Rhode Island General Laws Title 16. Education § 16-3.2-4. Empowerment school principal

(a) Principals of empowerment schools shall be the educational leaders and administrators of their schools and shall supervise the operation and management of their schools and school property. It shall be the responsibility of the principal to promote participatory decision-making among all professional staff for the purposes of developing educational policy and practices. The term professional staff shall include all teachers, administrators, instructional leaders, specialists, and related service providers who are certified by the state as education professionals. Principals employed under this section shall be responsible for recommending the hiring and assigning all teachers and other professional staff, athletic coaches, instructional, or administrative aides and any other personnel assigned to the school and for terminating all such personnel, subject to this chapter and the review and approval of the superintendent. Any assignment to an empowerment school of a teacher previously employed in another school in the district, including, but not limited to, voluntary transfer, involuntary transfer, reduction in force, and recall, shall be subject to the approval of the principal, consistent with the district collective bargaining agreement and school-based amendments as defined in § 16-3.2-4(f). No teacher or staff may be laid-off, suspended, or terminated by a school district who would not otherwise have been laid-off, suspended, or terminated except for an employment decision by an empowerment school principal pursuant to this section.

(b) The principal of the empowerment school shall serve at the pleasure of the superintendent, with the advice and consent of the school committee, through a written contract not to exceed three (3) years.