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.
TEACHING HOURS 1. A grade PPI-12 teacher's workday shall consist of not more than seven (7) hours and ten (10) minutes of formal responsibility. Hall duty may be included in the teacher's workday. Every effort will be made mutually by the Administration and the Association to deal with these duties in a most positive manner. The student day may be increased if necessary to meet the State time requirements for instructional hours. Within said time of formal responsibility, a teacher shall be entitled to the following:
(a) A duty free lunch period no less than twenty-five (25) minutes to a maximum of thirty-five (35) minutes.
(b) For a grade ECSE-5 grade teacher: a minimum of 250 minutes per week of time for preparation. Each preparation period to consist of a minimum of twenty-five (25) duty-free minutes. For a grade 6-12 teacher: a minimum of one preparation per day that shall be equivalent to a normal teaching period or an average of five normal teaching periods per week.
(c) Cafeteria duty may be included in the teacher's workday. Every effort will be made to obtain volunteers for this duty, which will be in lieu of a class period. If no volunteer is available who can be scheduled, the administration may assign a teacher to such duties. No teacher may be involuntarily assigned these duties for more than one consecutive year. Every effort will be made mutually by the Administration and the Association to deal with these duties in a most positive manner.
(d) Attendance at 6th grade camp shall be voluntary.
2. Before and/or after school, a grade ECSE-12 teacher shall be attending to his/her teaching duties in his/her building for up to thirty (30) minutes but not to exceed the workday of seven (7) hours and ten (10) minutes. At the beginning of each year, the administration at each level shall determine what portion of the above times will be used before and after school. Teacher input will be encouraged. It is expressly understood that an individual teacher's day may be adjusted to facilitate the administration of the individual building. Early leave may be granted at the discretion of the Administration.
3. The daily preparation period will first be used for such things as thorough preparations, conferences with parents, teachers, and administrators, I.E.P.T.'s, and special assistance to students.
4. Activities involving teachers beyond the scope of the formal teaching day shall be determined cooperatively between a faculty selected committee and the administration at that level. Teachers shall be given forty-eight (48) hour notice of such activities and shall be encouraged and expected by the Association to attend. Special teachers shall be encouraged to attend as their time and schedules allow.
5. In the event that it becomes necessary to determine a new building schedule, a committee will be formed, comprised of an equal number of administrators and teachers to examine alternative scheduling. A recommendation on the study will be presented to the superintendent. No recommendation will be made that would jeopardize accreditation.
6. A teacher’s building assignment shall be determined by where he/she is assigned for over half of his/her schedule. A teacher who has a split building assignment will have their workday schedule determined by the building administrators. A teacher who has a split building assignment will have a minimum of 30 minutes for travel. If the travel time encumbers the teacher’s preparation period or duty free lunch, or extends the teacher’s day beyond the contractual limits, then the teacher shall be paid for a minimum of thirty (30) minutes at the teacher’s per diem rate (unless this time is recouped through other minutes during the day).
Holiday Falling on a Day of Rest
(a) When a paid holiday falls on a regular full-time employee's day of rest, the employee shall be entitled to a day off with pay in lieu of the holiday.
(b) If a regular full-time employee is called in to work on the day designated as the lieu day pursuant to (a) above, he/she shall be compensated at time and one-half for all hours worked.
Open Enrollment Period Open Enrollment is a period of time each year when you and your eligible dependents, if family coverage is offered, may enroll for healthcare coverage or make changes to your existing healthcare coverage. The effective date will be on the first day of your employer’s plan year. A Special Enrollment Period is a time outside the yearly Open Enrollment Period when you can sign up for health coverage. You and your eligible dependents may enroll for coverage through a Special Enrollment Period by providing required enrollment information within thirty (30) days of the following events: • you get married, the coverage effective is the first day of the month following your marriage. • you have a child born to the family, the coverage effective date is the date of birth. • you have a child placed for adoption with your family, the coverage effective date is the date of placement. Special note about enrolling your newborn child: You must notify your employer of the birth of a newborn child and pay the required premium within thirty -one (31) days of the date of birth. Otherwise, the newborn will not be covered beyond the thirty -one (31) day period. This plan does not cover services for a newborn child who remains hospitalized after thirty-one (31) days and has not been enrolled in this plan. If you are enrolled in an Individual Plan when your child is born, the coverage for thirty- one (31) days described above means your plan becomes a Family Plan for as long as your child is covered. Applicable Family Plan deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket expenses may apply. In addition, if you lose coverage from another plan, you may enroll or add your eligible dependents for coverage through a Special Enrollment Period by providing required enrollment information within thirty (30) days following the date you lost coverage. Coverage will begin on the first day of the month following the date your coverage under the other plan ended. In order to be eligible, the loss of coverage must be the result of: • legal separation or divorce; • death of the covered policy holder; • termination of employment or reduction in the number of hours of employment; • the covered policy holder becomes entitled to Medicare; • loss of dependent child status under the plan; • employer contributions to such coverage are being terminated; • COBRA benefits are exhausted; or • your employer is undergoing Chapter 11 proceedings. You are also eligible for a Special Enrollment Period if you and/or your eligible dependent lose eligibility for Medicaid or a Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or if you and/or your eligible dependent become eligible for premium assistance for Medicaid or a (CHIP). In order to enroll, you must provide required information within sixty (60) days following the change in eligibility. Coverage will begin on the first day of the month following our receipt of your application. In addition, you may be eligible for a Special Enrollment Period if you provide required information within thirty (30) days of one of the following events: • you or your dependent lose minimum essential coverage (unless that loss of coverage is due to non-payment of premium or your voluntary termination of coverage); • you adequately demonstrate to us that another health plan substantially violated a material provision of its contract with you; • you make a permanent move to Rhode Island: or • your enrollment or non-enrollment in a qualified health plan is unintentional, inadvertent, or erroneous and is the result of error, misrepresentation, or inaction by us or an agent of HSRI or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
