REDUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF. As a result of authority granted to the Board of Education by Kansas statutes, the Board has the responsibility of determining the composition of the professional staff necessary to implement and maintain education programs of the District. If it becomes necessary to reduce the number of professional employees employed by the District, the decision to reduce professional staff will in all cases, remain within the sole discretion and judgment of the Board. It is the policy of this District, to use normal attrition of staff, i.e., resignations, retirement, leaves of absence, as the first means of achieving a reduction in professional staff. In the event that further reduction of professional staff is necessary, it shall be accomplished in a fair and orderly manner as provided in this Agreement.
REDUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF. A. In the event of a reduction in the number of professional status members, seniority, defined as length of service in the Lexington Public School system, shall govern provided that professional staff member’s qualifications and performance are substantially equal. If there is no reduction in the FTE of any professional status member of a discipline as defined in Section C below, there is, by definition, no Reduction in Force (RIF) in that discipline. If student enrollment, budgetary constraints, or some other factor necessitates that a professional status staff member in a particular discipline be reassigned in whole or in part to a different school, the Involuntary Move language (Article 9) will apply. In applying the foregoing criteria the following shall apply:
1. Discipline shall be defined as in Section C of this Article.
2. Once it has been determined that there must be a reduction in the number of professional staff members in a specific discipline, all the professional staff members in that discipline shall be reviewed under the foregoing criteria. Normally the professional staff member(s) initially designated for reduction shall be the least senior. Exception to this rule shall be as follows:
a. If a professional staff member otherwise designated for reduction has unique qualifications such that his/her reduction would negatively affect the system's ability to continue specific course offerings or maintain ongoing curriculum, then that professional staff member may be retained and the next most junior professional staff member designated for reduction.
b. If a professional staff member otherwise designated for reduction has a history of performance over the last five years which is substantially superior to a more senior professional staff member in his/her discipline, then that professional staff member may be retained and, subject to the same exceptions, the next most junior professional staff member shall be reduced.
c. No professional staff member shall be laid off in exception to seniority through application of the "substantial superiority" criterion unless that professional staff member is in tier two and a determination is made to continue tier two placement for a second year.
3. Any professional staff member who has been designated for reduction pursuant to Subsection 2 (above) and who has past proven experience in Lexington of at least one year in another discipline shall be compared to the professional staff members in that other disc...
REDUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF. The Association acknowledges that among the rights reserved to the Board under Article III hereof is authority to curtail programs, including the establishment of partial-day sessions, and to reduce the professional staff in the school district and any of its schools particularly when such action is necessitated by reason of an insufficiency of operational tax revenues available to the Board or by less than projected enrollment or reduced student enrollments in certain subject matter areas. The following procedures shall be implemented by the Board when reducing the professional staff.
REDUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF. 27.1 This section does not refer to probationary employees or those supported by grant funds or contracts.
a. In all cases requiring the termination of professional staff, primary consideration shall be given to the University’s responsibility to offer an appropriate range of educational support services.
b. Whenever a layoff is anticipated, the President or designee shall meet and discuss the potential layoff with the UCPEA. The UCPEA may submit its own proposal for dealing with the problem.
c. In the event that a layoff is necessary, seniority shall be the determining criterion for selecting which employees shall be laid off within a school, division, department or subdivision of a department, or program.* Exceptions may be made to seniority based upon the following:
1. Affirmative action judged in relation to goals within the last five years for non- teaching professionals in the UCP level.
2. The first level supervisor outside of the unit has taken into consideration the skills, experience and merit of the employees in relation to the needs of the department and the least senior employee is clearly, significantly, and demonstrably superior to the more senior employee as shown through a combination of the following:
a. professional publications,
b. awards external to the University related to their profession,
c. attainment of significant skills or qualifications within their field related to the position, but beyond the minimum requirements of the position,
d. self-initiated new programs, projects, or processes that advance the mission of the department or University,
e. clear and consistent disparity of evaluation over the past 3 (three) years prior to layoff. This may be one element, but not the primary element used as proof of the superiority.
3. In those cases when a department is not to be eliminated entirely, and the department or subfunction within a department has been able to maintain as full a range of services as possible. *The University shall provide the UCPEA with a list of these units in September annually of each contract year.
d. When a reorganization causes two or more positions to be combined and one or more components are to be eliminated, the least senior employee from those positions that have been combined shall be laid off if all employees are at the same level. If employees are not at the same level, the least senior employee shall be laid off provided the remaining employees are able to perform the remaining duties with reason...
