1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:10,119 Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers podcast, where we help new and beginning teachers 2 00:00:10,199 --> 00:00:16,000 navigate through those crazy first years of teaching so you can maintain your sanity and 3 00:00:16,399 --> 00:00:27,679 personal life. Here's your host, him Lapree. Welcome to the Teachers Need 4 00:00:27,679 --> 00:00:31,960 Teachers Podcasts, the podcast for teachers that don't want to just survive teaching, 5 00:00:32,039 --> 00:00:35,880 but actually thrive. I'm really glad that you guys are here today because today 6 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:41,280 I'm movie talking about notices of non renewal, which is a really hard topic 7 00:00:41,439 --> 00:00:45,439 to discuss because, let's face it, no one likes to get laid off 8 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,920 or let go, and it's truly painful. It can feel really shameful depending 9 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,679 on why you're getting let go, and it can be a really scary time. 10 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,399 I think one of the things that I can do in terms of helping 11 00:00:57,439 --> 00:01:02,280 you is just giving you information on what your options are. I can't necessarily 12 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:06,159 tell you what to do next, but I think that being informed can really 13 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:10,480 help you know whether or not you're making the right decisions moving forward. So 14 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,319 in today's episode, I am going to talk not only about what to do 15 00:01:14,519 --> 00:01:18,439 when you get the non renewal, but what your options are. So what 16 00:01:18,719 --> 00:01:22,439 is a notice of non renewal. It basically means that your contract isn't going 17 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,239 to be renewed for the falling school year, and this can happen for a 18 00:01:26,359 --> 00:01:30,239 number of reasons. It could be based on performance, it could be based 19 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:34,840 on budget cuts or reduce in personnel. There's actually a lot of different reasons 20 00:01:34,879 --> 00:01:38,319 why administrators will issue a notice of non renewal. So before you take any 21 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,159 action, the main thing that you want to do upon receiving this notice is 22 00:01:42,159 --> 00:01:47,879 to review it carefully. You want to understand the reasons for why this was 23 00:01:47,959 --> 00:01:52,280 issued to you, make sure that the reasons align with the terms of the 24 00:01:52,319 --> 00:01:56,239 contract that you signed when you got the job, and that those reasons are 25 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,000 actually valid. And if you have any questions or concerns of about those reasons, 26 00:02:00,239 --> 00:02:06,840 then be sure to get clarification from human resources from your administrator, and 27 00:02:06,879 --> 00:02:09,879 then if you have one a union, you definitely want to also ask for 28 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:16,639 specific evidence for examples for the non renewal, especially if it is performance based. 29 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,719 So once you've explored the reasons as to why you've got that, one 30 00:02:21,759 --> 00:02:24,439 of the first things that you can do is to request a hearing. In 31 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:30,039 most states, teachers that receive a notice of a non renewal can request a 32 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:35,919 hearing before an independent hearing officer. So the independent hearing officer will review the 33 00:02:36,039 --> 00:02:39,400 notice and the evidence and they'll make a recommendation to the school board, and 34 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:44,479 from there, the school board can determine whether or not to go through with 35 00:02:44,719 --> 00:02:47,159 the non renewal. Now, this next option depends on whether or not you 36 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,680 have a union. If you do have an union, then you can file 37 00:02:51,719 --> 00:02:55,800 agreevance. If you believe that the non renewal is unjust, then you're going 38 00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:01,639 to want to consider challenging this by going through your district's grievance process. So 39 00:03:01,719 --> 00:03:07,520 this might involve filing a formal complaint and presenting evidence to support your claim. 40 00:03:07,599 --> 00:03:09,360 And if you are part of a union, they're most likely going to be 41 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:14,719 helping you out with this and giving you additional resources. The union can also 42 00:03:14,759 --> 00:03:19,360 do their own investigation and file their own complaint on your behalf if they believe 43 00:03:19,439 --> 00:03:23,439 that the non renewal is unwarranted, and then the school district will have an 44 00:03:23,439 --> 00:03:28,000 opportunity to respond to this complaint, and if the union is not satisfied with 45 00:03:28,039 --> 00:03:30,759 that response, then they can also bacuate up in terms of filing a lawsuit 46 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:35,280 against the district. Now, if here's the thing, if you work in 47 00:03:35,439 --> 00:03:38,879 what's called a right to work state, then that means that teachers have fewer 48 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 rights and most likely you don't have union representation, and even if you did 49 00:03:44,039 --> 00:03:47,000 have union representation, it's probably not very strong or it's not really going to 50 00:03:47,039 --> 00:03:51,439 help you out in this case, and right to work states teachers aren't even 51 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,719 required to join unions, and so if you're not part of the union, 52 00:03:54,759 --> 00:03:59,560 you might not have any support. It also means that you're probably not going 53 00:03:59,639 --> 00:04:02,080 to have the same rights to bile a grievance as you would if you weren't 54 00:04:02,199 --> 00:04:05,960 living in a right to work state, and so you'll have fewer options, 55 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:10,199 include a you might not even have the option to have a hearing. Also, 56 00:04:10,319 --> 00:04:13,520 this grievance process depends on whether or not you work at a private, 57 00:04:13,719 --> 00:04:16,519 a charter, or a public school, So teachers that work in private schools 58 00:04:16,519 --> 00:04:21,240 tend to not have any options or anyone to support or grieve this process. 59 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,879 You're going to have pewer rights because you're not governed by a district that is 60 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,079 being run with public funds. It's a privately funded school, and so the 61 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:34,319 administrators can hire and fire at will. On the other hand, public school 62 00:04:34,319 --> 00:04:40,399 teachers tend to have more options because they are being paid by public funds by 63 00:04:40,519 --> 00:04:44,079 a lot of times by taxes and things like that, and so that gives 64 00:04:44,079 --> 00:04:46,160 you more protection in that case, but if you don't have a union, 65 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,959 it's still not necessarily going to help keep your job. Charter schools are a 66 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,519 little bit more like public schools and that they are also publicly funded, but 67 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,959 a lot of times the way that they have their contracts, they're not necessarily 68 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,759 long term contracts. You might actually on a year to year fasis, and 69 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,560 so if a non renewal might become kind of a regular thing. So if 70 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:09,360 you do decide to stay with a charter school or apply to a charter school, 71 00:05:09,439 --> 00:05:12,920 I would definitely check the contract to see what is the process for becoming 72 00:05:12,959 --> 00:05:16,040 tenured or if you even have an option to be tenured there. I've actually 73 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:20,439 read of instances of teachers and private and charter schools where their contracts are a 74 00:05:20,519 --> 00:05:24,879 year to year, and a lot of times those schools just like to get 75 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,040 rid of teachers after a certain amount of time because it's easier to not keep 76 00:05:29,079 --> 00:05:31,480 you past a certain number of years. Let's say four or five years where 77 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,600 you become ten yured or permanent. So they just like to keep the turret 78 00:05:34,639 --> 00:05:39,519 over so they're not stuck with any teacher for an indefinite amount of time. 79 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:44,360 So your third option is to actually find a job somewhere else. So if 80 00:05:44,399 --> 00:05:48,040 you are non renewed, you can consider teaching at another district at another school. 81 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,439 Maybe maybe it's just you got a non renewal from that one school and 82 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,519 you can apply to a different school, or maybe you just want to teach 83 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,639 in another state at all. Together. From what I've heard from other teachers 84 00:05:59,639 --> 00:06:01,759 who were see if this non renewal, notice they kind of just don't even 85 00:06:01,759 --> 00:06:05,439 want to finish up the school year. They're at a point where it's just 86 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:10,800 they're so bitter about getting this in the first place because a lot of times 87 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,600 the reasons that they're getting it they don't agree with. So if your administrator 88 00:06:14,639 --> 00:06:17,759 puts performance reasons and you're looking at this and you have no way of defending 89 00:06:17,759 --> 00:06:21,319 yourself, it makes you not even want to stay there till the school year. 90 00:06:21,439 --> 00:06:26,360 Now, I really caution you against leaving in the middle of the year 91 00:06:26,399 --> 00:06:30,160 if you get this non renewal and you want to keep on teaching because it'll 92 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,600 definitely hurt your chances of getting a job at a different school. However, 93 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:38,839 even if you do fight this non renewal and you win, you're still going 94 00:06:38,879 --> 00:06:42,920 to be in the school, probably with the same administrator, and that can 95 00:06:42,959 --> 00:06:46,560 make it really hard to want to stay. You're always going to be wondering 96 00:06:46,639 --> 00:06:49,079 if that principle is going to be fighting reasons to get rid of you again. 97 00:06:49,199 --> 00:06:54,199 So an option is definitely to just look elsewhere for an appointment. So 98 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:59,800 obviously this is going to mean updating your resume, getting letters of recommendation from 99 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,439 your colleagues or administrators that you've had in the past that do have a favorable 100 00:07:03,519 --> 00:07:06,720 opinion of you. If you're a new teacher, you can get letters of 101 00:07:06,759 --> 00:07:12,680 recommendation from the professors where you've got your teaching credential, wherever your teaching training 102 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,079 program was at. But basically, you want to network and you want to 103 00:07:15,079 --> 00:07:19,319 look for other job opportunities as soon as you get this renewal notice or of 104 00:07:19,399 --> 00:07:25,959 grieving the process or getting a hearing is unsuccessful. So a big consideration that 105 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,120 a lot of teachers are growtling with when they get this notice of non renewal 106 00:07:30,319 --> 00:07:33,959 is whether or not they should accept it or if they should just resign. 107 00:07:34,399 --> 00:07:39,959 So this means that if you accept it, that the non renewal is going 108 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:45,279 to be on your record, as opposed to resigning where you kind of got 109 00:07:45,319 --> 00:07:48,680 in before the chance of that non renewal to hit your record. In fact, 110 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:55,439 I've definitely heard of some administrators suggesting to teachers that they just resign so 111 00:07:55,519 --> 00:07:58,720 they can avoid getting the non renewal. Now, whether or not you do 112 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:03,759 one or the other depends on several factors, and this includes the reason for 113 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,959 the non renewal, what your career goals are, and of course your financial 114 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,160 situation. Now, one reason why you might want to accept the non renewal 115 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:18,319 is because maybe the reasons that they gave you are valid. Maybe they are 116 00:08:18,439 --> 00:08:20,519 valid, and it's going to be really hard to fight it or really hard 117 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,680 to win if you were to crieve this case. So if you're not going 118 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:30,439 to be successful with this challenging decision, then accepting it might be the best 119 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,480 decision for you, and then you just start looking for a new job. 120 00:08:33,639 --> 00:08:37,480 Some teachers are afraid that having that non renewal on their record is going to 121 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,360 hurt them from getting another job. But it just really depends on why you 122 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:45,320 got the non renewal, and accepting the non renewal if you already were going 123 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,240 to lead, could be a good option and just also just sort of motivate 124 00:08:48,279 --> 00:08:52,919 you to go. Another reason why people would want to accept a non renewal 125 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,720 is because it allows them to apply for unemployment benefits. In terms of how 126 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:58,960 to get those unemployment benefits, you need to look that up in your particular 127 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,399 or state or county or city. But accepting the non renewal is almost like 128 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:07,960 getting laid off, so it makes it easier for you to get the unemployment 129 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,799 benefits. So resigning well pretty much keep that non renewal from ever showing up 130 00:09:11,919 --> 00:09:16,279 on your record, because sometimes districts will do background checks or they'll go back 131 00:09:16,279 --> 00:09:20,559 to the school that you taught up previously and ask questions. And so if 132 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,399 you don't want that to go out that you've got a non renewal, then 133 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,080 formally resigning could be your best option, especially if you want to continue teaching. 134 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:35,120 Sometimes teachers look at a negative performance evaluation from a particularly hostile administrator, 135 00:09:35,519 --> 00:09:39,799 or they're just in a situation where they never even really had a chance because 136 00:09:39,799 --> 00:09:43,639 the administrators seem to have it out for them to just formally resigning could give 137 00:09:43,639 --> 00:09:46,960 them the kind of fresh start that they need for when they're applying to a 138 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:50,799 new school. However, it's also the opposite of taking that non renewal, 139 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:54,679 and that once you resign, you can't file for unemployment, and so that's 140 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:58,200 a financial decision that you need to consider if you need that unemployment to hold 141 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:03,159 you over until you get another job. So obviously this is a really, 142 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:07,840 really tough time right now because you're faced with this feeling of rejection and a 143 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,000 lot of times it just feels so unfair. So even if you get a 144 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:16,600 non renewal because there's going to be lower enrollment the following year so they're letting 145 00:10:16,639 --> 00:10:20,879 go of teachers or for financial reasons, it's still really like a punch in 146 00:10:20,919 --> 00:10:24,519 the gut when you get this notice. So at this point I would definitely 147 00:10:24,519 --> 00:10:28,879 seek out support from other teachers who are going through the same process and who 148 00:10:28,919 --> 00:10:31,559 have gone through this before. You can go onto Facebook groups, and they 149 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:37,399 have Facebook groups specifically for teachers who've gotten no renewals. There are also Reddit 150 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:41,039 sub groups like the ones just for It's just Reddit for teachers. They have 151 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:45,799 a lot of support for teachers who received a non renewal, but right now 152 00:10:45,919 --> 00:10:50,559 is a time to surround yourself with other supportive colleagues who've been through it before, 153 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:52,960 and even your colleagues who haven't been for it before, they can definitely 154 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,840 support you. But it just feels really good to talk to someone who's been 155 00:10:56,879 --> 00:11:01,919 through it so that they can commits right with you and give you advice on 156 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:05,679 what to do next. I can't give you specific advice because of the fact 157 00:11:05,759 --> 00:11:09,000 that your situation is different from everybody else's. I don't know what type of 158 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:13,000 school you teach at, state that you teach at, whether or not you 159 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,480 have an union, things like that. So I would definitely reach out to 160 00:11:16,519 --> 00:11:20,600 other teachers, but use this video and the information that you've got here as 161 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:24,480 a jumping off point to know ooh, so that you can explore what your 162 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,639 next options are. So I hope that you found that information useful. Definitely 163 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:33,000 reach out to other teachers, and if you have a union, reach out 164 00:11:33,039 --> 00:11:35,480 to them, and you never know, maybe you have to go and hire 165 00:11:35,519 --> 00:11:39,360 our own lawyers so that you can fight this process. If you did receive 166 00:11:39,399 --> 00:11:43,559 a notice of non renewal, Please reach out to me so I can support 167 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,639 you however I can. You can reach me at Kim at Teachers Need Teachers 168 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,679 dot com. Thanks for being here the speak advice and I will see you 169 00:11:50,759 --> 00:11:56,039 next time. Thanks for listening to the Teachers Need Teachers podcast. Love this 170 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:01,279 episode, Head over to Apple Podcast or Google Play to scribe, rate and 171 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:01,159 leave a review.