New Shoreham - Article IV Working Conditions

ARTICLE IV WORKING CONDITIONS

New Shoreham School District

The Committee and the Association recognize and agree that the teachers' responsibility to their students and their profession generally entail the performance of duties and the expenditure of time beyond the normal working day, but the teachers are entitled to regular time and work schedules on which they can rely in the ordinary course of the day and which will be fairly and evenly maintained to the extent possible through the school year. Therefore, except in emergencies requiring short-term action and without prejudice to voluntary professional service above and beyond contract requirements as aforesaid, the following schedules are hereby adopted.

A. Work Day - The school day for all teachers shall be no more than six (6) hours and fifty eight (58) minutes, Monday through Friday. Teachers may be required to perform bus duty before or after the start of school, but in no case both. The workday for teachers and school day for students shall be established by the Superintendent, with approval by the Committee. The Superintendent will invite the President of the Association, or his designee, to consult with him before proposed changes in the starting and ending times of the student school day are presented to the Committee for approval. Proposed changes in the starting and ending times of the school day will be presented to the Committee for review and approval no later than the last scheduled day of the school year. The Superintendent must discuss any proposed change or reconfiguration of the school day or teaching periods with the President(s) of the Association prior to presentation to the Committee for review, approval, and implementation. For the 2024-2025 School Year, the starting time for the teachers' workday shall be nineteen (19) minutes prior to the start of the school day, and the ending time for the teachers' workday shall extend to nineteen ( I9) minutes after the end of the school day.

B. Calendar - The work years 2024-2025 through 2026-2027 will consist of 180 instructional days, plus one (1) meeting day, one (1) staff development day, one half (1/2) parents' night and one half (1/2) graduation day. The two half days are beyond the school day and attendance is required.

C. After School Meetings – Faculty members shall attend up to 25 staff meetings over the course of the year called by the principal. These meetings shall not exceed one (1) hour. Teachers will be notified 24 hours in advance of these meetings. In an emergency, a meeting may be called without advance notice. All teachers are required to attend all staff meetings for which they are scheduled. Part-time staff members who miss a meeting are responsible for obtaining the information given.

D. Further Working Conditions

1. The Association and Committee agree to follow the leadership of the Superintendent and Principal in establishing a system of long-range planning through membership in the Strategic Planning/School Improvement Team, which includes the development of an educational philosophy and systemwide goals.

2. It is understood that the development of specific goals and objectives provides parameters within which each teacher designs his daily/weekly plans for his grade level or subject area. The daily or weekly plans of a teacher will be left to the method most conducive to the teacher's style of planning. These plans, however, will relate to the needs of the students as expressed in the needs assessment instrument employed in the design of goals and objectives. These plans will be kept by each teacher and will be available to the Superintendent and/or Principal at his request and, when necessary, will be reviewed by the Superintendent and/or Principal in terms of their compatibility with students' needs.

3. Instructional programs for the succeeding year will be determined each spring. By May J teachers will present general course outlines for each grade or, in the secondary grades, each subject area, based upon state and local curriculum requirements. The teachers will present to the Superintendent and/or Principal upon request comprehensive goals designed to meet the needs of pupils in each instructional program including, insofar as possible, specific objectives, timelines, and texts.

4. All secondary teachers shall be assigned to no more than five- (5) teaching periods per day, plus one (1) supervisory period. All elementary teachers shall receive no fewer than eight (8) planning periods per week._All elementary and secondary teachers shall receive one unassigned planning period per day. No teacher at the secondary level shall have more than five (5) preparations. A preparation is defined as an individual subject.

5. All teachers shall have a twenty (20) minute lunch period free from all duty each day.

6. When assigned to cover the class of an absent colleague during their planning period, assignments will be made in an equitable manner with each period. Compensation shall be prorated for each individual class period at the teacher's per diem salary. Reimbursement for such coverage shall take place in the subsequent pay period.

7. Student Support Team meetings shall be scheduled to comply in the best way possible with teachers' schedules. A floating substitute(s) will be hired on days when Student Support Team meetings are scheduled. This will allow teachers to attend Student Support Team meetings.

8. Compensation for assignments to extra-curricular activities will be provided in accordance with Committee policy (see Appendix C).

9. The non-teaching duties which teachers may be required to perform include, but are not limited to: supervision of online classes, supervision of the cafeteria, hall supervision, lavatory supervision, and bus duty. In the event that a teaching period is rescheduled for an assembly or a guest speaker, the assigned teacher of that class remains responsible for the supervision of his class. General school supervision is the responsibility of all staff members.

10. Stipends for annual scheduling of classes, state testing coordinator, and other administrative activities, such as but not limited to NEASC or RIDE report work, will be negotiated by the Superintendent and the NSTA. Such stipends may be negotiated in form of compensatory days as the superintendent deems appropriate.

11. The Committee recognizes that performing personal chores and obligations can be particularly challenging on Block Island, and that teachers may need to leave the building during the school day on rare occasions. There is a sign-out procedure for that purpose which shall be followed. However, this does not rescind a teacher's obligation to remain in attendance at the end of the school day. Specifically, a teacher who does not have a class scheduled last period must remain on campus until the end of the day. First period of the day carries a similar obligation. The Superintendent shall have the authority to negotiate an alteration in this responsibility beyond the rare occasions mentioned above.

12. When the inclusion model is implemented in a regular education classroom, the regular education teacher will retain at least five planning periods per week to plan for all students, any co-planning time needed by the regular education teacher and special education teacher which must occur beyond the regularly scheduled school day will be compensated at the rate of $30 per hour. This planning time will become part of the teacher's obligation and will be scheduled over the long term. The superintendent will create a form for payroll implementation.

13. The administration will assist in reviewing the schedules of special educators to facilitate necessary testing, so as not to reduce contractual planning time.

14. Training for all new teachers for the first 3 years of employment by certified / professionally trained mentors. Newly hired educators with 5 or more years of teaching experience will receive I year of mentor support by certified / professionally trained mentors.

15. Two individual courses cannot be assigned at the same time to a teacher without the consultation with the teacher prior to the school year beginning.

E. Posting of Vacancies

1. All professional vacancies, including those in adult education and extra-curricular activities, shall be posted in the school and central offices and a copy sent to the Association president as soon as the job description becomes available.

2. The Committee agrees to give full consideration to qualified members of the bargaining unit for employment in adult education and extra-curricular activities.

3. The Committee agrees to notify the Association president of the names and positions of newly hired teachers at the time of hire.

4. Seniority List - By November 1 of each year, the Superintendent shall post in the school and central offices and distribute to the Association President a systemwide seniority list. Such a list will contain the teachers' names, dates of hire, area(s) of certification and the years of seniority determined by length of time actively employed in the New Shoreham School System. Each individual teacher shall be solely responsible for the accuracy of his placement on the seniority list. Any teacher who believes his placement is not accurate shall notify the Superintendent in writing (with a copy to the Association President) within thirty (30) days of the posting of such a list. Placement on the seniority list will stand unless challenged by the teacher. If there is not a resolution to the teacher's challenge, the teacher may file a grievance.

F. Voluntary Teaching Assignment

1. During the school year prior to August I, the Superintendent shall post within seven (7) days, the vacancies as they become !mown. During the summer vacation, a vacancy notice will be mailed or emailed to all teachers. This timeframe may be waived by the Superintendent.

2. Teachers who desire a change in grade and/or subject assignment because of vacancy will first notify the Superintendent in writing and file a written statement of said desire with the Committee. Such statements will include the grade and/or subject to which the teacher desires assignment.

3. As vacancies occur all members of the bargaining unit certified for that position and who have expressed an interest in writing shall be given full consideration including an interview before the screening committee.

4. The parties recognize that, although the following criteria will be considered in placement decisions, the sole and exclusive authority for the determination of transfers shall lie with the Superintendent of Schools and/or Principal. . In the determination of voluntary reassignment, the following will be the prioritized criteria for placement.

a. Student and programmatic need

b. Area of certification;

c. Seniority for voluntary transfers (Seniority for voluntary transfers shall be defined as length of time actively employed as a teacher by the New Shoreham School System, and as outlined by the New Shoreham School System's Seniority List.);

d. Convenience and wishes of the individual requesting the voluntary reassignment.

G. Use of School Facilities

1. The Association shall have the right to use the school building according to policies established by the Committee for use of the school building by the general public.

2. a. The Association will have the right to place notices, circulars, and other material in teachers' mail boxes. Meeting notices and other Association notices may be posted on faculty bulletin boards.

b. It is expressly understood that no member of the administration will assume responsibility for the posting or distribution of material for the Association or any other teacher organization.

3. The Committee shall provide suitable space for educational reference materials.

H. Adult Education

1. All openings for adult education teachers will be adequately publicized by the Superintendent and shall be posted as early as possible, and under normal circumstances not later than ten (10) days prior to the start of said session. Applications must be submitted within one (1) week of the posting of said notices. Teachers who have applied for such adult education positions will be notified of the action taken regarding their applications as early as practicable.

2. Positions in the adult education staff will, to the extent possible, be filled first by regularly appointed teachers in the New Shoreham School Department.

3. In filling such positions, consideration will be given to the teacher's area of competence, major and/or minor field of study, quality of teaching performance, and attendance record.

4. Adult education teachers shall receive no less than $60.00 per hour.

I. Summer Sessions and Tutoring

1. Provisions for summer sessions shall be consistent with those provisions for Adult Education.

2. Tutoring assignments shall be brought to the attention of qualified personnel and shall be compensated at the rate of $40.00 per hour. The Association shall cooperate with the administration to the end that whenever the need for tutoring of students arises, as determined by the Superintendent, such tutoring will be performed by a qualified teacher.