DISCIPLINE OF EMPLOYEES Section 1: All charges preferred by the Employer against its employees for violation of its rules or other offenses must be preferred within five (5) days after any such alleged violation or offense has been made known to the official or officials of the Employer or their designees. If the charges are not preferred within the time limits set forth herein, such alleged violation or offense shall be forever barred and extinguished, provided, however, that any violation of the rules pertaining to the mishandling of fares or mis-appropriation of the Employer's funds or property shall not come within the scope of the foregoing provisions of this Section. Additionally, any discipline meted out in other than fare violations must be begun within five (5) days of notification to the employee.
Section 2: If any employee is charged with an offense involving the mishandling of fares, drunkenness, possession or use of an illegal substance or the misappropriation of the Employer's funds or property, neither such charges nor discipline meted out in connection therewith shall be subject to the grievance and arbitration procedures provided for in this Agreement unless and until the grievance and/or demands for arbitration in such cases be accompanied by a signed authorization from the employee involved releasing the Employer and the Union to submit any and all information and facts pertaining to the case to whomever they may concern.
Section 3: When the Employer disciplines an employee and/or places a written entry of the incident in the employee's file, the employee and Union involved shall be furnished a copy of the entry. An employee may examine and copy from his/her own employee file at any reasonable time. After thirty (30) months all materials pertaining to discipline in an employee's file will not be used for disciplinary purposes.
Section 4: If, as a result of investigation or upon appeal, the discipline, suspension or dismissal of an employee is found to have been without just cause, his/her record of the alleged offense will be cleared, and if time has been lost, the employee will be paid for such loss of time by the Employer in accordance with the amount s/he would have received had s/he not been held from service.
Discipline Procedure 1. Disciplinary action may be imposed for violation of written rules and regulations as set forth by the Board, incompetence, inefficiency, dishonesty, drunkenness, immoral conduct, insubordination, discourteous treatment of the public, neglect of duty, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, any other failure of good behavior, or conviction of a felony.
2. No employee shall be disciplined without first having had the opportunity for a hearing, if the employee so requests, with an OAPSE representative of his/her choice present. The employee shall be given a written statement containing the charges and the time and place of the hearing. The written statement shall notify the employee of his/her rights to OAPSE representation. The employee must be given the opportunity to sign the statement acknowledging receipt of the statement and date received. Under emergency conditions as determined by the supervisor (including, but not limited to, health and/or safety of the employee or other employees; blatant insubordination; or refusal to work), the supervisor may immediately suspend an employee without pay for a period of up to three (3) work days without the formal hearing described above. An opportunity for a formal hearing with the supervisor must be provided within the suspension period. Failure to provide an opportunity for a hearing during the suspension period shall preclude the right of further discipline for the offense causing the initial suspension. Emergency suspensions will not be subject to Section 6 of this Article.
3. Disciplinary action of less than discharge should generally be progressive and corrective in nature.
A. Disciplinary actions shall be grievable. This Section shall supersede existing state law governing termination of employment (O.R.C. 3319.081).
B. In determining progressive and corrective action, just cause shall be construed and limited to the nature and seriousness of the offense, the effect the alleged conduct has on the Board’s operation, the discipline or lack thereof used in other similar situations known to the Board, and the appropriateness of the proposed penalty in view of the record and length of service of the charged employee. The enumeration of these factors is not intended to preclude either the exercise of good and sound business judgment or to minimize the importance of an employee’s property interest in his job.
DISCIPLINE PROCEDURES The Employer agrees to provide the employee with written notification of a disciplinary document that is to be made a part of the employee’s personnel file. In instances where the Employer desires to conduct an investigatory interview with an employee, the employee shall be entitled upon request to have an Association representative present at the interview. A copy of all disciplinary actions involving suspension or discharge will also be provided to the Association, unless the employee requests that the matter be kept confidential.
Discipline Policy A Discipline Policy Committee will be formed upon the request of the Association or the Board of Education. The committee will be comprised of members appointed by the Board and the Association. By the appropriate means determined by the Board, families will be informed of the District's policies regarding student behavior and discipline procedures. The foregoing committees, study groups, or faculty councils shall serve as advisory, consultative and fact-finding bodies only, and the Board shall not be required to adopt any of the recommendations submitted. The Board agrees, however, that the Association and the teachers shall have the right to submit recommendations and views on these subjects.
Educational Program A. DSST PUBLIC SCHOOLS shall implement and maintain the following characteristics of its educational program in addition to those identified in the Network Contract at DSST XXXX MIDDLE SCHOOL (“the School” within Exhibit A-3). These characteristics are subject to modification with the District’s written approval:
Training Program It is agreed that there shall be an Apprenticeship Training Program, the provisions of which are set forth in Exhibit "D", which is attached hereto and forms part of this Agreement.
Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) Consulting Teachers (CT) will be assigned to all new teachers with no prior teaching experience and tenured teachers rated ineffective on the qualitative measures at the end of the previous school year and recommended by the PAR Panel. Evaluations for Probationary and Ineffective Teachers:
Training Programs All employees shall successfully complete all necessary training prior to being assigned work (e.g., all employees will complete health and safety training prior to being assigned to task). Nothing in this Article or provision shall constitute a waiver of either party’s bargaining obligations or defenses. The Employer still has an obligation to notify and bargain changes in terms and conditions of employment with the exclusive representative.
Staffing Plan The Board and the Association agree that optimum class size is an important aspect of the effective educational program. The Polk County School Staffing Plan shall be constructed each year according to the procedures set forth in Board Policy and, upon adoption, shall become Board Policy.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT A. The Board of Education agrees to pay the actual tuition costs of courses taken by a teacher at accredited colleges or universities up to three courses per two (2) year fiscal periods from July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008 and July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2010 respectively, except as follows:
1. No teacher may be reimbursed for courses taken during the first year of teaching in Vineland.
2. Teachers taking courses in the second and third years of employment in Vineland will not receive remuneration until tenure has been secured. The remuneration will then be retroactive and will be paid to the teacher in a lump sum within sixty (60) days after the teacher has secured tenure.
3. All courses must be pre-approved by the Superintendent or his designee subject to the following requirements:
(a) A teacher must provide official documentation that he/she has obtained a grade of B or better;
(b) Reimbursement shall be paid only for courses directly related to teacher’s teaching field which increase the teacher’s content knowledge and are related to the teacher’s current certification, as determined by the Superintendent or his/her designee in his/her sole discretion; no reimbursement shall be paid for courses leading to a post graduate or professional degree in a field other than education or teaching. Further, effective September 1, 2010, all newly hired teachers shall not be eligible for reimbursement until they are tenured, and they shall not be eligible for retroactive reimbursement upon gaining tenure for courses taken prior to being tenured.
(c) The maximum total payments to be made by the Board shall not exceed $130,000.00. Courses shall be applied for no earlier than the following dates: Summer Session - April 1 Fall/Winter Session - June 1 Spring Session - October 1 Courses must, as set forth hereinabove in this sub-article 18.A.3, be pre-approved by the Superintendent or his designee, prior to the teacher commencing the course(s); and
(d) Teacher taking courses shall sign a contract requiring them to reimburse the Board for all tuition paid for a course if the teacher shall voluntarily leave the employ of the Board within one (1) full school/academic year of completion of said course, except that reimbursement shall not be required when the teacher shall voluntarily leave the employ of the Board due to a significant, documented life change.
4. Tuition reimbursement costs shall be a sum not to exceed the actual cost of college credits charged in an accredited public State college/University of the State of New Jersey.
B. When the Superintendent initiates in-service training courses, workshops, conferences and programs designed to improve the quality of instruction, the cooperation of the Vineland Education Association will be solicited. Notwithstanding the above, the initiation of in-service training courses, workshops, conferences and programs shall be determined solely at the discretion of the Board.
C. One professional leave day may be granted to a teacher upon request, according to the following guidelines:
1. The professional day may be for attendance at a workshop, seminar or visit to another school for the expressed purpose of self professional improvement for the job.
2. The request shall arrive in the office of the Superintendent of Schools at least ten (10) working days prior to the date requested and shall be reviewed by the immediate supervisor prior to submission. The Board reserves the right to deny a professional leave day before or immediately following a holiday or on a day which by its nature suggests a hardship for providing a substitute.
3. No more than two teachers from any one elementary school or from any one department in the secondary schools may be granted a professional leave for a given day.
4. The teacher may be required to submit a report to the Superintendent of Schools, Assistant Superintendent, supervisor (s), principal and staff regarding the activity of the professional day.
5. Costs incurred by the teacher for the professional day authorized under this Section shall be the teacher’s responsibility.
6. A maximum of 90 professional leave days may be authorized for the school year which shall be apportioned as follows: elementary, 35; grades seven and eight, 20; and high school, 35.
D. If the Board initiates a teacher’s attendance at a professional workshop, seminar or visit, the expenses shall be the responsibility of the Board. Further, this day shall not be subtracted from the 90 professional leave days granted to teachers of the Association.
E. The Board agrees to pay the full cost of courses taken by secretaries related to skills and knowledge improvement when such courses are required and approved by the Board.
F. The Board and the Association agree that it is important to communicate when developing and implementing current and future learning technologies, including but not limited to distance and on-line learning.
