§ 6-17-1509 - Hearing. - Arkansas Statutes

6-17-1509. Hearing.

(a) A teacher who receives a notice of recommended termination or nonrenewal may file a written request with the board of directors of the school district for a hearing.

(b) Written request for a hearing shall be sent by certified or registered mail to the president, vice president, or secretary of the board of directors of the school district, with a copy to the superintendent, or may be delivered in person by the teacher to the president, vice president, or secretary of the board of directors of the school district, with a copy to the superintendent, within thirty (30) calendar days after the written notice of proposed termination or nonrenewal is received by the teacher.

(c) Upon receipt of a request for a hearing, the board of directors shall grant a hearing in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) The hearing shall take place at a time agreed upon in writing by the parties, but if no time can be agreed upon, then the hearing shall be held no fewer than five (5) calendar days nor more than twenty (20) calendar days after the written request has been received by the board of directors;

(2) (A) The hearing shall be private unless the teacher or the board of directors shall request that the hearing be public.

(B) If the hearing is public, the parent or guardian of any student under eighteen (18) years of age who offers testimony may elect to have the student's testimony offered in private;

(3) The teacher and the board of directors may be represented by representatives of their choosing;

(4) It shall not be necessary that a full record of the proceedings at the hearing be made and preserved unless:

(A) The board of directors shall elect to make and preserve a record of the hearing at its own expense, in which event a copy shall be furnished the teacher, upon request, without cost to the teacher; or

(B) A written request is filed with the board of directors by the teacher at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the time set for the hearing, in which event the board of directors shall make and preserve at its own expense a record of the hearing and shall furnish a transcript to the teacher without cost; and

(5) The board of directors shall not consider at the hearing any new reasons which were not specified in the notices provided pursuant to this subchapter.

(d) Nothing in this section shall preclude a school district which has chosen to officially recognize in its policies an organization representing the majority of the teachers of the school district for the purpose of negotiating personnel policies, salaries, and educational matters of mutual concern under a written policy agreement from conducting a single nonrenewal hearing when all the school district's teachers are recommended for nonrenewal provided that each teacher at such hearing shall be given an opportunity to make comments to be included in the hearing record.