(a)

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 49-5-607

  • Collaborative conferencing: means the process by which the chair of a board of education and the board's professional employees, or such representatives as either party or parties may designate, meet at reasonable times to confer, consult and discuss and to exchange information, opinions and proposals on matters relating to the terms and conditions of professional employee service, using the principles and techniques of interest-based collaborative problem-solving. See Tennessee Code 49-5-602
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • Professional employee: means any person employed by any local board of education in a position that requires a license issued by the department of education for service in public elementary and secondary schools of this state, supported, in whole or in part, by local, state or federal funds, but shall not include any member of the management team, as defined in this part, or a retired teacher who is employed as a teacher in accordance with title 8, chapter 36, part 8. See Tennessee Code 49-5-602
  • Strike: means the failure with others to report for duty, the willful absence from one's position, the stoppage of work or the abstinence in whole or in part from the full, faithful and proper performance of the duties of employment, and without the lawful approval of one's superior. See Tennessee Code 49-5-602
(1) If a strike occurs, the board of education may apply to the chancery court in the county to enjoin the strike. The application shall set forth the facts constituting the strike.
(2) If the court finds, after a hearing, that a strike has occurred, the court shall enjoin the employees from participating in the strike.
(b) When local boards of education have determined which employees have engaged in or participated in a strike, the employees may be subject to dismissal and, further, shall forfeit their claim to tenure status, if they have attained tenure, and shall revert to probationary status for the next five-year period. Any professional employee who engaged in, or participated in, a strike and who is not a tenured teacher may also be subject to dismissal.
(c) No penalty, forfeiture of rights or privileges or other sanction or fine imposed on a professional employees’ organization, its officers or members, as the result of a strike, shall be subject to collaborative conferencing by the organization and a board at any time.