FILE:  GBD

Cf:  GBA, GBC

Cf:  GBDA, GBJ, GBM

EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONNEL

The Beauregard Parish School Board and its administrative staff believes that it has an obligation to provide the children attending its schools with the very best personnel available regardless of race, color, creed, sex, age, national origin or any similar personal characteristic or affiliation with any teacher union or association.

The Superintendent or his/her designee shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining appropriate procedures for reviewing and evaluating any and all applicants for selection, including administrative and supervisory personnel, and assuring adherence to applicable state and federal legal requirements.  Selection of personnel to fill all positions shall be based upon performance, effectiveness, and qualifications applicable to each specific position.  Decisions shall be made on a non-discriminatory basis with selection procedures and evaluative criteria known to all applicants.  Applicants should not resort to the use of political, social, or other pressures to gain employment or promotion.

PERSONNEL CHANGES

Teachers and all other personnel shall be selected for employment by the Superintendent. It shall be the responsibility of the Superintendent to ensure that all persons recommended have proper certification where applicable, and are qualified for the position.  Seniority and tenure shall not be used as the primary criteria when making any employment decision.

The Superintendent shall delegate to the school principal all decisions regarding the employment of any teacher or other personnel at the school in which the principal is employed, subject to the approval of the Superintendent.

Personal interviews with applicants are the joint responsibility of the Superintendent, or his or her designee, and the principal of the school in which a vacancy is to be filed.  Professional preparation, experience, attitude, character, abilities, personality, capacities for growth and development, staff relationships, qualities for leadership, and proper certification are factors involved when personnel are hired.

The Superintendent shall be required to consult with teachers regarding any recommendations made by the Superintendent for the hiring or placement of a principal at the school in which such teachers are employed, subject to the provisions of any applicable court order.

BUS OPERATORS

Whenever a school bus operator is needed to drive a new route or a route vacated by a previous operator, the school bus operator who is tenured and has acquired the greatest seniority shall be offered the opportunity to and may change from driving his/her route to the vacant route before another operator is selected.  If the tenured bus operator with the greatest seniority chooses not to change to the vacant route, the route shall then be offered in order of seniority to a school bus operator who has acquired tenure. 

The Superintendent may select an operator to fill a vacant route using a different process than outlined above, but only if the School Board is required to bear an increase in the unreimbursed costs for nonpassenger miles over those attributable to the previous operator who vacated the route.

Whenever a vacancy occurs on a route due to death, resignation, retirement, or the expiration of the regular operator's approved leave, or a new route is established, the route shall be filled with a regular school bus operator using the process stated above no later than the following school year unless the route is consolidated or eliminated.  A substitute bus operator may only be used as a temporary measure until a permanent operator is appointed to a route.

If an operator is on approved leave, his/her route shall not be considered a vacant route.  A substitute shall be used to drive a route for an operator on approved leave regardless of the length of time of the approved leave.

Substitute operators for bus routes shall have and shall meet the same qualifications as regular operators.

Employees as Bus Operators

The Beauregard Parish School Board shall permit employees to be hired as bus operators provided the person's normal work as a bus operator is less than thirty-five (35) hours per week, and does not interfere with other employment responsibilities.  Specific schedule requirements will be provided by each school as needed and approved by the Superintendent.

Teachers who are also employed as school bus operators must belong to both the Louisiana School Employee’s Retirement System and the Louisiana Teacher’s Retirement System.  Teachers’ first responsibility will be to their teaching duties.  In the event of a conflict between teaching duties and bus driving duties (workshops, faculty meetings, etc.), the teacher will be required to secure a substitute operator for his/her route.  Teachers who also drive a bus route are expected to perform the same amount of duty as other teachers.  Due to potential conflicts with early morning and late afternoon bus loading and unloading, duty should be scheduled around these times if possible.

Support personnel are considered hourly employees by the Fair Labor and Standards Act and will only be considered for bus routes if the total number of hours worked at all jobs does not exceed forty (40) hours in a week.  Any employee who is hired as a bus operator and also in another capacity will only be eligible for sales tax supplements based upon one position – whichever results in the higher supplement.

Ref:    La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:81.9, 17:413, 17:493.1, 23:897

Louisiana Handbook for School Administrators, Bulletin 741, Louisiana Department of Education

Board minutes, 2-10-00, 4-13-00, 4-14-05, 6-9-05, 11-9-06, 10-15-09, 1-13-11, 7-16-12

Beauregard Parish School Board