Educator Rights & Benefits

Educators Rising Advisor Pay 

Topic: Educators Rising Advisor Pay

Educators Rising advisors will be paid a yearly stipend according to the Extra Duty/Extracurricular pay scale.

*If Extra Duty/Extracurricular Assignments are listed as a pay scale in your agreement, placing Educators Rising advising is the most important action to be taken.

Rationale: Allowing Educators Rising advisors to be paid like other extra duty/extracurricular assignments will ensure that there are highly effective advisors who will provide students with authentic opportunities to experience teaching, sustain their interest in the education profession, and help them cultivate the skills they need to be successful educators. Almost 60% of teachers teach within 20 miles of where they went to school, so it is in a school district’s best interest to invest in these aspiring educators.

Duty Free Lunch

Topic: Duty Free Lunch

All educators shall be entitled to a minimum of one-half hour duty free uninterrupted lunch period.

Rationale: Educators often are asked to perform official duties or unofficial supervision during their designated lunch period. It is essential that our educators have an uninterrupted lunch to allow them to be focused and supportive for our learners.

Sick Leave Bank

Topic: Sick Leave Bank

A sick leave bank shall exist for all teachers under the following conditions and provisions:

1. The Payroll Manager will review how many leave days are in the sick leave bank as of August 31. In the event there are less than (insert number) days, every teacher in the District shall contribute one (1) day of his or her sick leave to the bank. In the event there are (insert number) or more days in the sick leave bank, only new teachers shall contribute one (1) day of his or her sick leave to the bank at the time of hire. There will be no additional contribution of sick leave days to the bank through the remainder of the school year except for new hires. Days in the bank shall be withdrawn on a first-come, first-served basis and, if the total days in the bank are exhausted in any year, use of the bank is ended for that year. Unused days in the bank shall be carried over to the next succeeding school year.

2. This bank is for the protection of individual participating teachers during a long-term extended illness or disability of the teacher, spouse, parents, parents-in-law, children, or stepchildren of the teacher. Such illness or disability must cause an absence from regularly assigned duties for fifteen (15) duty days or more. Absences must be entered into the District’s current leave tracking system. Use of this bank may begin after fifteen (15) duty days of absence due to such illness or disability but not until after an individual teacher’s accumulated sick leave days have been exhausted.

3. Administration of the bank will be handled by the Business Manager or designee. All requests for use of the bank must be submitted in writing to the Business Manager or designee and must be supported by the teacher obtaining completed Certificate of Health Care Provider (Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993) form from his/her personal physician or appropriate family member’s physician. The absence for which bank days are requested must be of such a nature that absence is unavoidable during the school year and absence from duties is necessitated. Should loss of pay inadvertently occur through late notification, such loss shall be restored in the next pay period following approval of the request for use of bank days.

4. Upon request of the Association, the Business Manager shall report the status of the bank, including the balance of days in the bank.

5. Teachers withdrawing days from the bank are not required to replace these days except as a regular contributing member of the bank. A teacher resigning, retiring, withdrawing from membership in the bank, or declining to make continued contributions as required shall not be able to withdraw previously contributed days.

6. Days withdrawn from the sick leave bank shall be paid at the per diem rate for the individual participant for the applicable school year.

Rationale:

In order to retain employees for the duration of their career, our District must have the processes and provisions in place to deal with the unexpected illnesses and disabilities that may occur during an employee’s tenure. This provision allows for a process whereby the leave that is necessary for those occurrences is leave that originates in leave that is already granted to employees, which makes this provision a cost neutral provision for the District.

Sick Leave Donation

Topic: Sick Leave Donation

Teachers may voluntarily contribute a portion of their sick leave for another employee within this bargaining group in extenuating circumstances (including, but not limited to terminal illness or extended illness) by notifying the Association and the Business Manager. The Association shall submit a written list to the District as to which employees wish to contribute and the number of days of contribution. Contribution of sick leave may be made in no less than full day increments. Any days donated to an employee which remain unused, shall be returned to the sick leave bank. Requesting employees may use contributed days of sick leave; provided they have exhausted all other appropriate leave, including personal leave, sick leave, and sick leave bank.

Rationale:

This provision offers additional flexibility for employees to donate their leave to other bargaining unit members who have a need for that leave. This provision assists in proper maintenance of the balances of the District Sick Leave Bank and limits the chances of an employee needing to take unpaid leave for medical reasons.

Sick Leave Payout

Topic: Sick Leave Payout

1. Upon retirement, resignation, or death, educators will be paid for one-half of their accumulated sick leave.
2. The amount of sick leave pay under this policy will be determined by the employee's per diem rate. Such payment will be made with the final check following the effective date of resignation or retirement.

Potential Counter proposals (DO NOT INCLUDE WITH INITIAL PROPOSAL)

A. Any teacher (as designated above) having reached the minimum age of forty-five (45) years and having been employed in the District for a minimum of ten (10) years shall be paid one-half of his or her accumulated sick leave upon terminating his or her employment. If resignation occurs during the school year, such resignation must be appropriately approved.

B. The amount of sick leave pay under this policy will be determined by the average of the employee's daily rate of pay over the five-year period immediately preceding retirement. Such payment will be made with the final check following the effective date of retirement.

Rationale:

Allowing for leave to accumulate incentivizes educators to maintain a healthy household and use this leave only when absolutely necessary. Paying out of leave to the employee at the end of their employment prevents the abuse of leave by an employee, especially as they near resignation or retirement. Additionally, this provision operates both as an incentive for attracting applicants and as a tool for retaining educators.

Classified Staff Inclement Weather and Remote Learning

Topic: Classified Staff Inclement Weather and Remote Learning

In the event school is cancelled due to inclement weather, the employees covered by this Agreement will be paid as Administrative Leave their regular rate of pay for the hours lost. In addition, if the School Board, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, determines that the days lost to inclement weather are to be made up, employees will be paid for the hours worked on those days.

Employees who are called in to work on an inclement weather or non-scheduled workday will receive the granted administrative leave and will receive an additional hourly stipend for the hours they are clocked in for work. Some examples include, but are not limited to, groundskeepers, maintenance, and custodians who are removing snow or providing support for other weather hazards; payroll employees during a payroll week; or cooks in the event a truck is delivering food on an inclement weather or non-scheduled workday. Any other employees would only be compensated if approved by their supervisor and the Superintendent and deemed essential to work for the school or District functions to proceed.

In the event an employee had approved leave for a day when a late start or early dismissal occurred, the employee will only be charged for the adjusted workday.

Non instructional staff will be granted administrative leave for remote learning days.

Rationale: As hourly employees, classified staff experience direct losses to their wages when snow days occur. Such losses create hardship for the classified employees and contribute to higher turnover in the classified staff ranks. This proposal recognizes the role and contribution that the classified staff make to our District and will help retain existing employees.

Plan of Assistance

Topic: Plan of Assistance

If, as a result of informal or formal observation, specific guidelines and directives are determined to improve teaching performance, these are to be filed in the same manner as the formal evaluation reports. In no way will this language affect the district’s ability to non-renew a probationary teacher with no cause given.

A. Criteria/Elements should include:

a. A statement of the observed deficiency(ies) with examples given to demonstrate deficiency. This description should also include which domain(s) and component(s) of the Danielson Model are in question.

b. Specific directives to address the deficiency(ies)

i. Each directive must be measurable.

ii. Each directive must be achievable in the time frame given.

iii. Each directive must be objective.

c. A timeline for the plan of assistance to be completed.

d. A description of the district’s offer of assistance in completing the plan.

e. Provision for periodic meetings to ascertain progress.

f. Signature of evaluator and employee, noting it has been reviewed and discussed.

Rationale: From time to time, it is going to be necessary for the administration to put an employee on a plan of assistance to improve the performance of the employee. It is essential that both the employee and the employer are consistent in their expectations on the content, composition, and construction of the plan. At its core, a plan of improvement needs to aim for improvement, but there are certain criteria such as the level of objectivity, measurability, and achievability that are essential to create a plan that is aimed at improvement.

Preparation / Planning Time (Option One)

When constructing preparation time policies, a bargaining team can decide to address the issue through a one size fits all approach that consists of a proposal with one uniform amount of time for all grade levels, or a bargaining team can attempt to meet the unique needs of each distinct level of instruction with its proposal. There are examples of both types of proposals below.

Topic: Preparation / Planning Time (Option One)

For purposes of this section, preparation time will only include time that is free of duty and student observation. Duties in addition to teaching may include but are not limited to professional learning communities, collaboration, IEPs, and 504 meetings. No segment of time less than fifteen (15) minutes shall count towards Planning Time.

Classroom teachers of the high school shall be required to teach no more than 280 minutes per day and have 85 minutes for instructional planning time. A teacher may agree to take additional minutes when the principal has a need for flexible scheduling.

Classroom teachers of the middle school will teach 6 of 8 periods with one additional period used for team meetings and one additional period used for individual planning.

Classroom teachers of elementary school will have variable teaching schedules dependent upon individual scheduling within buildings and other instructional support services (art, music, physical education, etc.). See below:

A. Each classroom teacher in grades kindergarten through six, will have an average of seventy-five minutes of daily planning time during student contact time with a minimum of one 50 minute block of planning time per day.

B. Special Education teachers will have 60 minutes of planning time each day. The Director of Special Education will also provide additional planning time with the use of substitutes or support staff as needed.

C. Elementary health and fitness teachers, art teachers, and music teachers will have an approximate average of 60 minutes of instructional planning time per day during student contact time.

Teacher Assistants will have 30 minutes of daily planning time during student contact time and 30 minutes of unpaid duty free lunch time.

Speech pathologists, counselors, psychologist, school nurses, librarians, occupational therapists, social workers, interventionists and instructional coaches will work with their supervisors regarding their nonstudent contact time during the day.

Part-time teachers shall have teaching and planning times pro-rated based upon the percentage of F.T.E. in the individual contract.

Rationale: In order to meet the needs of their students, educators require time during their work day to prepare for instruction, adjust or modify their lessons, and to catch their breath and see to their needs. Having dedicated planning time at each level that addresses the specific needs of educators in the elementary, middle, and high school as well as the unique needs of specialty positions allows the District to best prepare our educators for their work with our students.

Preparation/Planning Time (Option Two)

Topic: Preparation / Planning Time (Option Two)

Each Classroom Teacher shall be scheduled for and receive 375 minutes of Planning Time for each consecutive five (5) days of student attendance averaged over the _____ days of student attendance per school year. No segment of time less than fifteen (15) minutes shall count towards Planning Time. Elementary Classroom Teachers keeping students during the "special" period are to be compensated at the on-staff substitute rate.

Special Education teachers, whose responsibilities require them to complete evaluations to determine student eligibility for additional and/or specialized educational services, shall have time allocated within the student-instructional day for the purpose of conducting required evaluations and shall not be counted towards the 375 minutes of Planning Time.

Rationale: In order to meet the needs of their students, educators require time during their work day to prepare for instruction, adjust or modify their lessons, and to catch their breath and see to their needs. Having dedicated planning time that addresses the specific needs of allows the District to best prepare our educators for their work with our students.

Travel Between Buildings

Local bargaining teams should adjust the time between buildings for their specific needs.

Topic: Travel Between Buildings

Classroom Teachers assigned to more than one (1) building shall be allowed 30 minutes for travel and transition time between buildings. Such time shall not count towards the teacher’s individual preparation time. The teacher will be reimbursed at the state rate for their mileage between buildings or be provided with a school vehicle.

If, because of extenuating circumstances, more travel time is needed, the individual Classroom Teacher who travels between buildings shall notify both principals, and the principals shall make the necessary accommodations.

Rationale: Due to staffing shortages and a desire to offer a wide variety of opportunities to students, the District finds it necessary to have teachers who have assignments in multiple buildings. This language guarantees that teachers will have enough time to travel between buildings safely in order to effectively instruct students in multiple buildings.