CREIGHTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 14

PROFESSIONAL STAFF ASSIGNMENTS

AND TRANSFERS

The Superintendent shall have the responsibility for the assignment of all personnel throughout the District. The procedure for assignment and transfer of professional staff members will be based on the needs of the instructional program. In addition, no right to school, grade, or subject assignment shall be inferred from the teacher's contract. A teacher who has been employed by the District for the major portion of three (3) or more classification for two (2) consecutive school years shall not be transferred as a teacher to another school in the District unless the District has issued a preliminary notice of inadequacy of classroom performance and approved a performance improvement plan for the teacher and the Governing Board has approved the new placement as in the best interests of the pupils in the school. Following a transfer under this provision, a teacher who continues to be designated in one (1) of the two (2) lowest performance classifications shall not be permitted to transfer to another school. A teacher shall not be transferred more than once under the provisions of this paragraph.

The transfer of teachers from one school to another school within the District shall take into consideration the needs of the pupils in the District and the current distribution of teachers across all of the four (4) performance classifications as adopted by the State Board of Education.

Professional staff members may apply for transfer or reassignment, whether or not a vacancy exists. Transfers will not be approved during the school year unless the needs of the District dictate such approval. In the case of vacancies in new or existing positions, first consideration will be given to qualified applicants among current employees. The resolution of any conflicts over the need for a transfer shall be based on what is best for the instructional program, the needs of the students, and the overall needs of the District as defined by the Superintendent.

SUPPORT STAFF

ASSIGNMENTS AND TRANSFERS

Assignments

The Superintendent will determine all support staff assignments. Support staff shall be assigned based on the needs of the District, on their qualifications, and on their expressed desires. When it is not possible to meet all three (3) conditions, an employee shall be assigned first in accordance with the needs of the District, second where the Superintendent determines the employee is most qualified to serve, and third as to the expressed preference of the employee. Assignments may be changed to serve the best interests of the District.

Transfers/Reassignments

Staff members may apply for transfer or reassignment whether or not a vacancy exists. The transfer/reassignment of support staff members will be based on the needs of the District, employee qualifications, and the employee's expressed desires. When it is not possible to meet all three (3) conditions, an employee shall be transferred/reassigned first in accordance with the needs of the District, second where the Superintendent determines the employee is most qualified to serve, and third as to the expressed preference of the employee. The resolution of any conflicts over the need for a transfer shall be based on what is best for the instructional program, the needs of the students, and the overall needs of the District as defined by the Superintendent. The above applies to transfers/reassignments within the same job classification and pay grade. Transfer/reassignment of an employee to a position of greater or lesser pay requires Board approval.

DK

PROFESSIONAL / SUPPORT  STAFF
SCHEDULES  AND  CALENDARS

Introduction 

The District's work week is designated from 12:00 a.m. Sunday to 11:59 p.m. on Saturday.  The regular workweek typically runs Monday through Friday.  Some operations that need to be staffed continuously can, and do, schedule workweeks that do not run Monday through Friday.  Because the nature of the work varies across the District, starting, quitting, and meal and break times vary according to the needs of a particular school or department.

Certificated  Staff

Length of Workday

No teacher shall be required to teach before or after the defined school day.  The defined school day shall be a minimum of seven and one-half (7.5) consecutive hours a day.  This provision may be waived by any teacher in writing.

Duty Free Lunch

Each teacher and nurse shall have a minimum of thirty (30) consecutive minutes for duty free lunch.  Teachers and nurses may be assigned duties during this period in emergency situations.

Rainy Day Schedule

When a rainy day schedule is called by a principal and maintained through the noon hour, teachers may leave at the last student dismissal time unless school or District level meetings require attendance.

Planning Time

When determined possible by the principal, forty (40) consecutive minutes of planning time will be scheduled daily for teachers within the time teachers are required to be at school.  In cases where forty (40) consecutive minutes of planning time are not scheduled, the Superintendent or designee will review the school's schedule to determine if modifications are appropriate.

Planning time includes lesson planning, data analysis and other activities required to improve student outcomes.  The intent is for all teachers to have both collaborative and individual planning time.  A site plan will be collaboratively developed annually to address the needs of all teachers to include collaborative teams, e.g., grade level, department/content, vertical and individual planning time.  Sites will determine expectations for agendas and minutes.  The plan will be agreed upon through team and/or staff consensus and will be submitted to the Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services.

Within the itinerant teacher's contracted seven and one-half (7.5) hour day, provisions will be made for a thirty (30) minute duty-free lunch, adequate travel time and planning time.

Meetings

Meetings are defined as a gathering of teachers for the purpose of communicating information directly or indirectly related to the operations of the Washington Elementary School District. 

Some meetings will be required outside the defined work day.  These meetings include conferences related to the evaluation process, child study team, individualized education program (IEP) meetings, and federal and state compliance monitoring.  School events and other meetings that are scheduled outside the school day will be developed collaboratively with those impacted.

Staff meetings are scheduled, as needed, in combination with early release Wednesdays.  Principals may schedule additional staff meetings in emergency situations, e.g., celebrations, information about school safety situations, the death of an employee or a student, etc.

During the weeks of parent-teacher conferences, no District-initiated meetings will be scheduled.

Teachers shall be allowed to leave school at the last student dismissal time whenever they are expected to attend events or activities scheduled beyond the school day unless an emergency situation arises.

Pre-service Week Scheduling

No District or school initiated meetings shall be scheduled for teachers during at least one (1) full day or two (2) half-days of the pre-service week.  The schedule should be determined with staff input either in May or during the pre-service week.

Early Release Grading Day Scheduling

Three (3) early release days shall be designated prior to the issuance of report cards or parent/teacher conferences for teacher use to gather information for, plan and conduct parent conferences and/or report card generation.  These days shall be scheduled within five (5) school days of the conclusion of the report card cycle or parent/teacher conferences. 

Duty Scheduling

All teachers will be assigned duties in an equitable fashion.  Teachers who are assigned to teach at two (2) or more schools shall be assigned to regular duties at the school where they spend a major portion of their time.  If equal time is spent at each school, the principals involved shall determine at which school duties are assigned.  Special subject teachers who have their working day extended because of early or late classes shall not be assigned regular duties.

Principals who are sharing teachers between schools will review the assigning of events outside the regular day with the cooperating principal(s) and teacher(s) involved, whenever possible, before assignments are made.  Teachers who are assigned to more than one (1) school will have activities and events assigned as equitably as possible for that teacher's workload.  Principals will work cooperatively to make assignments fairly and provide more equitable duties for teachers at more than one (1) school.  The final decision rests with the principals.  However, teachers that are shared between schools will not be assigned more event coverage outside the regular day than a teacher whose assignment is at one (1) school.

Itinerant teachers will not be required to serve more duty time than required for non-itinerant teachers at the site where it has been determined he/she will perform duties.  This would not preclude open space in a teacher's schedule from being filled with "other responsibilities assigned by the principal."

The chaperoning of school dances or other regular school activities shall be shared as equitably as possible among all teachers who work with the age group involved.

Evaluation Scheduling

Principals who are sharing teachers between schools will work cooperatively in the evaluation process.  Teachers assigned to more than one (1) school will be evaluated at the school where their full-time equivalent (FTE) assignment is greatest, or, in the case of equal FTE assignments at the schools, as collaboratively determined by Human Resources and/or the principals.

Flex Time

Occasional use of flex time for certificated staff is permitted, in order to accommodate appointments that cannot be arranged outside normal work hours.  Certificated staff must present a coverage plan for prior approval by an administrator or designee.

Non-Exempt  Employees

Each job description will indicate if a position is exempt or non-exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Any employee who is not classified as exempt is non-exempt.

Individual Time Records

Each non-exempt employee will maintain an individual time record.  All work time must, without exception, be noted on the individual time record even if it is in excess of the regularly scheduled work hours.  Each employee will sign the individual time record at the end of the pay period verifying the accuracy of the hours worked and acknowledging that they have not worked additional time during that pay period that is not reflected on the individual time record.  Schools/ departments will be responsible for maintaining the individual time records.  These records are to be filed by pay period and easily accessible for audit purposes.

If an employee is participating in the automated time system (KRONOS), the employee is responsible for using the automated timekeeper to time in and out.  Each employee is responsible for verifying the accuracy of the hours worked and acknowledging that they have not worked additional time during that pay period that is not reflected in the automated time system.  No employee is allowed to clock in for another employee under any circumstance.  Clocking in for another employee is an act of fraud and a violation of this policy.  Any employee found to be in violation of this policy will be subject to disciplinary action.

Time Sheets

Each supervisor or designee, using the information on the individual time record, will prepare the time sheet following District procedures.

Flex Time

Flex time will be arranged upon agreement between the supervisor and employee.  When it is necessary for an employee to work additional or different hours for a special activity/event, the employee's work day or work week may be adjusted so that the employee is not required to work hours which exceed the employee's regularly scheduled hours.

Flex time can also be arranged to accommodate appointments that cannot be arranged outside normal work hours.  Flex time can only be adjusted in the same work week for forty (40) hour non-exempt employees.

Example 1.  Employee A regularly works forty (40) hours per week, eight (8) hours per day, Monday through Friday.  If the employee is asked to work ten (10) hours on Monday, the supervisor may ask the employee to leave two (2) hours early on Friday of that same week so that the total hours that week do not exceed forty (40) hours per week.

Example 2.  Employee B regularly works forty (40) hours per week, eight (8) hours per day, Monday through Friday.  If the employee worked forty-five (45) hours one (1) week, the five (5) excess hours worked cannot be flexed the following week.  In this instance, overtime procedures must be followed.

Procedure for Flex time:

A.  Supervisor or employee requests temporary change in work schedule.

B.  Employee and supervisor agree to the adjustment to be made in the employee's workday or work week in order to accommodate the change.

C.  Record of this adjustment is maintained at the local school/department level on the individual time record.

Overtime Compensation

Non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay of one and one-half (1 1/2) times their regular rate for hours worked in excess of forty (40) in any work week.  Vacation, holidays and leaves do not count as hours worked in the computation of overtime.  Employees must receive supervisor approval prior to scheduling and working overtime.

Breaks/Meal Periods

Supervisors are responsible for administering their department's/school's break and meal periods in a fair and uniform manner and so that ongoing operational responsibilities are not compromised.  When scheduling breaks and meal periods, supervisors must take into account their department's/school's operational requirements and the employee's needs.  Non-exempt employees must obtain authorization from their supervisor to work through a meal period, since working through a meal period can create overtime liability for the District.

Non-exempt employees that work four (4) continuous hours or longer a day receive a paid break not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes during the scheduled work day.  Employees working less than four (4) continuous hours or longer a day may receive a paid break at the supervisor's discretion.  Employees are not permitted to accumulate any unused break periods or use break periods as the basis for starting late or quitting early, unless requested by the employee and approved by the supervisor.

Supervisors shall authorize an unpaid one-half (1/2) hour or longer meal period for their non-exempt employees who work six (6) continuous hours or longer a day.  Non-exempt employees must be paid for any meal period during which the employee is not completely relieved from duty or that is less than thirty (30) minutes.  The time of a break and meal period is at the supervisor's discretion.

DK
PROFESSIONAL / SUPPORT  STAFF
SCHEDULES  AND  CALENDARS

(local)

All professional staff members shall report to their duty stations on time each workday and shall, as scheduled, be available there until the designated time(s) they are scheduled to leave.  The Superintendent may alter or extend the school day for meetings, special events, and activities. 

Professional staff members are expected to be in their respective rooms or work areas as the schedule prescribes so that they may see students, parents, and/or attend to other duties as assigned.  Family members are not allowed in teacher work areas during scheduled duty hours.

In order to ensure the safety of students and the security of school campuses, teachers may be assigned supervisory duty during the teaching day.  These duty assignments shall be considered a regular part of a teacher's duties and shall be fulfilled accordingly.

Teachers will perform duties other than classroom teaching.  Extra duty assignments will be made by the Superintendent.

(legal)