(a) A public school may only be converted to a charter school by approval of the board of the school district in which it is located and that the charter application received the approval of over 50% of the teachers and over 50% of the parents residing in the attendance area of the school with a child or children under the age of 18 years, who, after 30 days prior written notice to all teachers and parents eligible to vote, attend a public meeting held for the specific purpose of voting on the proposed conversion; provided, however, that such approval shall not be required where a district school board converts a choice school or program with a specific career or academic subject matter focus already approved as of the effective date of this chapter to a charter school with the same focus. The employees of a school converted to a charter school who are not employed by the charter school shall be accorded the rights available to them under the provisions of their collective bargaining agreement and shall, to the extent permissible under their collective bargaining agreement, be given preference in filling positions in the school district.

(b) The employees of a school converted to charter status and who are employed by the charter school shall not be part of any bargaining unit which represented employees of the school while it was still part of the school district. Employees of charter schools shall have the same right to organize and bargain collectively as employees of other public schools. A bargaining unit shall not be deemed inappropriate under Chapter 40 of this title, simply because said unit is comprised of professional and non-professional positions within a charter school. A teacher may be a member of a bargaining unit and serve as a director of a charter school provided; however, that any teacher who is a director of a charter school shall recuse himself or herself from any board meeting, discussion or decision relating to the bargaining unit of which such teacher is a member.

(c) Labor relations between the charter school and its employees shall be governed by Chapter 40 of this title, and a charter school and its employees may agree through the collective bargaining process to abide by other provisions of this title or Code. Except as otherwise provided in this section, all teachers working in charter schools shall hold an appropriate teaching certificate and license. Notwithstanding the foregoing, for any school year with respect to which there is no “qualified alternative certification,” as hereinafter defined, in effect, a charter school may, where it deems it beneficial to the success of its educational program, hire teachers that are not fully certified and licensed so long as such teachers have at least a bachelor’s degree in the content area in which they are teaching and comprise no more than 35 percent of the teachers at the school. If teaching 1 or primarily 1 specific content area, a teacher shall have a bachelor’s degree in that content area.

For purposes of this section, a “qualified alternative certification program” shall be one which aligns with all requirements as specified in §§ 1260-1264 of this title [§ 1264 of this title has been repealed] and pursuant regulations.

(1) — (6) [Repealed.]

(d) At their request, teachers employed by any school district in the State, but not teachers employed by another charter school, shall be granted a 1-year leave of absence to teach in a charter school during the charter school’s first year of operation only or such leave as is provided in the collective bargaining agreement of the school district. At the end of that period, they shall be allowed to return to the school district with the same level of seniority as when they left to take the leave of absence, provided that they have not been terminated for cause while at the charter school, that they have given the school district notice of their intent to return on or before the April 15 preceding the school year in which they intend to return, and according to the provisions of their collective bargaining agreement in effect in the school district. This level of seniority shall also be used for determination of their tenure in accordance with Chapter 14 of this title. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing to the contrary, teachers who, prior to June 20, 2002, were granted a leave of absence to teach in a charter school shall be permitted to complete the full period of leave then granted. Effective March 15, 2002, and each succeeding year thereafter, teachers desiring to return to the local school district on a valid leave of absence shall notify such district of that teacher’s own intent in writing no later than March 15 of any year for the succeeding school year.

(e) A charter school may choose to be covered by the state retirement system established by Chapter 55 of Title 29 or choose another retirement system in lieu of the state retirement system. If the charter school chooses a retirement system other than the state retirement system, a memorandum of understanding must be executed as required by § 512(9) of this title.

(f) Effective March 1, 2002, and each succeeding year thereafter, charter school boards that desire to dispense with the services of any teacher on leave from a Delaware public school district shall give notice in writing to such teacher on or before March 1 of any year of its intent to terminate said teacher’s services at the end of such school year.

70 Del. Laws, c. 179, § 2; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; 71 Del. Laws, c. 354, § 385; 73 Del. Laws, c. 164, §§ 7, 8, 25; 73 Del. Laws, c. 292, §§ 1-3; 79 Del. Laws, c. 321, § 1; 81 Del. Laws, c. 282, § 6.