It is the responsibility of the Board to employ and retain the certificated staff necessary for the effective and efficient implementation of its educational program and the safe operation of its schools.

The Board shall eliminate certificated positions and reduce the number of certificated staff when the Board finds that curricular changes, changes in enrollment, return to duty from leave of a certificated staff, closing of schools, territorial changes, or other good cause warrants.

When, in the judgment of the Board, it is necessary to reduce the number of teachers, the following procedures will apply. Should any of the procedures prescribed herein be inconsistent with Indiana law, the procedures or rule will be superseded by law; however, the remainder of this policy will remain in full force and effect.

As required by I.C. 20-28-7.5-1(d), once the positions to be eliminated are identified by the Board, the certificated staff members to be released from employment shall be identified on the basis of licensure and merit not years of service or seniority.

As used in this policy, "licensure" means the scope of the license issued by the Office of Educator Licensing and Employment in the Indiana Department of Education, and "merit" means a performance category assigned to an educator pursuant to I.C. 20-28-11.5, i.e. "highly effective", "effective", and "improvement necessary" or "ineffective". Where two certificated staff members are in the same performance category, one or more of the following factors may be considered to identify the staff member to be released from employment:

The Superintendent will, prior to making any recommendations to the Board, meet with the district Discussion Team for the purpose of discussing any proposed reduction of professional staff. Where possible, any reduction in staff will be accomplished by the normal attrition process.

Certificated staff selected to be released from employment pursuant to this policy shall receive the initial notification of possible contract cancellation required by I.C. 20-28-7.5-2(a)(2) between May 1st and July 1st preceding the proposed cancellation of their contract with the Board.

The NCCTA president will be notified by letter of intended positions of reduction in force upon determination by the Superintendent.

Recall: Teachers whose contracts were non-continued and/or cancelled and who received a rating of "highly effective" or "effective", will be considered for re-hire before new applicants are given consideration. Teachers will remain on the recall list for a period of two years or until offered a teaching position.

I.C. 20-28-7.5-1(d), 20-28-7.5-2(a)(2)