Connecticut General Statutes 5-242 – Appointment and tenure of teachers in state institution schools
(a) Any board of trustees of a state institution and any state agency other than the State Board of Education, the Technical Education and Career System or the Board of Governors of Higher Education or its constituent units, hereinafter referred to as the “employer”, may authorize the superintendent or supervising agent to employ personnel for unclassified positions requiring a certificate under § 10-145 below the rank of superintendent. Any superintendent or supervising agent not authorized to employ such persons shall submit to such employer nominations for such positions under his jurisdiction and, from the persons so nominated, such employer may employ persons to fill such positions. Such employer shall accept or reject such nominations within one month from their submission. If such nominations are rejected, the superintendent or supervising agent shall submit to such employer other nominations, and such employer may employ persons from among those nominated to fill such positions and shall accept or reject such nominations within one month from their submission. The contract of employment of such unclassified personnel below the rank of superintendent shall be in writing and may be terminated at any time for any of the reasons enumerated in subdivisions (1) to (6), inclusive, of subsection (b) of this section, but otherwise it shall be renewed for a second, third or fourth year unless such employee has been notified in writing prior to March first in one school year that such contract will not be renewed for the following year, provided, upon the employee’s written request, such notice shall be supplemented within five days after receipt of such request by a statement of the reason or reasons for such failure to renew. Such employee may, upon written request filed with the employer within ten days after the receipt of such notice, be entitled to a hearing before the board to be held within fifteen days of such request. The employee shall have the right to appear with counsel of his choice at such hearing.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 5-242
- Agency: means a department, board, institution or commission established by statute, not a part of any other department, board, institution or commission. See Connecticut General Statutes 5-196
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- month: means a calendar month, and the word "year" means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1
- Position: means a group of duties and responsibilities currently assigned or designated by competent authority to require the services of one employee. See Connecticut General Statutes 5-196
- succeeding: when used by way of reference to any section or sections, mean the section or sections next preceding, next following or next succeeding, unless some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
(b) Beginning with and subsequent to the fourth year of continuous employment of such an employee by such employer, the contract of employment of such employee shall be renewed from year to year, except that it may be terminated at any time for one or more of the following reasons: (1) Inefficiency or incompetence; (2) insubordination against reasonable rules of the employer; (3) moral misconduct; (4) disability, as shown by competent medical evidence; (5) elimination of the position to which the employee was appointed, if no other position exists to which he may be appointed if qualified; or (6) other due and sufficient cause; provided, prior to terminating a contract, an employer shall give the employee concerned a written notice that termination of his contract is under consideration and, upon written request filed by such employee with such employer within five days after receipt of such notice, shall within the next succeeding five days give such employee a statement in writing of its reasons therefor. Within twenty days after receipt from an employer of written notice that contract termination is under consideration, the employee concerned may file with such employer a written request for a hearing, which such employer shall hold within fifteen days after receipt of such request. Such hearing shall be public if the employee so requests or the employer so designates. The employee concerned shall have the right to appear with counsel of his choice at such hearing, whether public or private. An employer shall give the employee concerned its written decision within fifteen days after such hearing, together with a copy of a transcript of the proceedings, which shall be furnished without cost. Nothing herein contained shall deprive an employer of the power to suspend an employee from duty immediately when serious misconduct is charged without prejudice to the rights of the employee as otherwise provided in this section.
(c) The provisions of any special act regarding the dismissal or employment of employees covered by this section shall prevail over the provisions of this section when in conflict.
(d) After having had a contract of employment made in accordance with this section renewed for a fourth year in any one institution or agency, any such employee who is subsequently employed in any other institution or agency covered by this section or any school district subject to the provisions of § 10-151 shall become subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section or subsection (b) of § 10-151, as the case may be, after eighteen months of continuous employment, unless, prior to completion of the eighteenth month following commencement of the employment in such institution, agency or school district, such employee has been notified in writing prior to March first in accordance with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section that such contract will not be renewed for the following year irrespective of the duration of employment under the then existing contract beyond the date of said notification or unless, for a period of five or more years immediately prior to such subsequent employment, such employee has not been employed in any public school within this state.
(e) Any employee aggrieved by the decision of an employer after a hearing as provided in subsection (b) of this section may appeal therefrom in accordance with the provisions of § 4-183, except such appeal shall be in the judicial district in which such employer is located and costs may be allowed against such board if it appears to the court that such board acted with gross negligence or in bad faith or with malice in making the decision appealed from. Any such appeal shall be a privileged case with respect to assignment thereof.