This has been such an extraordinary school year!  – thank you for your relentless commitment to building brighter futures for our students regardless of our learning mode. With a little over a week left in January, the Talent Management team is already beginning to plan for supporting school leaders and school teams in the 2021-2022 school year!

Our amazing certified teachers and administrators have worked tirelessly during all the changes and uncertainty we’ve experienced as a district (and as a community), and we are deeply thankful for your continued focus on Tulsa children and families. We know that some of you – after decades of service to our community – are contemplating a well-deserved retirement, and some of you may have already decided that this school year will be your last. It is always sad to lose our experienced educators and team members, but we recognize that one of the many benefits of a career in public service is the opportunity to enjoy retirement!

The Talent Management team stands ready to support our colleagues who are considering or are already planning for retirement at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. If you intend to retire this year or would like to learn more about retirement for certified administrators and certified teachers, please let us know as soon as possible. Additionally, our Board of Education recently approved an incentive of $3,000 for qualifying * certified administrators** and certified teachers*** who, by February 19, 2021, provide voluntary, unconditional, and irrevocable notice of their intent to resign at the end of the 2020-2021 school year due to retirement.

*If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, you must:

        I.   be eligible and intend to retire through Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System (OTRS) no sooner than the last day your last day of employment duties under your 2020-2021 contract, and no later than July 1, 2021

        II.   have been employed by Tulsa Public Schools for not less than seven (7) school years preceding your planned retirement date,

        III.   have no plan or intent to return to employment with the district next year in any regular, non-temporary, allocated position (full-time or part-time)

        IV.   not have received an early retirement incentive from the district in a prior year.

**For purposes of the incentive, the term "certified administrator" means a school-based certified administrator employed on Certified Administrator Contract.

***For purposes of the incentive, the term "certified teacher" means a school-based certified employee, other than an administrator, who is employed on a Certified Employee Contract (Non-Administrators) for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, and whose compensation is based on the teachers' pay scale.

If you qualify, you must sign, date and submit the attached form to both your supervisor and Talent Management at tmretirementincentive@tulsaschools.org by 11:59 p.m. on February 19, 2021. Alternatively, you may also deliver a hard copy form to Talent Management at the ESC, Attn: Quentin Liggins/Marilyn Lazarus, by close of business on the deadline date. Incentive payments will be made in two (2) equal monthly installments with the May 2021 and June 2021 pay advice for those who qualify.

Important:

• Your signed and dated notice form will serve as your notice of resignation due to planned retirement and will be irrevocable once submitted. Make sure you are certain about your decision before you submit the form. Do not assume you will be able to "undo" your resignation regardless of what you may have heard from your principal or others in years past. Do not sign and submit the form unless you have carefully considered your plans and are prepared to make a knowing and voluntary decision to unconditionally and irrevocably resign your employment with the district at the end of this school year. 
• The purpose of this incentive is to encourage qualifying school-based certified teachers and school-based certified administrators who are planning to retire at the end of the year to notify the district of their intentions earlier than they might otherwise - not to provide a "bonus" to employees who are eligible to retire through OTRS but who have no intention of actually doing so, or who intend to retire but plan to continue working for the district next year as a retiree. Any teacher or administrator who receives the incentive but who returns to employment with the district during the 2020-2021 fiscal year in any regular, non-temporary (i.e., allocated) position, whether full-time or part-time, will be required to repay the incentive. The district reserves the right to make exceptions to the repayment requirement for certain hard-to-fill positions.
• This program is entirely voluntary, and you should not feel any pressure to participate. If eligible employees choose not to participate in this incentive, their decision not to participate will not adversely affect their employment status.
• Finally, the district determines what, if any, incentive to offer on a year-to-year basis. Nothing about this year's or any prior year's incentive should be interpreted as any sort of promise or guarantee that any similar incentive (or any incentive at all) will be offered in future years, though the district reserves the right to do so.
• Lastly, to update our Employee Management Systems, we request that you also fill out this resignation form as well: https://www.tulsaschools.org/about/teams/talent-management

For additional information or questions, please contact Quentin Liggins or  Marilyn Lazarus.