Back to Feb. SBEC Meeting Highlights
Contract Abandonments
Whom an educator should believe when being told his or her resignation has been “accepted” was the only sticking point between teacher and school management groups in discussing, with the board, possible changes to educator contract abandonment rules.
(agenda #14/webcast-Click Item 14)
Teacher groups contend that it should be a “good cause” for a teacher to “abandon” his/her employment contract if the educator relied on the word of someone the educator reasonably assumed to have the authority to accept the resignation (such as a principal in the case of a teacher) even if it turned out that the person really didn’t have the authority in the district to accept resignations.
The state’s major school management groups argued that the good cause exception should apply only when the resignation was accepted by a person with actual authority to accept a resignation (such as superintendents or school boards) as specified in the district’s policy.
SBEC’s board is considering whether to change contract abandonment rules due to recent cases in which school boards sought certification sanctions for teachers who quit mid-contract after being told by their principal that their resignations had been accepted (when the principal lacked resignation-acceptance authority in the district).
There have been other cases brought to SBEC of teachers who left their jobs mid-contract when, after submitting their resignations, they received automated letters from their HR departments that the resignations had been “accepted” when what was meant was that the resignation had been “received.”
Both teacher groups and school management groups agreed with a suggestion that there should be an added “good cause” exception for an educator to quit after the legal deadline to do so to take a position in another district that requires a higher level of certification — such as for a teacher who becomes school-counselor certified, and quits to take a counselor’s position.
The board informally directed staff to bring the matter back at the May meeting, to possibly start the rule making process.
SBEC only acts on contract abandonment cases upon referral by the educator’s school board — and usually imposes a penalty of suspension of the educator’s certificate for up to a year, unless the the SBEC board determines (as specified in SBEC rules) — that “good cause” or “mitigating circumstances” warranted no penalty or a certification suspension for less than a year.