.  Any teacher who enters the military service and serves on active duty or is a member of the military service when employed by Rapides Parish School Board and participates on active duty in military service while teaching in the Rapides Parish School System shall be allowed experience credit for his/her total time in service.  For the purpose of this policy, military service shall be defined as active duty service in the United States Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Army, or Coast Guard and active duty service in the reserve elements of those organizations as well as the Army or Air National Guard.

It is the responsibility of the teacher to submit verification of employment forms to claim past experience.  On the verification form, a separate line should be used for each year of experience claimed.  The employee must hand-deliver these documents - in a single delivery - to the Human Resources Department within thirty (30) calendar days of the employee’s hire date.  The appropriate adjustment will be applied to the employee’s salary and will be effective at the beginning of the semester in which the documents are received.  Verified experience credit received after the thirty (30) day deadline will be effective at the beginning of the next semester of employment.

Advanced Degree

When a teacher earns additional college credit, is awarded an advanced degree, or receives additional training that would result in an increase in salary, said teacher shall be paid after all necessary documentation has been received from the Louisiana Department of Education.  The teacher shall begin receiving the increase if proof of hours is submitted prior to October 1.  For hours submitted after October 1, pay increase becomes effective at the beginning of the next school year.

It shall be the responsibility of the employee to assure proper notification is given to the Superintendent or his/her designee.

Retirees

The salary of any retiree who is reemployed as a full-time teacher shall be based on the salary schedule which accounts for all prior years of teaching service and pertinent experience.  The status of any retiree who is reemployed shall be the same as a full-time active employee, subject to all applicable rules, procedures, policies, and statutes that apply to all such full-time active employees.

The retirement of an employee prior to his/her re-employment as a retiree shall constitute a break in his/her service with the School Board for purposes of tenure and sabbatical leave.  The retiree shall not be allowed to carry forward annual leave days accumulated by him/her as of the date of his/her retirement, but he/she may carry forward accumulated sick leave days provided that he/she has returned to employment within five (5) years of his/her last employment as a teacher within the school system.  A retiree shall have the right to earn additional sick leave and annual leave, if applicable, on the same basis as other similarly situated newly hired employees while a retiree.

School Employees

Compensation for all school employees shall be based on applicable salary schedules or hourly rates established by the Rapides Parish School Board, with the exception that no employee shall receive less than the minimum established by state or federal law.

For the purpose of this subsection, school employee shall mean any employee of the School Board that is not required to hold a teacher’s certificate as a condition of employment, including but not limited to, bus operator, food service worker, paraprofessional, custodian, and maintenance personnel.

Ref:    29 USC 201 et seq. (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended)

29 CFR 778 (Overtime Compensation)

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§11:710, 17:81, 17:83, 17:84, 17:84.1, 17:411, 17:413, 17:414, 17:418, 17:419.2, 17:421.4, 17:422.6, 17:423, 17:424, 17:424.2, 17:424.3, 17:442, 17:444, 17:491, 17:492, 17:496, 17:496.1, 17:497, 17:497.1, 17:498, 17:1203, 17:3881, 17:3882, 17:3883, 17:3884, 17:3901, 17:3902, 17:3903, 17:3904

Harrah Independent School District v. Martin, 99 S.Ct. 1062 (1979)

Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority et al., 105 S. Ct. 1005 (February 1985)

Wright v. Caldwell Parish School Board, 30.448 (La. App. 2 Cir. 6/16/99)

Board minutes, 11-6-96, 2-6-02, 8-3-04, 3-7-06, 7-6-10, 6-25-12, 2-5-13, 3-5-14, 11-5-14, 3-3-15, 9-6-16, 3-7-17

Rapides Parish School Board