Common use of Professional Development and Educational Improvements Clause in Contracts

Professional Development and Educational Improvements. A. Expenses of Professional Workshops and Conferences A teacher may, with the advance approval of the appropriate Principal, District-wide Supervisor, or Coordinator, as the case may be, and with the approval of the Superintendent, or their designee, attend workshops, seminars, conferences, or other professional improvement sessions. The Ithaca City School District will pay the reasonable expenses, including fees, meals, lodging, and transportation incurred by these teachers. The Board shall budget funds each year for this purpose, exclusive of the cost of substitutes and salaries. In addition, a teacher may, with the approval as stated above, attend such professional improvement sessions at their own expense. The Ithaca City School District will pay each teacher their regular salary while absent in connection with attendance at such sessions and will also pay all substitutes’ salaries thus necessitated. The funds budgeted for the purposes of professional development each year shall be apportioned among the several buildings and District-wide departments on the basis of the number of FTE in each. Beginning July 1, 2016, funds for professional workshops, seminars, conferences, or other professional improvement sessions will be allocated to the buildings and District-wide departments at a rate of $100 per FTE. The teachers in a building or District-wide department can submit requests for the funding of individual, departmental, group or building-wide or district-wide professional workshops, seminars, conferences, or other professional improvement sessions to their building or district-wide department committee. The committees will review and act upon the requests for professional improvement when deciding how to distribute expenditures of said funds. At least 30% of the funds shall be set aside for activities held in the second semester of each school year. These committees will be made up of teacher representatives appointed by the Association and administrators who will collaboratively determine which requests will receive funding. In addition, teachers shall be compensated at the IRS rate for mileage, for which they have prior approval, when their attendance at professional development workshops requires the use of their personal vehicle.