FILE: GBDB
Cf: GBD
EMPLOYMENT OF SUPPORT PERSONNEL
An outstanding educational program in any school system is dependent upon the employment and retention of best qualified personnel. This can be best accomplished by giving careful consideration to qualifications and by providing attractive salary schedules, good working conditions, and adequate facilities.
SUPPORT PERSONNEL OTHER THAN BUS DRIVERS
Applicants shall be selected for support positions based on criteria as may be determined by the Board. Unless specifically covered by a written employment contract expressly entered into by the individual employee and the Board, school employees shall be hired on an at-will employment basis, which means they are subject to dismissal by the Board upon the written recommendation of the Superintendent. School employee shall mean any employee of the Board that is not required to hold a valid teacher's certificate as a condition of employment or is not a bus driver. All appointments shall be temporary until ability to perform assigned tasks has been determined.
School Secretaries, Clerks, and Central Office Clerical Personnel
General qualifications for regular employment shall be:
work skills necessary for the position and ability to do related tasks
possess a high school diploma or its equivalent
Procedure for hiring for secretarial/clerical positions:
The Executive Director of Personnel shall be notified of all secretarial/clerical positions as they become vacant. The Personnel Department shall advertise within the Acadia Parish School System for one (1) week; however, applications from outside the system will also be accepted. Each interested person shall submit a letter of application and a resume. The personnel office shall submit the names of applicants to the Supervisor of Testing and Adult Education and notify applicants of the date and time of the standardized/skills tests. A grade equivalency of 12.0 must be scored on the standardized test and minimum requirements met on the skills test in order to become eligible for the interview. After the tests are given, the testing office shall notify the personnel office of the results and the personnel office shall notify each applicant, either by mail or phone, of the test results and whether or not the applicant has advanced to the interview. After interviews are conducted, the personnel office shall notify remaining applicants, either by mail or phone, of the recommendation.
If the grade level of 12.0 is not achieved during the first testing, a three (3) month waiting period shall be imposed before retesting can occur.
Teacher Aides
For the purpose of this section, teacher aide means any person employed by the Acadia Parish School Board on a full-time or part-time basis to assist a teacher in an elementary or secondary classroom with the routine tasks inherent in conducting such class including but not limited to record keeping, preparation of classwork, the preparation of displays, assistance in student discipline matters, and grading student work.
General qualifications for regular employment shall be:
work skills necessary for the position and ability to do related tasks
possess a high school diploma or its equivalent
Specific qualifications for regular employment shall be the following:
be at least twenty (20) years of age
have taken a nationally validated achievement test and scored such as to demonstrate a level of achievement equivalent to grade level 12.0
if the grade level of 12.0 is not achieved during the first testing, a three-month waiting period shall be imposed before retesting can occur
Duties and responsibilities shall be to:
serve as teaching assistant in respective area(s) of instruction
grade papers
duplicate tests/materials
prepare routine reports
prepare media materials
perform miscellaneous clerical duties, including typing
BUS DRIVERS
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 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 full-time 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.
Whenever a school bus operator owning his/her own bus retires, the Board shall first offer a vacated route to any person meeting the requirements of the School Board who is willing to acquire the bus of the retiring operator at full appraised value. This provision shall be applicable only when the bus owned by the retiring operator has been manufactured within a period of five (5) years immediately prior to the operator's retirement and the operator is retiring due to a documented physical disability.
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 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.
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.
CRIMINAL HISTORY OF APPLICANTS
The Acadia Parish School Board shall require, in accordance with state law, applicants for employment with the School Board to submit necessary information regarding their backgrounds. Any prospective employee, whether temporary, part-time, or permanent, shall be required to provide authorization for the disclosure of any information regarding past criminal activities. In addition, prior to hiring any employee, the School Board shall request the applicant to sign a statement that requests and authorizes the release and disclosure of information by the applicant's current or previous employer, if such employer is a city, parish, or other local public school board, relative to all instances of sexual misconduct with students as defined by BESE regulations as committed by the applicant, if any.
Revised: August, 2005
Revised: September, 2006
Approved: December 4, 2006
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. ยงยง17:81, 17:81.9, 17:84.1, 17:493.1, 17:497.3, 17:500
Board minutes, 4-2-01, 12-4-06
Acadia Parish School Board