What rights to school administrators, including principals and assistant principals, have under the Education Code?

School principals and assistant principals, and all other certificated administrators have several rights under the Education Code.  First and foremost, they have the right to be employed by contract, and the duration of the contact may be up to four years.  Second, they have the right to be evaluated at regular intervals. Third, in general they have the right to receive notice by March 15th that they are not going to be retained for the following school year.  If the notice is not given, the person involved is entitled by statute to be retained for the following school year.  Finally, in the unfortunate circumstance that a school administrator is to be demoted to a lower position, or terminated altogether, the affected individual has the right to demand a statement of the reasons.  Layoffs are usually determined by seniority. There are some exceptions and in all layoff cases, the person affected has the right to request a hearing to determine the correct order of layoff.