NORTHFIELD BOARD OF EDUCATION FILE CODE: 4117.41
Northfield, New Jersey Monitored
Mandated
Policy X Other Reasons
NONRENEWAL
Purpose
The Northfield Board of Education has an obligation to the citizens of this district to employ the professional staff best trained and equipped to meet the educational needs of their children. It shall meet that obligation by retaining only those non-tenured teaching staff members who meet those standards.
Responsibility
A. It shall be the responsibility of the Superintendent of Schools to prepare procedures informing teaching staff members of the adequacy of their performance in the school district and to assist them in their professional development wherever possible. When it appears, however, that a non-tenured employee’s performance does not meet the standards of the district, the Superintendent of Schools shall consider recommending to the board that such employee not be re-employed;
B. The board shall meet before May 15 of each year to consider the renewal and non-renewal of contracts for non-tenured employees and to determine those teaching staff members who will not be re-employed. The board shall formally instruct the board secretary, at a public meeting held not later than May 15, to notify such teaching staff member(s) that they will not be offered contract(s) for the ensuing school year. Such notice shall be in writing and shall be received by all staff member(s) no later than May 15;
C. The resolution so adopted need not name the staff member(s), but if it does not, a record of the name(s) of the staff member(s) not re-employed, containing the date upon which the board made its determination, shall be retained in the files of the board secretary;
D. Upon reaching the decision to terminate an individual, the board shall address a letter to that individual, setting forth the fact of such determination, which shall be sent to the residence of that individual, by certified mail, return receipt requested;
E. Within five (5) working days of receipt of such notice, the individual may request, in writing, reasons for the termination, which shall be furnished in writing in not more than five (5) working days after receipt of that request;
F. Within ten (10) calendar days of receipt of the letter stating the reasons for termination, the employee may request an informal hearing in writing;
G. The board shall schedule the informal hearing to be held no more than thirty (30) calendar days from the receipt of the request for a hearing by that individual;
H. It is the board of education’s prerogative to determine the date, starting time and length of an informal appearance, the purpose of which shall be to permit the staff member a final opportunity to convince the board of education to offer reemployment. The employee shall be notified of the date, time and place of the hearing, by letter, not less than ten (10) working days before the date of such hearing;
I. At such informal hearing, the individual may be represented by a person of that individual’s choosing and may present witnesses in his/her behalf. The witnesses need not be under oath and shall not be cross-examined;
J. The board shall schedule this hearing for such length of time as they deem reasonable in their sole discretion;
K. At the informal hearing, the only persons who shall be present shall be the board, the Superintendent of Schools, the secretary of the board, the board’s counsel, the employee in question, that employee’s representative, if any, and each person as may be appearing as a witness on behalf of that employee. However, no witness shall be present except during the time when that witness is actually presenting testimony before the board;
L. Within three (3) working days of the conclusion of such informal hearing, the board shall render its final determination, which shall be in writing and sent to the residence of the employee by certified mail, return receipt requested.
Adopted: No Date
NJSBA Review/Update: November 2009; December 2010
Readopted: October 24, 2011
Key Words
Nonrenewal, Nontenured Teachers
Legal References: N.J.S.A. 18A:27-3.1 Non-tenured teaching staff; observation and evaluation; conference; purpose
N.J.S.A. 18A:27-3.2 Teaching staff member; notice of termination; statement of reasons; request; written answer
N.J.S.A. 18A:27-4.1 Appointment, transfer, removal, or renewal of officers and employees; exceptions
N.J.S.A. 18A:27-10 et seq. Nontenure teaching staff member; offer of employment for next succeeding year or notice of termination before May 31
N.J.A.C. 6A:32-4.1 et seq. Employment of teaching staff
See particularly:
N.J.A.C. 6A:32-4.1(e),-4.1(f)
N.J.A.C. 6A:32-4.6 Procedure for appearance of nontenured teaching staff members before a district board of education upon receipt of notice of nonreemployment
Donaldson v. North Wildwood Bd. of Ed., 65 N.J. 236 (1974)
Hicks v. Pemberton Township Board of Education, 1975 S.L.D. 332
Velasquez v. Brielle Board of Education, 97 N.J.A.R. 2d (EDU) (August 6), aff’g on different grounds Comm’r 96 N.J.A.R. 2d (EDU) (April 4)
Possible
Cross References: *4115 Supervision
*4116 Evaluation
*4117.4 Reduction in force/abolishing a position
*Indicates policy is included in the Critical Policy Reference Manual.