1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; providing for consecutive 
  1.3             teaching experience for a teacher whose probationary 
  1.4             employment is interrupted by military service; 
  1.5             amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, sections 122A.40, 
  1.6             subdivision 5; 122A.41, subdivision 2. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 122A.40, 
  1.9   subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 5.  [PROBATIONARY PERIOD.] (a) The first three 
  1.11  consecutive years of a teacher's first teaching experience in 
  1.12  Minnesota in a single district is deemed to be a probationary 
  1.13  period of employment, and after completion thereof, the 
  1.14  probationary period in each district in which the teacher is 
  1.15  thereafter employed shall be one year.  The school board must 
  1.16  adopt a plan for written evaluation of teachers during the 
  1.17  probationary period.  Evaluation must occur at least three times 
  1.18  each year for a teacher performing services on 120 or more 
  1.19  school days, at least two times each year for a teacher 
  1.20  performing services on 60 to 119 school days, and at least one 
  1.21  time each year for a teacher performing services on fewer than 
  1.22  60 school days.  Days devoted to parent-teacher conferences, 
  1.23  teachers' workshops, and other staff development opportunities 
  1.24  and days on which a teacher is absent from school must not be 
  1.25  included in determining the number of school days on which a 
  1.26  teacher performs services.  Except as otherwise provided in 
  2.1   paragraph (b), during the probationary period any annual 
  2.2   contract with any teacher may or may not be renewed as the 
  2.3   school board shall see fit.  However, the board must give any 
  2.4   such teacher whose contract it declines to renew for the 
  2.5   following school year written notice to that effect before July 
  2.6   1.  If the teacher requests reasons for any nonrenewal of a 
  2.7   teaching contract, the board must give the teacher its reason in 
  2.8   writing, including a statement that appropriate supervision was 
  2.9   furnished describing the nature and the extent of such 
  2.10  supervision furnished the teacher during the employment by the 
  2.11  board, within ten days after receiving such request.  The school 
  2.12  board may, after a hearing held upon due notice, discharge a 
  2.13  teacher during the probationary period for cause, effective 
  2.14  immediately, under section 122A.44.  
  2.15     (b) A board must discharge a probationary teacher, 
  2.16  effective immediately, upon receipt of notice under section 
  2.17  122A.20, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), that the teacher's 
  2.18  license has been revoked due to a conviction for child abuse or 
  2.19  sexual abuse. 
  2.20     (c) A probationary teacher whose first three years of 
  2.21  consecutive employment are interrupted for active military 
  2.22  service and who promptly resumes teaching consistent with 
  2.23  federal reemployment timelines for uniformed service personnel 
  2.24  under United States Code, title 38, section 4312(e), is 
  2.25  considered to have a consecutive teaching experience for 
  2.26  purposes of paragraph (a). 
  2.27     <h>[EFFECTIVE DATE.]</h> This section is effective retroactively 
  2.28  from September 10, 2001, and applies to those probationary 
  2.29  teachers absent for active military service beginning on 
  2.30  September 10, 2001, or later. 
  2.31     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 122A.41, 
  2.32  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  2.33     Subd. 2.  [PROBATIONARY PERIOD; DISCHARGE OR DEMOTION.] (a) 
  2.34  All teachers in the public schools in cities of the first class 
  2.35  during the first three years of consecutive employment shall be 
  2.36  deemed to be in a probationary period of employment during which 
  3.1   period any annual contract with any teacher may, or may not, be 
  3.2   renewed as the school board, after consulting with the peer 
  3.3   review committee charged with evaluating the probationary 
  3.4   teachers under subdivision 3, shall see fit.  The school site 
  3.5   management team or the school board if there is no school site 
  3.6   management team, shall adopt a plan for a written evaluation of 
  3.7   teachers during the probationary period according to subdivision 
  3.8   3.  Evaluation by the peer review committee charged with 
  3.9   evaluating probationary teachers under subdivision 3 shall occur 
  3.10  at least three times each year for a teacher performing services 
  3.11  on 120 or more school days, at least two times each year for a 
  3.12  teacher performing services on 60 to 119 school days, and at 
  3.13  least one time each year for a teacher performing services on 
  3.14  fewer than 60 school days.  Days devoted to parent-teacher 
  3.15  conferences, teachers' workshops, and other staff development 
  3.16  opportunities and days on which a teacher is absent from school 
  3.17  shall not be included in determining the number of school days 
  3.18  on which a teacher performs services.  The school board may, 
  3.19  during such probationary period, discharge or demote a teacher 
  3.20  for any of the causes as specified in this code.  A written 
  3.21  statement of the cause of such discharge or demotion shall be 
  3.22  given to the teacher by the school board at least 30 days before 
  3.23  such removal or demotion shall become effective, and the teacher 
  3.24  so notified shall have no right of appeal therefrom. 
  3.25     (b) A probationary teacher whose first three years of 
  3.26  consecutive employment are interrupted for active military 
  3.27  service and who promptly resumes teaching consistent with 
  3.28  federal reemployment timelines for uniformed service personnel 
  3.29  under United States Code, title 38, section 4312(e), is 
  3.30  considered to have a consecutive teaching experience for 
  3.31  purposes of paragraph (a). 
  3.32     <h>[EFFECTIVE DATE.]</h> This section is effective retroactively 
  3.33  from September 10, 2001, and applies to those probationary 
  3.34  teachers absent for active military service beginning on 
  3.35  September 10, 2001, or later.