<sorry for cross posting, but this is an emergency situation>
My sister is a kindergarten teacher under a yearly "term contract"
in the Austin Texas public school system. She has been teaching there
for 20 years, and is 3 years away from a full pension.
Fairly or unfairly (because of performance evaluations) she is
being asked to decide by Friday to, either:
o resign:
she would be given a letter of recommendation
she would then complete this years teaching through June
she could then legally say that the school did not terminate her
contract
she would be paid through the end of her contract (this august)
Please help us with is UNKNOWN:
Would she be able to collect unemployment after August in this
case where she resigns?
o appeal:
her principal indicates that they would formally *cancel* her
contract
she would have to present her case before the board my March 22
she may or may not be able to complete her teaching term through
June, and she may or may not be paid through August (the end of
her contract). She is optimistic on both though.
The "smoking gun" that seems to have precipated this action was that she
was not keeping detailed records (other than attendence) in her
grade book. Two of four of the other kindergarten teachers in her
school were also "not keeping detailed records" in their gradebooks.
She joined a Texas teachers organization, under this stress, and must wait
30 days
before she can get any advice from their lawyers.
My nephew's input in this:
We want to know: Teacher under a term contract in Texas. Her principal
has
given notice that the school district does not intend to renew her
contract.
Prior to giving her formal notice of the decision to not renew her
contract,
they have given her 4 days (which expires on Friday 3/12/04) in which to
allow her to resign her position. If she does not resign, she is
entitled
to an appeal and, as I understand things, the potential of being offered
a
provisional contract for one additional year. The person in personnel
spoke
with her informally, urging her to resign her position and indicating
that
if she did this, (1) she would get a good letter of recommendation and
(2)
it would be much better because there would be no official decision to
not
renew her contract in her record, i.e., it would be easier for her to
find
another job.
Questions: Should she take this offer? Pros and cons. Also, if she
voluntarily resigns, and then is unable to find a job over the summer,
will
she be eligible for unemployment compensation?
Background: This teacher has been working for 20 years in Texas. Her
current position (which she's held for 3 years) is teaching
kindergarten,
for which she is not certified. The primary reason for termination is
that
she wasn't keeping a detailed daily grade book. Her colleagues do not
keep
detailed grade books either for kindergarteners. She has yet to receive
any
specific training and/or certification for teaching kindergarten. Nor
has
she been assigned a mentor to help guide her in teaching kindergarten.
She
never hid the fact that her grade book wasn't kept on a daily basis (she
did
weekly entries) and has been using this grading technique for all three
years that she's been teaching kindergarten.
Any and all advice is appreciated.
--
thanks,
Tom
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