FILE: GBD
Cf: GBC, GBDA, GBDB
Cf: GBJ, GBM, GBRJ
EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONNEL
The Lafourche Parish School Board and its administrative staff believe that they have 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. Age shall be considered only with respect to minimums set by law.
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.
Upon tender of an offer of employment to an applicant, the applicant shall undergo testing and screening as may be required, as directed by the Lafourche Parish School Board.
No employment shall commence until all applicable and mandated testing and exams have been successfully completed and passed, as well as the criminal history background check as outlined in policy GBC, Recruitment.
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.
CERTIFIED PERSONNEL
The Superintendent and/or his/her designee shall consult with the principal regarding any possible selections made by the Superintendent for hiring or placement of any teacher or other certified personnel at the school in which the principal is employed. In addition, The Superintendent and/or his/her designee shall consult with teachers regarding any possible selections 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.
The Superintendent shall require all teaching personnel employed by the district to possess those qualifications set forth by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and by all applicable accrediting agencies. The Superintendent also recognizes that these qualifications, as well as qualifications for all positions, are set up to promote minimum standards. The Superintendent and/or his/her designee shall strive to employ persons who exceed these minimum requirements, whenever possible.
Employment of Teachers
A.In preparing a list of nominations, the Superintendent shall observe the following sequence:
1.As determined by the Superintendent, each teacher then employed shall be required to complete a questionnaire annually declaring his/her intention regarding employment for the following year. Requests by teachers for transfer or reassignment shall be noted on the questionnaire.
2.As determined by the Superintendent, every principal shall be required to submit annually a report of anticipated student promotion and failure, to reflect the number of students anticipated in each grade for the following year, from which the Superintendent shall determine the number of teachers allowable for each school.
B.Thereafter, the following criteria shall govern the selection of teaching personnel:
Criteria for Employment
No teacher may be hired who does not possess a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution and a valid Louisiana teacher's certificate. A certificated applicant who is presently employed by another district and is seeking employment in Lafourche Parish must have a Request for Information Form completed by the central office staff member who is the supervisor of the applicant's current evaluator. This Request for Information Form must be included with the application.
Nothing shall preclude the Lafourche Parish School Board from employing a trade and industry person who lacks a baccalaureate degree but who has been certified by the Louisiana Department of Education.
BUS OPERATORS
The School Board shall only employ as school bus drivers those persons who have met all state and federal requirements for such positions. 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.
If no tenured operator chooses to change to the vacant route, the route shall then be offered to a fulltime probationary bus operator.
If no regular bus operator, tenured or probationary, chooses to change to the vacant route, then a substitute bus operator shall be selected for the position from a list of approved substitute school bus operators. If no tenured, probationary, or substitute bus operator wants the route, then a new driver shall be hired.
Interview Process
The interview process is an important component to the hiring decision and may be determinative of the decision to be hired and shall be scored based upon a rubric to be approved by the Superintendent. In the event of a tie between applicants, the positions shall be offered to the candidate with the most seniority. If the interview process is the determining factor, the interviewer/decision maker shall articulate the rational basis for the decision if so requested in writing within five (5) working days of the interview by the applicant. The interviewer/decision maker will offer informal suggestions for improvement if so requested by the applicant. The interview criteria shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1)Attendance and punctuality
(2)Driving record
(3)Knowledge of School Board and State policies and procedures regarding transportation
(4)Communication and Interpersonal skills
(5)Administrative recommendation based upon observation
The School Board may select an operator to fill a vacant route using a different process than outlined above, but only if the Board is required to bear an increase in the unreimbursed costs for non-passenger 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 drivers for bus routes shall have and shall meet the same qualifications as regular drivers.
School Employees
Applicants shall be selected for support positions based on criteria as may be determined by the School Board. Those individuals employed by the Lafourche Parish School Board as support personnel are subject to dismissal by the Board upon the written recommendation of the Superintendent in accordance with the Lafourche Parish School Board dismissal policies. School employee shall mean any employee of the School Board that is not required to hold a valid teacher's certificate as a condition of employment or is not a bus operator.
ADMINISTRATORS AS COACHES
The coach of an athletic selected by theschool principal subject to the Superintendent’s approval
Revised: August, 2012
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, 2-7-68, 4-10-68, 12-5-73, 10-7-74, 11-3-76, 3-5-87, 5-2-90, 8-2-95, 5-7-97, 11-3-04,10-5-05, 2-1-06, 1-10-07, 11-5-08, 4-7-10, 3-16-11, 8-1-12.
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