FPS Teachers Not Allowed Out of Their Contracts
Two Central Elementary school teachers requested, and were denied, the chance to get out of their contracts early with Fairbury Public Schools.
Those teachers, kindergarten teacher Laura Mohr and second grade teacher Jadyn Sebek, had made a request to resign form their positions but those requests came after an April 1 deadline, as required by Policy 4056. Under school policy, the FPS Board of Education had the option to either approve or deny the requests.
The requests were considered at a meeting of the board on Monday, April 11, 2022. Chairperson Barry Schwab read Policy 4056 for the benefit of those present at the meeting, “This pertains to the resignation of certificated certificate staff. Certificate staff members who know they will not be returning to employment at the school district for the following school year, are encouraged to submit their resignations as early as possible to enable the board to find suitable replacements. Staff members who submit their resignation to the Board of Education by April 1 will be released from the next school year’s contract without reservation. Resignations after April 1 will be considered by the Board of Education at the next available meeting and will be considered so long as the board is able to obtain the services of a suitable replacement. Staff members who refused to fill their contractual obligations will be reported to the Professional Practices Committee of the Nebraska Department of Education.”
FPS Superintendent Stephen Grizzle recommended against approving the resignations, “And it’s not something that I can recommend at this time that we do, simply because we have, we still have five openings at the elementary. We do have interviews later this week. But we don’t have enough interviews right now to fill the five current openings.”
Like most other industries, schools across the country, schools are suffering from a severe worker shortage.
The vote was not unanimous. The board voted four to two against approving the resignations.
Grizzle added, “Now, I will say we will continue, obviously, to work diligently to find replacements. And maybe it will be a possibility at the May board meeting, but right now I just I just can’t recommend it.”
