FILE:  GBDA

Cf:  GBC, GBD

SUPPORT PERSONNEL EMPLOYMENT

The Washington Parish School Board bases its employment and assignment policies on the principle that quality education can best be provided by staffing all positions in the system with the very best personnel available.  No person shall be denied employment, reemployment, or advancement, nor shall be evaluated on the basis of sex, marital status, race, handicap, or color, creed, or national origin.  Age shall be considered only with respect to minimums set by law.

The School Board shall require in accordance with state law, certain applicants requesting employment with the School Board to submit necessary information regarding their backgrounds.  Any prospective employee, whether part-time, temporary, or permanent, may be required to provide authorization for the disclosure of any information regarding past criminal activities. In addition, prior to hiring any employee, the Superintendent or his/her designee 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 Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) regulations, as committed by the applicant, if any.

SUPPORT PERSONNEL

Applicants shall be selected for support positions based on criteria as may be determined by the School Board.  Support personnel must meet all job qualifications at the time their applications are filed.  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.  All appointments shall be temporary until ability to perform assigned tasks has been determined.

Applicants for support personnel positions shall be evaluated in accordance with the Standards for Selection of Non-Certified Personnel outlined in School Board procedures.  When in the best interests of the school system, the Superintendent may hire persons currently employed in the system on a part-time basis to fill vacant full-time positions without the above evaluation, with the approval of the principal and the position’s immediate supervisor.

For salary purposes, previous experience in a similar position may be granted as determined by the School Board.  For salary purposes, employees applying for a position shall be granted experience earned in a similar position within Washington Parish.

Support Employees Hired Under a Federal or State Grant

The School Board recognizes that personnel may be hired as a result of securing a federal, state, or special grant.  Persons hired on the basis of a grant shall be hired for a period of time as the grant or plan documentation shall describe, but in no case longer than one school year.  There shall be no expectation of continued employment by any person hired under a grant from one school year to the next; however, for grants of longer than one school year, the same individual may be rehired on an annual basis for each year the grant is funded.

BUS OPERATORS

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.  The School Board shall notify such bus operator of the route vacancy by mail to his/her residence.  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.  If no tenured, probationary, or substitute bus operator wants the route, then a new operator shall be hired.

Whenever a school bus operator owning his/her own bus retires, a vacated route shall be offered first 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 Superintendent may select an operator to fill a vacant route using a different process than outlined above, but only if the School 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.  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 operators for bus routes shall have and shall meet the same qualifications as regular operators.

Any person employed as a bus operator in the Washington Parish School System must have the availability of funds to purchase a bus.  The new bus operator will be given ten (10) working days from the date of employment to purchase a bus and have it on the route.  If a bus is needed on a route during these ten days, it is the operator's responsibility to rent a bus and pay for all expenses.  The bus operator must make sure that the bus meets all Federal and State Guidelines.

Ref:    La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§15:587, 15:587.1, 17:15, 17:81, 17:81.9, 17:84.1, 17:493.1, 17:497.3, 17:500

Board minutes, 10-10-96, 10-2-03, 1-29-04, 6-15-06, 10-12-06, 8-9-12, 3-14-19

Washington Parish School Board