Code No.: 408.3
LICENSED EMPLOYEE – CONTRACT RELEASE
Purpose: To establish guidelines for licensed employee contract release.
Policy: Licensed employees who wish to be released from an executed contract must give at least twenty-one (21) days’ notice to the superintendent. Licensed employees may be released at the discretion of the board. Only in unusual and extreme circumstances will the board release a licensed employee from a contract. The board will have sole discretion to determine what constitutes unusual and extreme circumstances.
Release from a contract will be contingent upon finding a suitable replacement. Licensed employees requesting release from a contract after it has been signed and before it expires may be required to pay the board the cost of advertising incurred to locate and hire a suitable replacement. Upon written mutual agreement between the employee and the superintendent, the costs may be deducted from the employee’s salary. Payment of these costs is a condition for release from the contract at the discretion of the board. Failure of the licensed employee to pay these expenses may result in a cause of action being filed in small claims court.
The superintendent is required to file a complaint with the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners against a licensed employee who leaves without proper release from the board.
Legal Reference: Iowa Code §§ 216; 272; 279.13, .19A, .46 (2013).
1978 Op. Att’y Gen. 247.
1974 Op. Att’y Gen. 11, 322.
Approved 5/19/14