Common use of Planning and Preparation Time Clause in Contracts

Planning and Preparation Time. 1. Pre-K through 5 Teachers. Insofar as practicable and provided there are enough special subject teachers employed by the Board, the Board will attempt to schedule one (1) planning period per day for full-time pre-K-5 teachers. Said pre- K-5 teachers shall use for their planning period the periods during which their classes receive instruction from music, art, foreign language, or physical education special subject teachers, unless from time to time they are asked by the special subject teachers to stay in the classroom to assist them. Such planning periods at the pre-K-5 level, including common planning time, shall be used for preparation time and other instructional responsibilities. It is understood that reasonable administrative requests/needs to meet will be honored. Regular classroom teachers at elementary grades 2-5 shall be released from two (2) periods of foreign language instruction each full week, thereby providing an additional fifty (50) minutes of planning time per week. First grade classroom teachers shall have an additional forty-five (45) minutes of planning time each full week, and during such additional planning time, instruction shall be provided by a certified teacher. Under normal circumstances, full-time special education teachers shall receive planning time of at least three hundred (300) minutes per week for preparation and other instructional responsibilities when it is feasible and appropriate. Full-time special subject teachers, Library Information Specialists, instructional resource teachers, resource room teachers, speech and language pathologists, psychologists and social workers covered by this Agreement at the elementary level shall, under normal circumstances, receive administratively scheduled planning time of no less than five (5) 30-minute uninterrupted blocks per week and reasonably equivalent to that provided to other elementary classroom teachers for preparation time and other instructional responsibilities.