SECTION A: CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR LAYOFF

1. The SPS has the legal responsibility to establish the educational programs, services and staff in accordance with the SPS's basic educational goals and program continuity consistent with the financial resources available. The SPS has the authority to make necessary adjustments in the SPS's staff to be consistent with financial resources available and the programs and services which it determines to provide, subject to the provisions of this Agreement.

2. Adverse developments which can necessitate layoffs include:

a. Failure of a special levy election;

b. Large insufficiencies in State funding; or,

c. Large reductions in categorical funds or projects.

3. In such cases where large-scale layoffs are necessary, the SPS shall minimize the number of employees to be laid off by reducing cash reserves in a prudent manner to replace depleted revenues and by reducing expenditures in a prudent manner in areas of capital outlay, travel, contractual services, books and supplies. The SPS may reduce the levels of employees as necessary to remain within reasonably secure revenues for the following fiscal year, but in so doing, shall give priority to those programs and services which relate to instruction and welfare of the students.

4. In the event of layoffs determined for other reasons such as declining enrollment, changes in programs and priorities within and among programs, adoptions of a different manner of providing services, and non-large funding losses and insufficiencies, the SPS shall provide the SEA with a listing which includes the names, teaching categories, and seniority of all employees to be laid off prior to the employees' receipt of layoff notification. Except in unusual circumstances, the notice shall be provided at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the employees' receipt of lay-off notices. The SPS and the SEA will immediately meet to review the changes.

5. The performance ratings (evaluation) of employees shall not be a factor in determining the order of layoff under this Section.

6. Vacancies created by retirements, resignations, leaves and discharges will be taken into consideration in determining the number of available certificated positions prior to the following school year.

7. The SPS will provide the SEA with a master copy of the Bargaining Unit seniority list and two (2) copies of the building seniority list given each principal/program manager prior to the beginning of the staff adjustment process.

SECTION B: SENIORITY

1. Seniority is the length of regular contract service an employee has with the SPS and includes length of service transferred from other Washington public schools.

a. Service from another Washington public school will be calculated on the same basis that is used to calculate service for those who have served in Seattle only.

b. A year of service is earned by fulfilling the number of days specified in the Contract.

c. Seniority for any employees who are contracted following the beginning of the school year will be computed by dividing the number of days worked by the number of days specified in the Contract. For purposes of computing seniority, a day consists of working one-half (.5) day or more. For employees working less than one-half (.5) day, seniority will be computed on the basis of full-time equivalency.

d. A day of seniority is based upon a day for which pay is received. Therefore, the following are excluded:

1) Absences for other causes; and,

2) All unpaid leaves except Military Leave which interrupt an employee's service.

2. Seniority includes Washington school district service prior to resignation or leave and excludes
substitute service.

3. It is the intention of the parties that this Article be consistent with the SPS Affirmative Action
efforts in hiring.

4. Employment Categories: The following employment categories are established to ensure the qualifications of employees assigned to retained positions:

a. Kindergarten teachers

b. Elementary teachers (Grades 1-3)

c. Elementary teachers (Grades 4-6)

d. Middle School and High School by subject matter area or department. A subject matter area or department is a category defined but not limited to one (1) of the following: Art, Business Education, Foreign Language, Home Economics, Industrial Arts, Language Arts, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, Science and Social Studies. Each subject matter area or department represents a category and the specific subject a teacher is qualified to teach must be listed under each subject matter area or department.

e. Middle School Generalist

f. Support service certificated specialists, such as one (1) or more of the following: counselors, librarians, physical education specialists, school psychologists, social workers, traffic education, work experience, speech language pathologist, music specialists, reading specialists, nurses.

g. Special Categories: A category specifically identified by the SPS which is unique or essential to maintaining at least a minimum school program or function. Examples of programs under this category are Bilingual Education, Special Education, occupational therapists, and physical therapists.

h. Each employee shall select categories for which he/she is qualified, in preference order. Categories granted prior to 09/01/82 shall continue so long as the qualifying criteria in existence prior to that date are met. Any new categories or changes in categories subsequent to 09/01/82 must meet the following criteria:

1) A major in that category; or,

2) A minor in that category within the last six (6) years; or,

3) One (1) year of experience (minimum .8 FTE) in the chosen category within the last six (6) years or two (2) or more years experience (minimum .4 FTE) within the last six (6) years to accumulate to a minimum of .8 FTE.

4) Any category lost because of the expiration of the six (6) year time limit may be updated and regained for an additional six (6) years by completion of three (3) college credit hours or equivalent SPS-approved in-service.

5) Seniority credit for purposes of displacement, transfer and layoff and recall when transferring from classified unit to certificated unit:

Upon the completion of the first year of certificated service, the employee will be credited with seniority equal to their years of accrued SPS classified seniority.

6) Seniority credit for non-supervisory certificated employees hired after September 1, 1991, will include credit for certificated substitute service in the Washington State public school districts, subject to the following provisions:

a) Only Washington State public school district certificated substitute service will be recognized.

b) Seniority credit for substitute service will be computed on the basis of total full-time equivalent certificated substitute days, divided by 180 days.

SECTION C: DISPLACEMENT AND LAYOFF GUIDELINES

Guidelines for displacement and layoff shall be as follows:

1. Displacement of staff from buildings, layoff, and recall shall be by seniority, within categories, subject matter areas, or departments.

2. Employees are designated “displaced” if they are involuntarily removed from a building because the number of staff with continuing contracts in that category at the building exceeds the building’s requirements for the following year but the number of staff the SPS will require in that category the following year is sufficient to warrant retention of the employee in a “displaced pool” eligible to seek vacant positions under the terms of Article VIII, Staffing. Displaced employees retain the rights and protections described in Article VIII, Staffing. Seniority within categories determines whether an employee is “displaced” or “laid off”.

3. Employees are designated “laid off” if they are involuntarily removed from a building because the number of staff with continuing contracts in that category in the SPS exceeds the SPS’s requirements in that category for the following year and the employee does not have sufficient seniority to be retained in the “displacement pool”.

4. The SPS shall comply with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the 1972 Amendment, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act when implementing layoffs.

SECTION D: CERTIFICATED EMPLOYEE LAYOFFS

Retentions and layoffs shall be determined as follows:

1. Certification: Possession of any valid Washington State certification which may be required for
the position(s) under consideration shall be a requisite for retention.

2. Selection Within Employment Categories: Certificated employees shall be considered for
retention in available positions within the categories or specialties which they have designated
as preferences in accordance with Article XII,B,4 of this Agreement.

3. Length of service of certificated employees shall be the basis for retention within the
employment categories.

4. Employees who do not meet the seniority requirement for the first preference listed will be considered, on a seniority basis, for their other listed preferences.

SECTION E: RECALL FROM LAYOFF: PROVISIONS FOR REEMPLOYMENT OF LAID OFF
EMPLOYEES

1. All employees laid off as a result of program or staff adjustments will be placed in an employment pool from which they will have priority for reemployment.

2. The SPS shall maintain a roster of certificated employees who were laid off from positions. Persons on the list will be ranked in order of seniority within categories. The SPS shall make every reasonable effort to recall laid off employees to employment at the earliest possible date after determination that an appropriate vacancy exists.

3. If a position becomes vacant and if no qualified internal candidate accepts the position (see Article VIII, Staffing), the most senior person holding that category is recalled. Internal candidates include anyone eligible to participate in internal open hiring (as described in Article VIII). The exceptions are that:

a. To the extent that the employee’s immediately previous assignment is available, the employee shall automatically be placed in his/her immediately previous assignment.

b. The employee shall have the right to return to his/her immediately previous work location whenever a position is available, but no later than the second week of school.

4. Recall shall be determined as follows:

a. Certification: Possession of any valid Washington State Certification which may be required for the position(s) under consideration shall be a requisite for reemployment.

b. Each individual shall be considered for reemployment in any of the categories the employee indicated as preferences.

c. Reemployment will be made on a seniority basis, within categories.

d. The employee shall have the right to refuse the first and second offer of employment. Refusing the third offer shall result in the individual’s name being placed on the bottom of the rehire list.

e. Employees reemployed to a position in a 30% or more ethnic minority populated school shall have training and/or experience with multi-ethnic or multi-cultural situations. If such employees are not available within the pool and no person will or can take the training and/or experience prior to the opening of school, other persons will be selected with consideration of appropriate in-service training and/or orientation.

5. It shall be the responsibility of each individual placed in the re-employment pool to notify Human Resources in writing between June 1 and June 30 if the individual wishes to remain in the re-employment pool for the second year. If the notification is not received, the name of the individual(s) shall be dropped from the employment pool.

6. Individuals not re-employed before the start of the fall school term, upon application, shall be placed on the substitute teacher roster. Laid off employees may renew annually their position within the substitute teacher roster.

7. It is recognized that certificated employees of the SPS holding administrative or supervisory positions and not included in the bargaining unit covered by this Agreement may be eligible, under applicable Board policy and administrative procedures, for retention in one or more of the employment categories.

8. Any laid off individual shall, upon re-employment, retain full seniority rights and all other rights as though his/her employment relationship with the SPS had not been broken.

SECTION F: EMPLOYMENT NOTIFICATION

1. All laid off employees shall be responsible for notifying Human Resources of a telephone number through which they can be reached.

2. Any laid off employee may assign his/her power of attorney to the SEA who will thereby be authorized to accept or reject an assignment on the employee's behalf.

3. Laid off employees will be contacted by telephone to be offered re-employment and shall respond within twenty-four (24) hours following receipt of the offer.

4. Employees may authorize Human Resources to accept or reject an assignment on their behalf.

SECTION G: RECALL FROM LAYOFF AND SENIORITY

1. All employees recalled from layoff shall receive full seniority credit retroactive to the first date of the semester if recalled prior to October 31.

2. The recall period for laid-off employees shall be renewable on an annual basis by the former employee for a two (2) year length of time.