We were all set to take the Elementary Evening Conference Grievance to arbitration when we decided to ask if the district would be interested in discussing a settlement. They were. We met and were able to reach a settlement. A copy of the settlement is attached and can be found here.
Let's start with things that were not contested:
Each conference period will have one evening designated for evening conferences.
The date and time will be scheduled by mutual agreement between the staff and the site admin (not admin imposed).
Admin must be present for the entire evening conference time.
And what was contested:
Are members required to schedule night conferences
Are members required to be in attendence when they do not have evening conferences scheduled
How is the 6.5 hour day on an evening designated for evening conferences calculated
Can a site schedule more than one evening for conferences
Can a member refuse an evening conference request
The answer to these qustions are:
No.
No.
It's a total sum of hours for all conference days, averaging out to no more than 6.5 hours per day. If I only have 1 hour of evening conference scheduled I can work 5.5 hours during the day for a total of 6.5 hours for that day. If I work longer than 6.5 hours on a single conference day I can work less on a different conference day. For example, on Wednesday I teach 4.5 hours and then I conference for 2 hours right after. I then return for evening conferences that same night for an additional two hours.That's a total of 8.5 hours for Wednesday. On Friday (the last day of conferences) I can leave after teaching my 4.5 hour day. Between Wednesdy and Friday I worked a total of 13 hours, the max for two work days.
Yes. But a teacher only has to attend one evening conference if they have conferences scheduled.
No. If a parent requests an evening conference the teacher will schedule an evening conference if a time slot is available.
