Temporary professional employe
Under the Pennsylvania School Code 24 PS §11-1101(3) and §11-1108(d), a temporary professional employe is an employe who has not received tenure. All teachers and other employes who are eligible to attain tenure status begin initial employment as temporary professional employes.
A temporary professional employe must serve a three-year probationary period before receiving tenure status as a "professional employe". Although the temporary professional employe is to be rated two times per year for the first three years of employment in accordance with 24 PS §11-1108(a) and 24 PS §11-1123, any temporary professional employe who has not been rated unsatisfactory during the last four months of the third year of employment and who is given a contract for the fourth year of employment must be given a contract as a professional employe as specified in 24 PS § 11-1101(b)(2) and (3). If the temporary professional employe is not given a regular contract of employment as a professional employe at the end of three years of employment, the employe must be given a written statement that specifies the reasons for school board refusal to tender a regular contract of employment as specified in 24 PS §11-1108(c)(2). According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Pookman v. Upper Saint Clair School District, 506 Pa. 74, 483 A.2d 1371 (1984), which was decided prior to the amendment of §11-1108 in 1996, the temporary professional employe must serve the entire probationary period and be given a professional employe contract for the fourth year in order to become tenured.
A temporary professional employe may be dismissed if rated "unsatisfactory", but such a rating must be in accordance with 24 PS §11-1108(a). Judicial precedent provides that a temporary professional employe also may be dismissed for any of the reasons, for which a professional employe may be dismissed, which are stated in 24 PS §11-1122. Although given statutory due process protections for dismissal, temporary professional employes are given no statutory protection for either demotion or suspension, but such protection could be given by a collective bargaining agreement.
Under "The Public Employe Relations Act", Act 195 of 1970, a temporary professional employe is considered to be a "professional employe" as defined by that act and would be in the same bargaining unit as tenured employes.
School Code 24 PS §11-1101(1); §11-1108(a), (b)(2), (3) and (c)(2);