ARTICLE XIV: TEACHER SCHEDULES

Smithfield School District

A. All teachers shall be scheduled in their fields of certification. Teachers shall not be assigned without their permission to a subject area, which requires emergency certification.

B. In the arrangement of schedules, the Association President, the Superintendent and/or their designee(s) shall work collaboratively to minimize and to limit the amount of travel time for those teachers in special areas who are assigned to more than one school. Where practicable, special area teachers will be assigned to no more than 1 (one) school/day.

C. Teachers shall be notified in writing and/or electronically of the following year’s tentative schedule as soon as it is approved, but in no case later than the close of the school year. If substantive changes are made in the schedule, the teacher must be notified by August 15.

D. Course preference sheets shall be submitted to all high school teachers, filled out, and returned (at the High School) to department heads, with recommendations to principals and the superintendent to be considered in teacher scheduling.

E. At the middle school, grade preference sheets shall be submitted to the principal on or about May 1st of every school year. Teacher grade preferences shall be reviewed and given serious consideration before any changes are made. The Association and the Committee recognize that in order for middle school teaching teams to become effective and develop their full potential, team membership must be maintained and teachers need to work together as a team for a minimum of three years. Therefore, team membership may be changed no more frequently than every three years unless mutually agreed upon by the teacher(s) and administrator(s).

F. Schedules for elementary special area teachers will provide passing time between classes.