Student Discipline 1. The parties recognize that part of the teacher's responsibility is to maintain control and discipline of students. The Board further recognizes its responsibility to give support and assistance to the teacher with respect to the maintenance of control and discipline in the classroom and school in accordance with established Board policies, administrative regulations, building procedures and state statutes; however, the Board shall not be obligated when any disciplinary actions employed by any teacher is contrary to law, Board policy, or administrative regulations. 2. The Board shall set all policies on matters of discipline. A team, minimally consisting of building administrators and teachers, shall develop disciplinary procedures for their respective buildings that are consistent with state statutes, Board policies, and administrative regulations. These disciplinary procedures shall be completed or updated and reviewed by each faculty prior to a date established by the principal. These shall be distributed to students, teachers, and parents no later than October 1 of each year, and it shall be the responsibility of the administration and teachers to enforce these policies, regulations, and procedures. 3. When an offense, persistent misbehavior, or the disruptive effect of misbehavior makes the continued presence of a student in the classroom intolerable, the student may be referred by the teacher to the principal or his/her designee for disciplinary action. In such case, an account of the problem or incident will be communicated as soon as feasibly possible, given instructional and safety responsibilities, by the teacher to the principal or his/her designee. The communication should include what previous corrective action, and/or parent communication if any, has been taken by the teacher. The principal or his/her designee shall communicate the disposition of the referral as soon as feasibly possible given administrative and safety responsibilities. In cases when the disruptive effect of the student’s behavior is so extreme as to preclude the instructional process, the teacher shall immediately communicate the need to remove the child temporarily from the classroom until such time as the student, teacher, and principal or other appropriate authority, resolves the situation. (2009)
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.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT A. Both the Board and the Association encourage teachers to seek professional improvement. In order to assist teachers in extending and improving their skills the following plan will be implemented. B. All Teachers will be encouraged to earn a Masters degree or coursework toward additional certification that is in the field of education and within a teacher's discipline, or in an area that is beneficial to the school. C. The Board will pay teacher's expenses for undergraduate and/or graduate credits, specialty and additional endorsements under the following conditions. 1. In allocating budgeted funds priority will be given to the teachers in a “masters” program and those teachers who need to complete coursework for certification. 2. All courses must be approved, in advance, by the Superintendent. Courses for recertification purposes must be approved in advance by the certification committee and the superintendent. The teacher shall receive a written reply from the Superintendent within ten (10) days of application for course approval (See Appendix D). 3. Each teacher will be eligible for up to six (6) semester hours of credit or, if enrolled in a matriculated, organized program, 12 semester hours of credit for undergraduate will be paid if part of a graduate program or graduate courses per contract year. The Superintendent reserves the right to request intent to take courses prior to final budget preparation. Failure to communicate such intent at the time of the Superintendent’s request may jeopardize course reimbursement due to a lack of funding. 4. The administration will pay in advance the cost of the course. Presentation of evidence of satisfactory completion of the course (A grade of B or better) is the responsibility of the teacher. In the event the course is not completed or not completed satisfactorily, the teacher will refund the payment received in advance and in accordance with Appendix D – attached. 5. Teachers who resign shall not be eligible for reimbursement after the date of resignation Teachers who have been reimbursed for any course work toward securing a masters within the last two (2) years of employment shall be required to continue their service to RSU # 78 for an additional two (2) years (twenty-four months) or will be required to reimburse the district the cost associated with Masters courses taken prior to departing, Such reimbursement to the district shall be remitted via payroll deductions as arranged between the District and employee, unless the failure to continue employment is due to illness, disability, death, or reduction of position. 6. Reimbursement will only be for tuition and fees. It will not include reimbursement for mileage, books and other expenses unless the teacher is required to take the course by the administration.
Grievance Processing Union stewards or Union officials shall be permitted to have time off without loss of pay for the investigation and processing of grievances and arbitrations. Requests for such time off shall be made in advance and shall not be unreasonably denied. The Union will furnish the Employer with a list of Union stewards and their jurisdictions. The Union shall delineate the jurisdiction of Union stewards so that no xxxxxxx need travel between work locations or sub-divisions thereof while investigating grievances. Grievants shall be permitted to have time off without loss of pay for processing their grievances through the contractual grievance procedure, except that for class action grievances no more than three (3) grievants shall be granted such leave.