ORS 342.815: Definitions for ORS 342.805 to 342.937.

As used in ORS 342.805 to 342.937 unless the context requires otherwise: (1) Notwithstanding ORS 342.120, “administrator” includes any teacher the majority of whose employed time is devoted to service as a supervisor, principal, vice principal or director of a department or the equivalent in a fair dismissal district but shall not include the superintendent, deputy superintendent or assistant superintendent of any such district or any substitute or temporary teacher employed by such a district. (2) “Board” means the board of directors of a fair dismissal school district. (3)(a) “Contract teacher” means: (A) Any teacher who has been regularly employed by a fair dismissal district for an initial probationary period of three successive school years, and who has been retained for the next succeeding school year; or (B) Any teacher who has been regularly employed by a fair dismissal district for two successive years, who has already satisfied the initial three-year probationary term in another Oregon school district, and who has been retained for the next succeeding school year. (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(B) of this subsection, the district school board may enter into an agreement for a shorter probationary period of not less than one year for a teacher who has satisfied the three-year probationary period in another Oregon school district, and who has been retained for the next succeeding school year. (4) “District superintendent” means the superintendent of schools of a fair dismissal district or, in the absence of the superintendent, the person designated to fulfill the superintendent’s functions. (5) “Fair dismissal district” means any common or union high school district or education service district. (6) “Probationary teacher” means any teacher employed by a fair dismissal district who is not a contract teacher. (7) “Program of assistance for improvement” means a written plan for a contract teacher that with reasonable specificity: (a) Helps teachers adapt and improve to meet changing demands of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century in ORS chapter 329 if applicable. (b) Identifies specific deficiencies in the contract teacher’s conduct or performance. (c) Sets forth corrective steps the contract teacher may pursue to overcome or correct the deficiencies. (d) Establishes the assessment techniques by which the district will measure and determine whether the teacher has sufficiently corrected the deficiencies to meet district standards. (8) “Substitute teacher” means any teacher who is employed to take the place of a probationary or contract teacher who is temporarily absent. (9) Notwithstanding ORS 342.120, “teacher” means any person who holds a teaching license or registration as provided in ORS 342.125 or 342.144 or who is otherwise authorized to teach in the public schools of this state and who is employed half-time or more as an instructor or administrator. (10) “Temporary teacher” means a teacher employed to fill a position designated as temporary or experimental or to fill a vacancy which occurs after the opening of school because of unanticipated enrollment or because of the death, disability, retirement, resignation, contract nonextension or dismissal of a contract or probationary teacher. [1965 c.608 §2; 1971 c.570 §12; 1977 c.880 §1; 1977 c.881 §2; 1979 c.668 §1; 1981 c.299 §1; 1993 c.45 §194; 1997 c.864 §4; 1999 c.199 §11; 2001 c.653 §5; 2025 c.352 §1]