FILE:  GBN

Cf:  EDBA, GBA, GBJ

Cf:  GBK, GBRA

DISMISSAL OF EMPLOYEES

With the exception of lay-offs caused by programmatic changes, budget cuts, staff reorganizations, and/or other personnel actions reducing numbers of employees, no Ouachita Parish School Board employee shall be dismissed except as provided by state law and this policy.

CRIMINAL OFFENSES

The Superintendent, on behalf of the School Board, shall dismiss:

1. An administrator, teacher, or substitute teacher upon final conviction or submission of plea of nolo contendere to any crime listed in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §15:587.1, even if adjudication was withheld or a pardon or expungement was granted, in accordance with statutory provisions for dismissal applicable to the employee.
   
   However, if the person has obtained tenure, such dismissal shall occur only after a hearing held pursuant to hearing procedures outlined in policy GBK, Employee Discipline.
   
   

2. An administrator, teacher, or substitute teacher who is found to have submitted fraudulent documentation to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) or the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) as part of an application for a Louisiana teaching certificate or other teaching authorization.
   
   

3. An administrator, teacher, or substitute teacher who is found to have facilitated cheating on any state assessment as determined by BESE.
   
   

4. Any other school employee if such employee is convicted of or pleads nolo contendere to crimes enumerated in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §15:587.1, except La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §14:74.

The Superintendent shall notify the State Superintendent of Education of any employee’s dismissal for the criminal offenses above no later than thirty (30) days after such dismissal.

In addition, employees shall be subject to removal for failure to properly report arrests for certain offenses enumerated in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:16.

ABANDONMENT OF POSITION

If an employee is absent for ten (10) or more days without explanation or approved leave, the School Board may consider the job as abandoned and the employee may be terminated, unless the employee can provide acceptable and verifiable evidence of extenuating circumstances.  The Superintendent or his/her designee shall be responsible for determining acceptability of evidence of extenuating circumstances.

CERTIFICATED EMPLOYEES

Non-tenured Teachers

The Superintendent may terminate the employment of any non-tenured teacher after providing such teacher with the written reasons therefor and providing the teacher the opportunity to respond.  The teacher shall have seven (7) days to respond, and such response shall be included in the teacher’s personnel file.  The Superintendent shall notify the teacher in writing of his/her final decision.  The teacher shall not be entitled to a hearing before the School Board.

Within sixty (60) days of such notice, the teacher may seek summary review in district court of whether or not the Superintendent’s action was arbitrary or capricious.

Tenured Teachers

A tenured teacher shall not be removed from office except upon written and signed charges by the Superintendent or his/her designee of poor performance, willful neglect of duty, incompetency, dishonesty, immorality, or of being a member of or contributing to any group, organization, movement, or corporation that is by law or injunction prohibited from operating in the state of Louisiana, and then only if furnished with a copy of such written charges and given the opportunity to respond.  Dismissal of a teacher with tenure shall be governed by the provisions for discipline of tenured teachers as included in policy GBK, Employee Discipline.

Contract Appointees

Personnel who have entered into promotional employment contracts with the School Board, pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:444, may be removed from their positions by non-renewal of their contracts or by termination of their contracts.  Contracts may be non-renewed by the School Board for any of the following reasons:

1. The Superintendent has recommended against renewal of the contract based on an evaluation of the employee’s performance;
   
   

2. The failure to offer a new contract is based on a cause sufficient to support a mid-contract termination;
   
   

3. The position in question has been discontinued; or
   
   

4. The position in question has been eliminated as a result of district reorganization.

In a non-renewal situation, the employee shall not be entitled to a hearing before the School Board.

For mid-contract termination of promotional employment contracts, the employee shall have the right to written charges and a hearing before a disciplinary hearing officer in the manner provided in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:443.  A contract may be terminated if the employee is found guilty of being incompetent or inefficient or is found to have failed to fulfill the terms and performance objectives of his/her contract, or other reasons provided for by state law.

NON-CERTIFICATED EMPLOYEES

Non-Tenured Bus Operators

No bus operator hired after July 1, 2012 shall earn tenure.

A non-tenured bus operator shall be immediately dismissed if he/she is convicted of or has pled nolo contendere to violations of local or existing state law prohibiting operating a vehicle while intoxicated regardless of whether the violation occurred while performing in his/her official capacity as a school bus operator at the time of the offense.

Each school bus operator shall serve a probationary term of three (3) years reckoned from the date of his/her first employment with the School Board.  During such probationary term, any bus operator may be dismissed by the School Board upon the written recommendation of the Superintendent.  Any bus operator employed on or after July 1, 2012, who has successfully completed his/her probationary term, may be dismissed by the Superintendent after providing such bus operator with written reasons therefor and providing the bus operator with the opportunity to respond.  The bus operator shall have seven (7) days to respond, and such response shall be included in the bus operator’s personnel file.  Regardless of the date of his/her employment, a non-tenured bus operator shall not be entitled to a hearing before the School Board prior to termination.

Tenured Bus Operators

A tenured bus operator may be dismissed for willful neglect of duty, or incompetence, or immorality, or drunkenness while on duty, or failure to comply with requirements of La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:491.3 relative to being arrested for one or more of the specified offenses, or physical disability to perform his/her duties, or failure to keep his/her transfer equipment in a safe, comfortable, and practical operating condition, or of being a member of or contributing to any group, organization, movement, or corporation that is prohibited by law or injunction from operating in the state.

Additional grounds for the removal from office of any school bus operator shall be:

1. the abolition, discontinuance, or consolidation of routes, but then only if it is found as a fact, based upon a determination by the Superintendent that it is in the best interests of the school system to abolish, discontinue, or consolidate said route or routes.  If abolition, discontinuance, or consolidation of bus routes is approved, the principle of seniority shall apply, so that the last school bus operator hired to serve within the school system to be affected shall be the first to be removed.
   
   

2. conviction of or plea of nolo contendere to a violation of a parish or municipal ordinance that prohibits operating a vehicle while intoxicated or any of the existing state offenses relative to operating a vehicle while intoxicated, as enumerated in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:493, regardless of whether the violation occurred while performing in his/her official capacity as a school bus operator at the time of the offense.

A tenured bus operator shall not be removed from his/her position except upon written and signed charges against the bus operator, and the bus operator having been furnished with a copy of such written charges and given the opportunity to respond, in person or in writing, within ten (10) calendar days from written notice of the charges.

The Superintendent shall have ten (10) calendar days to review the school bus operator’s response and to provide written notice to the bus operator of the interim disciplinary action, which may include placing the bus operator on paid administrative leave.  If the bus operator has been arrested for a violation of any of the following:  La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§14:42 through 14:43.5, §§14:80 through 14:81.5, any other sexual offense affecting minors, any of the crimes provided in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §15:587.1, or any justified complaint of child abuse or neglect on file in the central registry pursuant to Children’s Code Article 615, the administrative leave shall be without pay.  Paid administrative leave shall not exceed fifty (50) days from notice of the Superintendent’s interim decision.

Within twenty (20) calendar days after receipt of the Superintendent’s interim disciplinary action, if any, the bus operator may request a hearing before a disciplinary hearing officer, following the hearing procedures for tenured teachers found in policy GBK, Employee Discipline.  If the bus operator fails to timely request a hearing, the disciplinary action shall become final.

School Employees

All employees of the system whose dismissal is not governed by the provision of La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:441-446, or by the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:491-494, shall be subject to dismissal by the Superintendent.  When the termination of an employee is recommended by the employee’s supervisor, the supervisor shall provide both the Superintendent and the employee with a copy of the written recommendation.  The Superintendent shall meet with the employee and supervisor to discuss the recommendation and the employee’s response.  The Superintendent shall provide the employee with his/her decision, in writing, by hand delivery or by mailing same via certified mail to the employee’s address, as maintained on the records of the School Board, within five (5) week days of the meeting.  Such notice shall be deemed delivered once mailed.  Such employees shall not be entitled to a hearing before the School Board.

Ref:    La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§13:3204, 15:587.1, 17:15, 17:16, 17:81.5, 17:442, 17:443, 17:444, 17:491.3, 17:492 ,17:493, 17:493.1, 32:414.2

La. Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 2592

Rousselle v. Plaquemines Parish School Board, 633 So.2d 1235 (La. 2/28/94)

Board minutes, 12-13-11, 8-23-12, 2-13-14, 9-23-14, 5-23-17, 1-15-19, 2-12-19, 3-10-20, 10-18-22

Ouachita Parish School Board