I’ve had a number of cases where teachers have been non-renewed and they want to know what protections they have. This is particularly talking about teachers who are not tenured. There are not a lot of rights that teachers have who are not tenured, but there are some. They have a right to be notified in advance; there are time restrictions involved before a teacher can be non-renewed. If a school district does not follow the proper time restrictions, the teacher is automatically renewed.
If the district has met the time obligations, the teacher has a right to ask for a written explanation of the reasons, and the teacher has a right to have a hearing in front of the school board to try to convince the board that the administration has made a mistake in his or her case. After that, the teacher does have a right to bring an action in court to try to convince the court that the district board acted arbitrarily and unreasonably in not ruling in his or her favor at the board hearing. The best opportunity to make a case though is at the board hearing so you don’t face the higher standard when you go to court. They have a right to be represented at those hearings, and it’s important that they do get proper representation so they can maximize the limited right that they do have to stop a non-renewal.
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