Pawtucket - Article V Working Conditions

ARTICLE V WORKING CONDITIONS

Pawtucket School District

Section 1 School Year

The school year shall end upon the completion of the 184th day of the school year. Four (4) days will be devoted to professional development, parent-teacher conferences, and/or faculty meetings. The scheduling of these professional development days shall be by mutual agreement of the parties. The student school year still remains the same at one hundred eighty (180) days of instruction.

Section 2 School Hours

School hours for Pawtucket Schools will be as follows:

(a) Elementary Schools:

8:00 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. (Nathanael Greene & Curtis) for teachers; 8:00 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. for students
8:30 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. (Curvin-McCabe, Little, & Potter-Burns) for teachers; 8:30 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. for students
9:00 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. (All others) for teachers; 9:00 a.m. to 3:10p.m. for students

Elementary teachers and/or licensed personnel shall have a duty- free lunch period of twenty-five minutes wherein they will be free to leave the building. In the event the lunch program adopted by the School Committee on August 29, 1972 needs to be adjusted the above working conditions shall be recognized.

(b) Secondary Schools:

All Secondary schools, except Jacqueline M. Walsh, will begin at 7:55 a.m. and end at 2:35 p.m. for teachers and will begin at 8:00
a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. for students. Jacqueline M. Walsh will begin at 7:45 a.m. and end at 2:25 p.m. for teachers and will begin at 7:50 a.m. and end at 2:20 p.m. for students.

(c) The above stated school day time schedules shall not be construed to mean the elimination of the existing after school activities activities or voluntary detention..

(d) The starting and closing hours in Section 2(a) & 2(b) above may be changed at the discretion of the Superintendent provided the length of the school day is not increased. Notice of an adjustment to the starting and closing hours shall be provided no less than thirty (30) days in advance of the adjustment.

(e) Certified/licensed personnel will be required to be available for four (4) evening school-sponsored functions or events per year for two hours. Parent-teacher Conferences, Open Houses, Teacher Receptions, Orientation Nights, Gifted Nights, Science Fairs, Art Festivals, and Music Festivals shall constitute the functions that will fulfill the attendance requirements.

a) The Principal at the elementary level will designate the two Parent-teacher Conferences which all elementary certified licensed personnel will be required to attend. The certified/licensed personnel may select the other function or event which will fulfill the attendance requirement.

b) The Principal at the secondary level will designate two evening events, of which two will be the Open House, Graduation and Honors Night. Certified/licensed personnel may select the other remaining functions or event which will fulfill the attendance requirement. The Principal of the school prior to holding evening functions or events will give teachers a thirty (30) day notice. Police security will be provided when and where necessary. A certified/licensed personnel who has a conflict with another scheduled commitment or has another reason for non attendance may be excused upon application to and at the discretion of the Principal.

1. In addition to the above requirements, certified/licensed personnel are also required to be available for four (4) one (1) hour meetings. Said meetings shall take place after the students are dismissed for the day. A joint agenda will be prepared by the administration and faculty; the meeting will commence immediately following the end of the school day; the building administrator shall forward the agenda for the meeting to the Alliance President not less than seven (7) calendar days prior to the date of the meeting; building representatives and the principal shall agree upon the meeting dates subject to the approval of the Alliance President and the Superintendent of Schools. All after- school programs shall be cancelled on the day of the meeting.

a. For pre-kindergarten program teachers, at least one faculty meeting may be substituted with a meeting with the Director of Early Childhood Education on a mutually agreed upon date, scheduled according to the process in subsection 2 below.

2. Notice of the above-referenced faculty meetings shall be provided by the building administrator to the faculty members no later than the first Friday of the school year. In the event that a meeting date needs to be rescheduled, thirty (30) days’ notice shall be given of the new date. In no event shall a meeting be held with less than thirty (30) days’ notice.

Section 3 Class Size

The parties agree that the class size shall be for Pre-kindergarten, no more than 18 pupils, for Grades K-3, no more than 23 pupils, and for Grades 4-12, no more than 28 pupils.

(a) If any of the aforementioned maxims are exceeded, teachers shall be compensated for each additional student beyond 23/28 by determining the teacher’s total annual salary and dividing it by the number of pupils the teacher should have had (23/28) in accordance with the above and multiply that result by the actual number of students enrolled in the teacher’s class(es). At no time shall a class exceed in number of pupils greater than 25 for grades K-3 or 30 for grades 4-12.

Pre-kindergarten and early childhood programs shall, at all times, be in compliance Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) regulations. At no time shall Pre-kindergarten classes exceed the class-size maxim.

(b) Class size shall either be determined by the register or the class lists.

(d) The computations for the overages shall be kept in an official record and payments for said overages shall be paid to the teacher within 30 days following the end of each trimester.

Regarding classes requiring specific student stations, such as, shops, typing rooms, laboratories, etc., it is a highly desirable objective of the School Committee not to exceed in number of pupils the number of student stations available.

(e) The School Committee shall limit caseloads for speech- language pathologists, occupational therapists, occupational therapist assistants, physical therapists, and physical therapist assistants to no more than sixty (60) students. If the caseload maximum is exceeded for any individual in these classifications, that individual shall receive a stipend of 1/60th of his/her annual salary per each student over the sixty (60) student maximum for the duration of the rostered overage.

(a) Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year and each year thereafter, a joint committee of administrators and related service providers, the latter appointed by the Alliance President, shall be established no later than May 1st to evaluate the workload for each related service provider and determine the feasibility of adjusting caseloads based upon needs of assigned students.

Section 4 Preparation Period

(a) Secondary certified/licensed personnel will have a preparation period each day during which time they will not be assigned to other duties.

(b) Exceptions to this provision will be made only if it is necessary to do so in the interests of the educational process. This will be done by rotating all qualified personnel in each school from a roster maintained for this purpose.

(c) Elementary teachers shall be released from class conducted by special subject teachers. Upon release the teacher will have a preparation period during which time they will not be assigned to other duties except in an emergency. In the event that a special subject teacher is not physically present, the regular classroom teacher shall not be released.

(d) Certified/licensed personnel shall be permitted to leave the school premises during a preparation period for emergency situations with the permission of the Principal. Prior to leaving the school/building and upon returning, certified/licensed personnel shall record the time out/in on a logbook kept with the school secretary in the main office.

(e) Itinerant teachers are to be assigned so that every reasonable effort will be made to ensure that within all grades there will be a relatively equal amount of time spent by the specialist.

(f) Every effort is to be made to have the teacher's homeroom as close as possible to the teaching room.

(g) The Alliance and the School Committee agree that every elementary teacher and/or licensed personnel will have a preparation period each day consisting of not less than forty (40) minutes during which time they will not be assigned to other duties. One additional period of not less than forty (40) minutes per week shall be scheduled for each elementary classroom teacher for the purpose of grade level planning, Professional Learning Community planning, and/or common planning time.

(h) Each High School Department Chairperson will be assigned one (1) daily preparation period. Each High School Department Chairperson will be assigned two (2) Department Chairperson periods each week. Department Chairpersons shall not be assigned a “duty” period within the regular school schedule.

i. The duties of the Department Chairperson shall be limited to the management of the department as specified by the Pawtucket School Department “Department Chairperson Job Description.”

ii. A joint committee comprised of an equal number of Alliance members appointed by the Alliance President and Administrators appointed by the Superintendent of Schools shall be created to review and revise the Department Chairperson Job Description as may be mutually determined by the parties.

iii. The Chairperson of each department shall serve in his/her capacity for the duration of five (5) consecutive school years unless the certified/licensed personnel voluntarily vacates the position. At the close of those five (5) consecutive school years, the Department Chairperson Job Description shall be posted internally. Any certified/licensed personnel shall be permitted to apply for vacant department chairperson positions.

Section 5 Certified/Licensed Personnel Schedules

(a) The Superintendent will make available tentative certified/licensed personnel assignments for the following year prior to the closing of the school year in June. It is understood that assignments by the Superintendent are not final and are subject to change if the necessity for such arises.

(b) Program preference requests for subject and/or grade shall be distributed to all secondary teachers. After students have submitted course requests and the first tally has been printed and distributed to all certified personnel in each high school, program preference requests for subject and/or grade shall be distributed to all secondary senior high school teachers. Where it is administratively and educationally advisable and feasible, program preferences will be honored on the basis of seniority.

(c) In secondary schools (except for the Jacqueline M. Walsh School—see section (g) below), without participation of the Alliance, no more than three (3) subjects may be assigned.

(d) A certified/licensed personnel will be notified of a change in his/her program for the following year, notice is to be given on or before June 15, except where events preclude such notice.

(e) When a full-time position in any building is reduced to half day, the least senior teacher in that grade/position in that building shall be the one to assume the half day schedule. This does not apply to itinerants.

(f) On an annual basis the Superintendent will have determined the special education needs within each building within the District. Once needs have been defined within each building, individual schedules will be developed with a list from the particular building being provided to each special educator within each building each year for schedule selection. "Special educator" is defined for purposes of this section as those teachers currently holding a special education position in the building. Other special education personnel that may exist in a building not included in this schedule selection process are Speech Therapists, School Psychologists, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Special Education Team Leaders, Severe Intellectual Disabilities Teachers, and Preschool Teachers.

Where it is administratively and educationally advisable and feasible, program preference will be honored on the basis of seniority. Should any positions remain unfilled and/or open, appropriate provisions of the contract will be honored. Should there be fewer positions available than special educators, the special educator will be considered involuntarily transferred and therefore exercise his/her rights under the contract as currently defined in Article IV, Section 7.

(g) At the Jacqueline M. Walsh school, upon determination of enrollment needs and with the direct participation of the Alliance, no more than four (4) subjects may be assigned.

Section 6 Advisories

In assigning advisories, every effort shall be made to locate a teacher's advisory classroom as near as possible to the teacher's teaching classroom.

Section 7 Elementary Teachers With Double Grades

Any teacher assigned to a classroom with two (2) grades will be considered as a teacher of only one (1) grade for purposes of system-wide seniority, involuntary transfer and/or increase in the number of classes in his/her designated grade. The grade level of a teacher who instructs two (2) grade levels in one (1) class shall be that grade level (of the two assigned grades) which has the largest number of students enrolled in September through April 30. If involuntary transfers occur subsequent to the close of school in June, the existing class list shall be used to identify the grade level designation for the affected teacher.

Section 8 Secondary Teachers Teaching In Two Or More Areas Of Certification

For purposes of involuntary transfer, a teacher shall be considered a member of the department to which he/she has the highest percentage of classes in his/her teaching schedule. Should the percentage of classes be the same in two or more departments, the teacher shall select the department to which he/she shall be a member.

Section 9 Multi Teaching Assignments

For certified/licensed personnel who may be assigned to service two (2) or more schools, that certified/licensed personnel's home base school for the purpose of this article shall be the school in which he/she spends the greatest percentage of assigned time during the week. Should the percentage of the assigned time be the same in two (2) or more schools, the certified/licensed personnel shall select the home base school. This selection shall be made by the twentieth (20th) school day and shall be in effect until a change of assignment occurs.

Section 10 School Calendar

The Superintendent (or his/her designee) and the Alliance President (or his/her designee) shall jointly construct the school calendar, no later than March 31 of the preceding school-year, for consideration by the School Committee. The school calendar shall be published on the Pawtucket School Department website and disseminated to Alliance members no later than June.

Section 11 Discipline Code

A joint committee of administrators and an equal number of certified/licensed personnel, the latter appointed by the Alliance, shall be constituted to study, evaluate, and review the Discipline Code (including, but not limited to Pawtucket School Committee policies outlined in section J "Students” of the Policy Manual for the Pawtucket School Committee) so that upon its being redrafted, it differs in the primary grades from that applicable to the higher grades in the elementary schools and that the differentiation continue at both junior high and at the senior high school levels, following which recommendations are to be submitted to the Parties. The School Committee agrees to provide a safe and healthy environment conducive to learning. The Pawtucket School Committee's Student Policies and Disciplinary Procedures shall be followed in the disposition of all disciplinary matters. The Code shall be consistently enforced by the Principal or his/her designee.

Section 12 Assault and Battery

If a certified/licensed person should be disabled from performing his/her duties as a result of assault and battery sustained in the course of employment without fault on the part of the certified/licensed person, he/she shall be granted his/her pay reduced by the cash sickness payments and earnings from non- teacher employment up to a maximum of ninety (90) days during the period of such disability; and he/she shall be reimbursed for reasonable medical and hospital benefits not covered by Blue Cross and/or insurance up to a maximum of $5,000. Such leave shall be subject to verification through medical reports and medical examinations at the request of the Superintendent.

Section 13 School Nurses

The school committee agrees to employ one (1) certified school licensed nursing professional at each Pawtucket School Department school building.

Section 14 Vision Screening

Vision screening of pupils shall be done by school nurses.

Section 15 Report Cards

A joint committee of administrators, teachers and parents shall be established to evaluate the report card system.

(a) Student Grades

a. The grade entered into the pupil’s record by the teacher represents his/her evaluation judgment in accordance with Pawtucket School Committee Marking Policies IKAA and IKAB.

i. The teacher shall be considered the expert in evaluating the work of the student, and his/her integrity in grading the pupil shall be respected.

ii. The grade given by the teacher shall not be changed by another person without consultation with the teacher, except in extenuating circumstances.

b. All Alliance members must use the district approved electronic grading and communication system effective September 1, 2023. Adequate training and in-service will be provided.
c. In the elementary schools, if possible, a student who repeats a grade shall not be assigned to the same teacher for a second school year.
d. In the secondary schools, if possible, a student who must repeat a course, the student shall not be assigned to the same teacher for that course.

Section 16 Class Coverage

The School Committee shall make every reasonable effort to hire a per diem substitute teacher whenever a regular teacher is absent.

Elementary Teachers Make Up Planning Time

If an elementary teacher loses his/her preparation period the school committee shall make up that lost preparation period either by hiring a substitute to give the teacher an additional preparation period or pay the teacher who lost his/her preparation period the prorated percentage of the per diem, certified substitute rate.

a) If the school committee chooses to hire a substitute to give the classroom teachers a make-up preparation period, in all cases that time must be made up within one (1) month of the lost preparation period. For preparation periods lost during the month of June, payment shall be made no later than the final pay period of the school year.

Elementary Schools Class Coverage

If the Committee is unable to obtain a substitute teacher, the absent teacher’s class shall be equally distributed among other teachers in the school. The Committee shall pay the teaches who covered the absent teachers’ class at a rate of $8.50 to the classroom teacher per student covered and a rate of $1.50 to each itinerant teacher per student covered. In cases where the covering classroom teacher’s itinerant is absent and the covering classroom teacher loses their preparation period, the classroom teacher shall receive the $1.50 per student that would have been received by the itinerant, the combination of classroom teacher payment and itinerant payment to the classroom teacher without itinerant coverage shall not exceed $10.00 per student.

In the event the Pawtucket School Committee increases per diem, certified substitute rate, the rate shall be amended to reflect the prorated portion of the prevailing certified substitute rate. At no time shall the coverage calculation result in less than a total of
$10.00 per student.

Seconary Schools

If the Committee is unable to obtain a substitute teacher, the Principal shall utilize teachers in his/her school according to the following procedure: The Principal shall establish in September a roster of teachers who volunteer to cover classes during their unassigned time. When the principal assigns a teacher from the roster of volunteers, he/she shall do so on a fair, equitable, and rotating basis. If for any reason, there is an insufficient number of teachers on the roster of volunteers to cover the assignments of absent teachers, the principal shall utilize teachers during their unassigned time on a rotating basis. When a teacher covers for an absent teacher, during their unassigned time, the teacher covering the assignment shall be paid equal to 1/5, at the secondary level of the prevailing per diem certified substitute rate.

In the elementary schools when an itinerant teacher is absent and the regular classroom teacher must cover the itinerant teacher's schedule, payment for the above need not be made if the slot unassigned time is made up to the teacher in accordance with current practice.

When students are assigned under the provisions of this section, they shall not be used for computing the enrollment overages under Article V, Section 3.

School Nurse

If the Committee is unable to hire a substitute school nurse, a school nurse from a neighboring school shall be assigned to cover the medical needs in the absent nurse’s building, including but not limited to medicine distribution.

(a) A coverage assignment schedule shall be created collaboratively with the school nurses no later than September 15th of each school year. This schedule shall be created considering the proximity of school buildings and student schedules.

Time Payment

Teachers entitled to paid coverage in accordance with the above shall be paid within 30 days after the end of each quarter. The Principal of each school shall maintain a payroll record available for inspection by the Alliance.

Section 17 Mentoring

In order to provide leadership to the Pawtucket School Department's Mentoring Program in the areas of planning, implementing and evaluating, a Mentor Planning Committee will be formed. This Committee will be comprised of an equal representative body from all levels of our educational system including support staff. This Committee will be jointly appointed by the Pawtucket School Department and the Pawtucket Teachers' Alliance.

Teachers and/or licensed personnel in their pre-tenure years of employment by the Pawtucket School Department will be required to participate in the Pawtucket School Department's Mentoring Program for a minimum of ten (10) hours annually.

Nothing contained herein shall waive or amend the Pawtucket School Committee's right to suspend, non-renew or dismiss a teacher in accordance with Chapter 13 of Title 16 of the Rhode Island General Laws.

Section 18 School Improvement Teams

Each school shall have a School Improvement Team (SIT ) in accordance with RI General Laws § 16-53.1-2. The SIT is intended to be representative of the school, of its families, of its students and of its community. The composition of the SIT shall be an equal number of certified/licensed personnel and parents plus the building administrator. One of the certified/licensed personnel shall be appointed by the President of the Pawtucket Teachers' Alliance. The SIT may by a two-thirds vote grant voting status to a member of the community.

The SIT shall function in accordance with RI General Laws § 16- 53.1-3. There shall be no amendment and/or alteration of the collective bargaining agreement by these committees.

SIT meetings will be open to the school community/public. SIT agendas will be written, posted and made available forty-eight (48) hours in advance of meetings. Minutes will be kept, posted and distributed to the entire faculty.

Section 19 Curriculum Committee

Pursuant to Pawtucket School Committee policy IJJ: Instruction; Selection of Instructional Materials, a joint committee of administrators and an equal number of teachers, the latter appointed by the Alliance, shall be constituted to study, develop, evaluate and review curriculum within the district of Pawtucket, Pre-K through 12 , including but not limited to: programmatic changes; textbook review/adoption; electronic/ program adoption/implementation.

When needed, the instructional focus calendar will be formulated by the Director of Curriculum in conjunction with appropriate grade level or content specific members of the Alliance.

Any changes that may take place as a result of this committee and/or school restructuring shall be discussed between the Pawtucket Teachers' Alliance and the Pawtucket School Department and mutually agreed to prior to change and or implementation.

Section 20 Extended School Year

The school year for guidance counselors, including the department heads for guidance, shall begin five days before and shall end five days after the school year. The school year for department heads, other than the department head for guidance, shall begin three days before and shall end two days after the school year, and shall also include five mutually agreed upon days during the summer vacation. The work year for District-wide Coordinators shall be determined according to the mutually agreed upon job description. These additional days shall be paid 1/184th of his/her annual salary.

Section 21 Professional Development

The parties will mutually develop a model and process for selecting, providing, and reviewing professional development within the district.

(a) The Professional Development Committee shall consist of an equal number of administrators appointed by the Superintendent (or his/her designee) and Alliance members appointed by the Alliance president (or his/her designee).

i. Pawtucket School Department Director of Curriculum and the Alliance Director of Professional Issues shall jointly chair the Professional Development Committee.

Section 22 Fair Dismissal

Certified/licensed personnel who are not subject to the provisions of Rhode Island General Laws §16-13-1 et. seq. (the "Tenure Act") may only be dismissed or suspended for good and just cause. Nothing contained in this section shall limit and/or alter the rights of those certified/licensed personnel who are subject to the provisions of the Tenure Act.