October 15th is the deadline for notifying Specialists of assignment changes. Now is the time to make any last-minute adjustments to schedules. If you are concerned that your schedule doesn't comply with the CBA, please send a copy to our bargaining team rep., Paula Greuling for a CBA check.

No one wants to make waves, but if you are new to teaching, new to the district, or new to your school, you may be vulnerable to being taken advantage of simply because you want to be a team player or don't know what you don't know. The Collective Bargaining Agreement is binding. We can help you get the guaranteed working conditions that will help you and your students. We can also offer advice on how to discuss this with your principal in a professional and non-confrontational manner.

If you have 19 or fewer classes at your school, your FTE has been rounded up to a full time position by the district and you’ll be expected to provide a certain number of 20-minute MTSS (Multi-tiered Systems of Support) sessions.

You can find out what your model-driven FTE(what you've been rounded up from) is by going to MyTime and scrolling down to the bottom.There should be two entries under "account". It sould have your school, certified Teacher/regular pay, and your principal's name, among other things. Scroll all the way to the right to see the hours for each.

Language in section 65D of the Collective Bargaining Agreement states that

The district-approved menu is included here: https://tps10.sharepoint.com/sites/TL/SitePages/MTSS-SEL.aspx :

You should not be asked to provide academic intervention or supervision duty (e.g. lunch/recess) during your MTSS times. If you are being asked to do something which does not fall under the district-approved menu, asked to do more MTSS than you should, are not sure how much your position has been rounded up, would like support talking to your principal/admin, or have any other questions, talk to Maggie Ross.

Equitable Access

Specialists are entitled to $15 per student per trimester for overloaded classes. There is a $300 limit per trimester. Any class with more than the allotted number of students between September 29th and December 2nd will count. You will be asked to fill out a form at the end of the trimester indicating how many students you have taught beyond the lids described in the CBA.

This sort of dynamic record-keeping can be tricky, and seems like something that could be better tracked automatically within the enrollment software, but for now, Specialists are in charge of tracking their own overages. We suggest working together with the other Specialists in your building to be sure that you don't miss any new students and that you all submit for the same number of extra students.

A quick check through classes in TAC will show how many students are in each class. If any of the classes are over the limit, note how many extra students there are.

Depending on how well your office keeps you informed about the comings and goings of students, you should check periodically to see if the numbers have increased. A form will be provided for you to turn in at the end of the trimester.

*In addition to the limits shown above, split classes are capped at 26. If your split includes 3rd grade, the limit might be 22. If you're in this position, or you have splits involving first or second graders, ask Penny.

Are you passionate about improving the culture and attitudes around the role of specialists in education? Join the team! Our work works! But it is work and to represent Specialists effectively, we need team members in PE, Library and Music. Email if you'd like to help.

Help our voice be heard and recorded as part of the public record. Speak to the instructional inequities across the district. Raise awareness of the integral part we play in every child's education.

All elementary librarians are part time at one or more schools. Some elementary schools are given 3.5 days of librarian time, and have 3 different librarians assigned to the one school! This situation is untenable. We need new CBA language to change this, but the district will not do it without coaxing.

Building relationships is so important. Consistency is also important. Librarians are given no time to plan with one another if there is more than one librarian assigned. We need what's best for our students; juggling schedules and splitting one student body to 3 different teacher librarians is not best practice, and detrimental to any routine or normalcy to the library program.

The Advocacy team was born out of frustrations in feeling as if TEA was not representing specialists fairly. For about 3 years, music and PE teachers have been working on various items, and getting better schedules was a priority. They have worked with TEA and the district making their points via hard work, publicity, and tenacity.  Their message of “one educator, one school” was heard and now most PE and Music teachers are assigned to one school.

We have three years to work on changes. Let’s do this!

If you would like more information about the Advocacy Team, feel free to contact me or reach out to anyone on the team. We need a few more librarians to join and have input. The team meets every couple of weeks via Zoom.

Rhonda Steinman

253-632-3007