3.04 Work Day
A. Lunch Period
Members shall have an uninterrupted, duty-free lunch period of at least thirty (30) minutes during each school day.
B. Elementary – Secondary – Counselors
The work day for elementary school teachers shall not exceed 435 minutes.
The work day for secondary school teachers shall not exceed 450 minutes.
The work day for counselors shall not exceed 480 minutes.
C. Continuity of Instruction
The superintendent shall attempt to arrange the work schedule of custodians and maintenance personnel to avoid the interruption of instruction.
In the case of construction work scheduled during the school day, the Superintendent shall attempt to arrange such construction work to be done in a manner as to avoid undue interruption of instruction, but not so as to impose undue costs. The parties acknowledge that with the OSFC construction process, unavoidable interruptions will occur.
3.05 Member Work Load
Service related to or sponsored by the employer, other than the days established in the school calendar or in addition to the minutes per day established by this Agreement, shall be voluntary and not a part of the member’s work load.
Members shall not be required to supervise or be responsible for supervision of non-instructional programs which the Board may add to the school day without prior consultation between the Superintendent and the AEA.
Elementary art, music, and physical education instructors who are assigned more than twenty-eight (28) periods per week shall not be assigned duty responsibilities.
Members assigned to an elementary school (p.m.) and secondary school (a.m.) shall report to school twenty (20) minutes prior to their first instructional period, and the member shall not be assigned a homeroom or duty. In no case shall such member’s work day exceed 450 minutes.
The Board shall, wherever possible, initiate and/or continue state, national, or locally funded programs to provide educational assistants for the performance of non-teaching administrative, clerical and/or supervisory tasks.
Whenever possible members shall not be required to perform record keeping or other clerical duties pertaining to the lunch program. This shall include the collection and accounting of the lunch monies and/or tickets.
Members shall not be required to perform custodial duties.
Members’ work loads shall be within the limits established by the State Department of Education.
In addition:
A. Attendance in study halls shall not exceed one hundred (100) pupils per supervisor.
B. Secondary teachers in English, social studies, science and mathematics shall be assigned not more than six (6) classes per day with an optimum of two (2) preparations and a maximum of three (3) preparations.
C. Members shall not be required to remain in the classroom when a teacher certificated to teach in a special area such as music, art, industrial arts, physical education, home economics, and/or foreign language is in charge. Substitutes shall be provided in the absence of any certificated teacher in any subject area unless the substitute list is exhausted.
D. The daily work load for a secondary teacher in the Akron Public Schools is six (6) regular class periods, one (1) period of special duty (study hall), one (1) conference period, and a homeroom assignment.
E. Secondary class size shall be within the limits established by the North Central Association, and as funds become available, the Superintendent shall reduce class sizes.
F. The maximum size for all special education classes shall conform to federal and state regulations and/or specifications.
G. In library periods where the average daily attendance exceeds fifty (50), an additional staff member or an educational assistant will be on duty.
H. Each secondary teacher shall, in addition to his/her lunch period, have not less than five (5) planning periods per week.
I. Any member in grades 1-5 shall be provided with at least 180 unassigned minutes per week break in pupil contact time. Members shall have the time provided within the school day, with blocks of time of not less than 15 minutes each. In addition, each member shall have a 30-minute duty-free lunch.
J. Members who are assigned to more than one (1) building each day shall not be assigned a homeroom or duty.
K. Special education students shall be provided the same amount of art, music and physical education taught by a special subject teacher, as non-disabled students. The instructional time may be provided to the entire class or special education students may be included in general education classes, whichever is the least restrictive environment.
L. Members shall not be required to perform evening surveillance duty.
M. Members shall not be assigned restroom supervision as a regular duty period.
N. Forms
The Board is committed to reducing the amount of paperwork required of teachers, and to that end, all forms, developed and distributed on a district-wide basis, which are used to report or record student progress or achievement, shall be reviewed by the Association
in accordance with Section 7.04 of this Agreement. Any new or revised form intended for district-wide distribution shall include a statement of necessity which explains the need for the form. Members shall not be required to complete forms subject to this section, until the Association has been provided an opportunity to review the form(s).
Resolution of any dispute over the necessity of a form shall be resolved through mediation, which, in this instance, shall be final and binding. The parties agree that any disputed form shall not be distributed until the mediator’s decision or other resolution by the parties. This provision shall not apply to forms which are developed to obtain data required by any governmental entity.
In addition, the parties agree to establish a paperwork reduction review process. The parties shall mutually appoint an equal number of members to a committee which shall meet annually and make recommendations to the Superintendent for the reduction of paperwork.
O. Standardized Testing Assistance
The Board will annually provide financial assistance to the buildings for the preparation and administration of the standardized testing program as follows:
1. Secondary Schools (Middle and High School) will receive funding based upon the number of students enrolled as follows:
1 – 700 Students Secondary Schools will receive one thousand ($1,000) dollars per year;
700+ Students Secondary Schools will receive twelve hundred ($1,200) dollars per year.
2. Elementary Schools will receive funding based upon the number of regular education classrooms:
1-10 Seven Hundred Dollars ($700) per year;
11-15 Eight Hundred Twenty Dollars ($820) per year;
16-25 One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) per year;
26 + Twelve Hundred Dollars ($1,200) per year.
The funding is earmarked for the provision of support in the preparation and administration of standardized testing.
P. Submission of Grades
Members assigned to elementary and middle schools shall submit student grades to the appropriate office within one week after the close of the grading period.
Members assigned to high schools shall submit grades to the appropriate office by the close of school on the third workday following the close of the grading period.
Q. Eight Period Day
The eight (8) period day shall be the standard schedule in high schools of the Akron Public Schools. The eight (8) period day in secondary schools shall be defined as eight (8) class periods, each of which shall be fifty (50) minutes in length.
In schools where the eight period day is in effect, the daily work load for secondary teachers is five (5) regular classes, one (1) period of special duty, one (1) conference period and one (1) lunch period. Additionally, teachers in English, social studies, science and mathematics shall be assigned an optimum of two (2) preparations and a maximum of three (3) preparations.
Assignments of any sixth (6th) regular class in lieu of a duty shall be voluntary and shall be offered on the basis of seniority.
The duration of pupil entry and exit, traditionally 8:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., shall not exceed four hundred thirty-five (435) minutes for the purpose of building supervision responsibilities.
References in the Master Agreement based on the nine (9) period day for purpose of workload or compensation shall be adjusted proportionately.
R. Reconstituting Schools
If during the term of this agreement, the Board is required to reconstitute a school or schools in order to comply with Ohio’s requirements under the federal No Child Left
Behind legislation, the Board shall request negotiations on the subject in accordance with section 13.07 herein.
The parties shall negotiate procedures for reconstituting a building, including all matters that affect members’ wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment.
All provisions of Article XIII shall apply to the negotiations herein, except that the fact finder’s recommendation shall be binding on the parties. No agreement reached may cause the Board to be non-compliant with No Child Left Behind legislation.
S. School Improvement Plans
In accordance with Ohio law and/or State Department of Education regulations, each building shall have a School Improvement Plan (SIP) team. It is the responsibility of the SIP team to recommend instructional intervention strategies to be implemented by the staff to improve student performance. Based upon the results of student assessments, these strategies should be developed by the SIP team representatives and the members in the grade level or department they represent.
1. Membership
Membership on the SIP team is voluntary. In elementary schools, the team shall consist of the principal and typically one member from each grade level. In the secondary schools, the team shall consist of the principal, an assistant principal, a counselor and a maximum of six teachers.
2. Testing and Assessment
At present, the following district-wide testing and assessment categories are required to be monitored in the School Improvement Plan to determine student achievement progress:
Writing Diagnostics, Grades 1-5
Harcourt Reading and Math Assessments, K-5
DIBELS
Ohio Academic Achievement Tests, Grades 3-8
Nine-week short cycle assessments
Ohio Graduation Test
Student grades
In addition, district approved supplemental reading and math assessments are used at the building level to measure progress in the SIP team’s recommended interventions during the school year.
3. Data and Forms
The Board recognizes the importance of maximizing instructional time and minimizing time spent on clerical tasks relating to the collection and analysis of data. The Board agrees that forms used to record building assessment data shall be standardized, and that such forms shall be available for SIP team use by the 2007-2008 school year. The Board further agrees, to the maximum extent possible, to provide equipment capable of electronically scoring assessments and provide reports of student performance in a disaggregated format necessary to the work of the SIP team. District approved supplemental reading and math assessments shall have a standardized reporting format, however electronic scoring of Grade K-3 and supplemental reading and math assessments is limited.
4. Meetings
A minimum of two (2) full days per school year shall be provided to each SIP team for the purpose of analyzing student data, making conclusions about the data and adjusting the SIP plan during the school year. These meetings will be held at the Ott Staff Development Center. The Board shall approve, at the request of a SIP team, the equivalent of a maximum of an additional two (2) days per school year for the SIP team business which can be held at the Ott Staff Development Center or the building and shall be funded by the building. A maximum of six subs each of the above days shall be provided by the Board. A minimum of one-half (.5) day shall be provided to the buildings so that the SIP team can communicate the analysis of the student performance data and the recommended interventions as identified in the SIP plan to the building staff and work with the staff toward implementation of the plan. This process shall take place during district waiver days and in the SIP team’s school.
3.06 School Calendar
The Board shall adopt its school calendar two years in advance. The calendar shall designate 1) work days with students; 2) work days without students; 3) paid holidays; 4) non-paid holidays; 5) Parent-Teacher Conference days, and 6) optional in-service days, if applicable.
The School Calendar Committee represents all bargaining units recognized by the Board. The School Calendar Committee shall be composed of one (1) representative for each 500 persons or fraction thereof represented by AEA; National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, Local 100 (Maintenance, Building, Grounds, Warehouse and Transportation Employees); Akron Association of Classified Personnel, Ohio Education Association; OAPSE Local 689; National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, Local 100 (Child Nutrition Service Employees); and OAPSE Local 778.
Two (2) choices for the distribution of School Calendar days to be negotiated annually by the School Calendar Committee and the Superintendent shall be placed on a referendum ballot.
The School Calendar adopted by the Board shall be determined by a referendum of all personnel who shall vote on the two (2) choices negotiated by the School Calendar Committee (the composition of which has been defined heretofore) and the Superintendent. The complete results of this balloting shall be posted in each building.
3.07 Non-Degreed Teachers
Non-degreed persons hired to teach vocational programs must work with an approved university vocational teacher education program to obtain a standard four-year vocational certificate to be eligible for continuous employment.
3.08 Pupil-Teacher Ratio (Student Loads)
For grade 5 on a system wide basis, the pupil-teacher ratio shall not exceed 26 to 1, or the state minimum standards, whichever is lower.
The pupil-teacher ratio for each building shall be determined annually after the first 25 student days and shall be reported to the Board at its next regular meeting.
For the purpose of computing the pupil-teacher ratio, the Superintendent, executive assistants, specially certified teachers of art, music and physical education in the elementary schools, learning specialists, supplementary personnel assigned to teaching programs under special funding such as ESEA and DPPF, principals, assistant principals, counselors, educational assistants, office support personnel, clerks and all others, certificated or otherwise, who are not assigned responsibility for instruction in the regular school curriculum, shall not be included as a teacher. Enrollments in Kindergarten shall be computed at one-half (1/2) when the Kindergarten teacher is assigned all day in one (1) building excepting those buildings where All-Day Kindergarten program is in effect.
Special education students, included in the regular classroom, shall be counted in class size computations for the purpose of assigning new enrollees to a class. Special education students who are included into a general education class for up to one-half (1/2) day shall be considered as one-half (.5). Students who are included greater than one-half (1/2) shall be considered as one (1.0).
After the first 25 student days, the pupil-teacher ratio in grades 1 through 6 shall be determined by dividing the number of pupils in attendance by the number of classroom teachers.
In grades 7 through 12 in the academic disciplines, the pupil-teacher ratio for each teacher is to be determined by dividing the number of teaching periods into the total number of students instructed.
The daily student load for each secondary school teacher (grades 7 through 12 inclusive) shall not exceed the limits established by the North Central Association guidelines for grades 9-12 (presently 170). As funds become available, the Superintendent shall reduce student loads.
The Board and the Association agree that the pupil-teacher ratio of 26 to 1, for grade 5 on a system wide basis, shall remain in force for the length of the Agreement.