While no official

action has yet been taken regarding a proposed fair dismissal policy for

Fayette County School System teachers, members of the Board of Education

have made it clear that they want to protect teachers and plan to implement

a policy that will do so.

"Due process

is important," said board member Janet Smola, adding that making

sure whatever is adopted is constitutional is also of vital importance.

Receiving particular

scrutiny during Monday's special called board meeting was a policy recently

adopted by the Clayton County Board of Education.

Fayette County

School System attorney Phil Hartley said that he believes that document

is legal, but there is a point of concern with him as well as Superintendent

John DeCotis about one particular item, which could put the superintendent

and the school board in adversarial positions.

Georgia's current

fair dismissal policy, which applies to teachers hired before July 1 of

last year, ensures protection to teachers after they have accepted a fourth

consecutive contract with the same school system. This practice, referred

to by some as "tenure," has been eliminated under Gov. Roy Barnes'

new education legislation, so newer teachers do not apply and do not have

due process rights like more veteran teachers do, according to the Fayette

County Association of Educators, which is in favor of a fair dismissal

policy and submitted a written notice to the school board in that regard.

Normally, a

teacher who has met the four-year requirement must be given written notice

for the coming academic year. That teacher is then entitled to a hearing

at which the school system must provide written charges, witnesses and

evidence to back up its reasons for nonrenewal.

The local board

must conduct a hearing and render a decision within five days, according

to Georgia law. The teacher can appeal the ruling to the state's Board

of Education, which has the power to uphold or reverse the local board

decision.

Clayton County's

policy, passed in December, says that if the board renders a decision

in favor of the teacher, the case is sent back to the superintendent for

reconsideration, and the superintendent may accept or reject the board's

decision.

If the Fayette

board made a practice of doing that, it could lead to some problems, according

to Hartley. If the board decides that there is insufficient cause to dismiss

a teacher but sends the case back to the superintendent, who then insists

on dismissing the teacher, then the board and superintendent are in an

adversarial position.

Also, if the

superintendent were to dismiss a teacher under those circumstances, the

board's favorable ruling would provide the teacher with some ammunition

if he or she were to file a lawsuit against the county over the termination,

Hartley said.

This scenario

is not likely, Hartley stated, under the current administration. School

board Chairman Mickey Littlefield said DeCotis has proven consistently

that he is "pro-teacher."

But Hartley

pointed out that neither the current board nor DeCotis would be in office

forever, so the policy needs to be carefully considered with that in mind.

Littlefield

asked if the possibility of litigation would be increased or decreased

should the board not implement any new policy at all. Hartley said he

did not think it would make a huge difference in those numbers, because

it is rare across the state for a school system to just let a teacher

go, and when it happens, the school system usually bends over backward

to ensure things are done right so that a lawsuit does not result.

Smola asked

about the possibility of a separate tribunal presiding over hearings such

as this to keep the relationship between the school board and the superintendent

unaffected. Hartley said that such a move is possible.

The consensus

of the board was that letting teachers have the right to a hearing is

a must. "That's what teachers are looking for," said school

board member Greg Powers.

Also of paramount

importance is having sufficient written documentation relating to any

incident where a teacher is not going to be kept, to make the hearing

process go more smoothly and fairly. "There must be documentation

and not character assassination," Powers said.

Having a fair

dismissal policy would give teachers similar rights to school administrators,

according to the FCAE. Administrators do not have due process rights such

as suggested above, but they can request and receive multi-year contracts.

There are currently 17 administrators in the county with multi-year contracts,

the FCAE stated. Board member Marion Key expressed concern about administrators

with multi-year contracts overseeing teachers without tenure of any kind.

Hartley suggested

that he take the comments of the school board and go back for another

look at what the county could draw up, since the major points seem to

be all right.

"I think

we're 95 percent there philosophically," said Littlefield. "We

just need to fine-tune it."