Formal Observations At least two (2) formal observations per year are required for ancillary staff members in Track I, at least sixty (60) days apart. In the case of a first-year or second-year Track I ancillary staff employee, at least one (1) observation shall be made prior to the ancillary staff employee’s mid- year progress report. Annual evaluations shall include in-room observations of all aspects of the ancillary staff employee’s instructional practice. Observations shall be conducted by the ancillary staff employee’s supervisor. An observation shall be at least one (1) complete lesson, based on the lesson plans provided by the ancillary staff employee. Observations shall be scheduled at least five (5) work days in advance for a three-day window in which the observation would take place. If an observation needs to be rescheduled, the ancillary staff employee shall be notified of the date of the rescheduled observation no later than one (1) day prior to the end of the week in which the observation should have taken place, so as to accommodate lesson planning. A pre-observation conference shall be held to review the ancillary staff employee’s IDP and those areas which might be observed. All monitoring or observation of the work of the teacher shall be conducted openly and with the knowledge of the ancillary staff employee. The parties agree that during an observation every effort will be made to maintain the normal teaching-learning process. An observation shall include assessment of the ancillary staff employee’s skill and ability in the observed domains of the “Framework for Professional Practice”. A post-observation conference shall be held within five (5) work days of the observation unless the ancillary staff employee agrees in writing to extend the time to conduct the conference, not to exceed thirty (30) days. In the event the meeting does not occur as a result of administrator unavailability within thirty-five (35) days of the observation, negative comments or concerns shall be excluded from the observation. The ancillary staff employee teacher shall bring a completed Post-Observation Reflection Form to this conference, and the administrator shall bring the completed Classroom Observation Form. The ancillary staff employee teacher and the administrator shall each retain copies of both forms. As a result of this post-observation conference, identified areas of concern, together with suggested ways in which the ancillary staff employee is to improve, and identification of assistance to be given, may be addressed in the teacher’s IDP.
Informal Observations A. An informal observation is an observation that is not required to be pre-scheduled.
B. An evaluator may conduct any number of informal observations.
C. Observations do not have to be in the classroom. For example, department or collegial meetings may be used for informal observations.
D. Informal observations may serve as an opportunity for formative feedback. If there are concerns regarding the teacher’s/educator’s level of performance based upon informal observations, the evaluator will document the concern and schedule a time to discuss with the employee.
Informal Observation Additional evaluation of employees may occur through informal observations by the Employer. It may not be necessary to reduce such evaluations to writing, and a verbal discussion between the Employer and the employee concerning the informal observations may suffice. If a written evaluation is deemed necessary, Procedures C and D as outlined above shall be followed.
Formal Observation The instructional employee and the principal/administrator shall review using the mid-year Reflection Questions in the evaluation manual – Student Achievement Outcomes and make adjustments as needed to increase the likelihood of a positive goal outcome.
Observations The Evaluator’s first observation of the Educator should take place by November 15. Observations required by the Educator Plan should be completed by May 15th. The Evaluator may conduct additional observations after this date. The Evaluator is not required nor expected to review all the indicators in a rubric during an observation.
Pre-Observation Conference The pre-observation conference shall be held prior to the first formal observation. The teacher and evaluator will mutually agree when to conference. The purpose of the pre- observation conference is to discuss the employee’s goals, establish a date for the formal observation, and to discuss such matters as the professional activities to be observed, their content, objectives, strategies, and possible observable evidence to meet the scoring criteria.
TEACHING HOURS AND TEACHING LOAD Section 1 Work Day For the applicable agreement period, the normal work day will be seven and one-quarter (7 ¼) hours including arrival time fifteen (15) minutes before and departure time (15) minutes after the students’ school day. The normal work day will include uninterrupted prep time. The Building Principal, as authorized by the Superintendent, upon request of a teacher or group of teachers, may waive the requirement to remain fifteen (15) minutes after the school day for a specific day or days. It is recognized; however, that the proper performance of their duties may, on occasion, require these persons to work longer than the normal work day, i.e. for conferences, faculty meetings, department meetings, etc. Therefore, “mandatory meetings will occur two times per month and be no longer than 90 minutes in length, inclusive of the additional 15 minutes beyond the scheduled student school day. A schedule of the meetings will be distributed by June 30th of the previous school year, but may be changed at the discretion of the Principal with 48 hours’ notice.” Teachers will also remain at school after the fifteen (15) minutes described above, during one (1) day each calendar week for such periods of time as is necessary to provide students extra help, and/or to meet with parents or guardians, concerning the progress of their children or wards. No teacher shall be required to work more than a normal seven and one- quarter (7 ¼) hour day, including fifteen (15) minutes before and (15) minutes after the students’ school day, which will include uninterrupted prep time; this provision does not apply to other contractually agreed upon time and meetings. Should state law require a longer instructional day, or more days, the teachers shall work the added time and the parties shall immediately commence impact bargaining on the issue. This article does not purport to cover the arrival and departure time of teachers involved in special assignments.
Section 2 Other Personnel Personnel other than classroom teachers will work at their assigned tasks for the length of the regular teachers' work day. The exact daily schedule will be worked out on an individual basis between the Administration and the employee with notification to the Association. Instructional Coaches are required to work an additional five (5) days at their per diem rate, beyond the work year for a total of 189 days. These days will be determined prior to the start of the new school year and at the discretion of the Superintendent and the Chief Academic Officer.
Teaching Load 11-1 The parties recognize that the number of students, the number of preparations, and the amount of planning time are related to student performance.
11-2 CLASS SIZE 11-2-1 The parties recognize that class size is related to economics and that reduction of class size is faced with fiscal constraints. The parties further recognize that it is not feasible at this time to set general numerical limitations upon class size because of physical space available, special programs, special student needs, attendance area variances, differences in scheduling systems, busing, and because of other variable causes affecting class size. Nevertheless, the parties shall make reasonable effort to maintain class size at reasonable, workable, and educationally effective levels in all situations.
11-3 TEACHER LOAD 11-3-1 Teaching load shall be defined as the number of separate class preparations that a teacher has per school day as delineated in the course description guide.
Post-Observation Conference 1. The post- observation conference between the evaluator and teacher will be held no later than ten (10) days after the formal observation.
2. The purpose of the post-observation conference is to review the evaluator’s and teacher’s evidence related to the scoring criteria during the observation, and to discuss the teacher’s performance.
3. If there is an area of concern, the evaluator will identify specific concerns for the applicable criteria and provide possible solutions to remedy the concern in writing.
Research Independence The Company acknowledges that each Underwriter’s research analysts and research departments, if any, are required to be independent from their respective investment banking divisions and are subject to certain regulations and internal policies, and that such Underwriter’s research analysts may hold and make statements or investment recommendations and/or publish research reports with respect to the Company and/or the offering that differ from the views of its investment bankers. The Company hereby waives and releases, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any claims that the Company may have against such Underwriter with respect to any conflict of interest that may arise from the fact that the views expressed by their independent research analysts and research departments may be different from or inconsistent with the views or advice communicated to the Company by such Underwriter’s investment banking divisions. The Company acknowledges that the Representative is a full service securities firm and as such from time to time, subject to applicable securities laws, may effect transactions for its own account or the account of its customers and hold long or short position in debt or equity securities of the Company.
