-A G R E E
M E N T -
BETWEEN THE
GREATER
TEACHERS ORGANIZATION
AND THE
GREATER
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREAMBLE
ARTICLE I RECOGNITION
CLAUSE 1
ARTICLE II GRIEVANCE
PROCEDURE 1-3
ARTICLE III TEACHER
EMPLOYMENT 3-4
ARTICLE IV WORK
YEAR AND WORK LOAD 5-8
ARTICLE V NONTEACHING
DUTIES 8-9
ARTICLE VI LEAVES
OF ABSENCE WITH PAY 9-11
ARTICLE VII LEAVES
OF ABSENCE WITHOUT PAY 11-12
ARTICLE VIII SABBATICAL LEAVE 12-13
ARTICLE IX ASSIGNMENTS
AND TRANSFERS 13
ARTICLE X VACANCIES
AND PROMOTIONS 13
ARTICLE XI PROTECTION
AND INDEMNIFICATION 14
ARTICLE XII TEACHER
EVALUATION 14-15
ARTICLE XIII PERSONNEL RECORDS 15-16
ARTICLE XIV PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT 16
ARTICLE XV ACADEMIC
FREEDOM 17
ARTICLE XVI ORGANIZATION
RIGHTS 17-18
ARTICLE XVII PAYROLL DEDUCTION 18
ARTICLE XVIII INSURANCE 18-19
ARTICLE XIX SCOPE 19
ARTICLE XX TEACHER
LAYOFF 20-23
ARTICLE XXI LONGEVITY 23
APPENDIX A TEACHERS'
SALARIES 24
APPENDIX B EXTRACURRICULAR
SALARIES AND POSITIONS 25
APPENDIX C COACHES'
SALARIES AND POSITIONS 26
APPENDIX D PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES 27-29
APPENDIX E NURSES’
SALARIES 30
APPENDIX F PRE-SCHOOL
TEACHERS’ SALARIES 31
DURATION 32
PREAMBLE
This Agreement is made and entered into as
of the 10th day of June, by and between the School Committee of Greater Lowell Regional
Vocational Technical School District’s School Committee (hereinafter referred
to as the Committee) and the Greater Lowell Regional Teachers
Organization/Massachusetts Teachers Association (hereinafter referred to as the
Organization).
Recognizing that our prime purpose is to
provide education of the highest possible quality for the children of Greater
Lowell and that good morale within the professional staff of Greater Lowell is
essential to the Achievement of that purpose, the parties to this Agreement
pledge Themselves to adhere to the following principles and procedures:
ARTICLE I
RECOGNITION
CLAUSE
For the purposes of collective bargaining,
with respect to wages, hours, standards of productivity and performance, and
any other terms and conditions of employment, the Committee recognizes the
Greater Lowell Regional Teachers Organization as the exclusive representative
of all employees of the Committee as such employees are defined in Chapter 150
E, Section #1, of the General Laws of the Commonwealth and listed below:
A. Classroom teachers, occupational
instructors, teaching nurses, guidance counselors, school adjustment
counselors, speech therapists, coaches, Admissions Administrator,
extracurricular advisors, Admissions Administrators and Vocational Monitors,
Athletic Director, nurses, psychologists, pre-school teachers; but excluding
the Superintendent-Director, Directors, Assistant to the Superintendent,
Cluster Chairpersons and all other personnel who are responsible for the
supervision and evaluation of teachers.
B. Members of the Bargaining Unit shall
throughout this Agreement be referred to as teachers.
ARTICLE II
GRIEVANCE
PROCEDURE
A. Definition:
A grievance is defined as a
claim by any teacher, group of teachers, or the Organization that there has
been a misinterpretation, inequitable application or violation of any provision
of this Agreement or a claim by any teacher, group of teachers or the
Organization that there has been a violation, misinterpretation or inequitable
application of Committee policies or practices or an expression of
dissatisfaction by any teacher, group of teachers, or the Organization with any
aspect of a teacher's employment or working conditions.
B. Time Limits:
The time limits specified in
this Article shall mean calendar days. Time
limits indicated hereunder are maximums unless extended by mutual
agreement. All such agreements to
extensions must be in writing.
C. General Provisions:
1) The Organization shall be present and have the right to
participate
in the processing of
any grievance at any level and to use
representation of its own choosing.
2) The Committee shall cooperate with the Organization in
making
available all such
records which have a bearing on a grievance, or
on its processing. All documents, communications and records
dealing with the processing of a grievance shall be filed separately from
regular personnel files.
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3) No grievance in process during the term of this Agreement
shall
lapse because of the
expiration or termination of this Agreement
and the grievance
shall be handled as if this Agreement were still in
effect.
4) Failure at any Grievance Level to meet or to communicate the
decision within the
specified time limits to the grievant(s) and the
Organization President shall
permit the grievant(s) or the Organization President to proceed directly to
Level Five - Arbitration.
5) Either party to this Agreement shall be
permitted to call employee
witnesses at each
level of the grievance and arbitration procedure.
6) If a grievance involves more than one
individual, the Organization
may initiate said
grievance if agreed to by the Administration at
whatever level the Organization deems appropriate
but not beyond Level Three.
Level One -
"A teacher with a
grievance shall present it to his/her immediate supervisor who shall respond to
said grievance in writing within seven (7) days."
"If the teacher fails to
present his/her grievance to his/her immediate supervisor within forty-five
(45) days after the teacher knew or should have known of the act or condition
on which the grievance is based, then the grievance will be considered as
waived."
Level Two -
"If the grievance has not
been resolved to the satisfaction of the grievant(s) and the Organization, the
grievant(s) or the Organization may within seven (7) days present it in writing
to the Director of Technical Studies or Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Within seven (7) days after receiving a
grievance, the Director of Technical Studies/or The Director of Curriculum and
Instruction shall conduct an investigation and shall, if necessary, meet with
the Organization and the grievant(s).
The Director of Technical Studies/or the-Director of Curriculum and
Instruction shall respond to said grievance within seven (7) business days after
presentation."
Level Three -
"If the grievance has not
been resolved to the satisfaction of the grievant(s) and the Organization, the
grievant or the Organization may within seven (7) days present it in writing to
the Superintendent-Director or his designee (which designee shall not be the
same person who heard the grievance at Level Two). Within seven (7) days after receiving a
grievance, the Superintendent-Director or his designee shall conduct an
investigation and shall, if necessary, meet with the Organization and the
grievant. The Superintendent-Director or
his designee shall respond to said grievance within seven (7) business days
after presentation."
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Level Four -
"If the grievance is not
resolved to the satisfaction of the grievant(s) and the Organization, the
grievant or the Organization may within five (5) days, submit the grievance in
writing to the Committee. Within ten
(l0) days after the receipt of a grievance, the Committee or, at its discretion,
a personnel sub-committee, shall meet with the
grievant(s) and representatives of the Organization for the purpose of hearing
the arguments of the parties involved.
Within fifteen (l5) days after said presentation of the grievance, the
Committee, or its personnel subcommittee, shall respond in writing to said
grievance."
Level Five -
"If the grievance is not
resolved to the satisfaction of the Organization, the Organization may within
sixty (60) days submit the grievance to arbitration in accordance with the then
applicable 'Voluntary Labor Rules' of the AMERICAN ARBITRATION
ASSOCIATION. The arbitrator shall render
his/her decision to the parties within thirty (30) days of the close of
hearings. Briefs, if any, shall be
submitted within said thirty (30) days period at such time as shall be
designated by the arbitrator."
The arbitrator's decision shall
be final and binding on
both the Committee and the Organization provided that said decision is not in
conflict with the terms of the Agreement or State Statute.
The cost of the arbitration
shall be borne equally by the Committee and the Organization.
ARTICLE
III
TEACHER
EMPLOYMENT
The Greater
We believe that students of all abilities
are entitled to pursue educational and career opportunities through a quality
technical education.
The district feels strongly that curriculum
and professional development should be encouraged that will enable the
instructional staff to implement a variety of instructional strategies and
assessments practices that correlate with student ability, levels, and learning
styles. These activities should also
address the standards reflected in the Common Core of Learning and the
A. The
Committee will employ only those teachers who hold standard
certificates issued by the Department of
Education. Teachers employed
under
under that provision.
B. Teachers shall be placed on the salary
schedule in accordance with their teaching experience and training level.
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C. Teachers
with previous teaching experience shall receive full credit on the salary
schedule for all prior teaching experience in educational institutions for
which they held State certification.
D. Teachers
shall receive a notice in writing annually which states their placement on the
salary schedule and their course assignments for the next school year. These notices shall be provided no later than
July 1.
E. A
Teacher shall demonstrate a commitment to the philosophy and goals adopted by
the School Committee and staff.
F. A
teacher may develop and will implement instructional materials in his/her
specialized area that include learning activities that are aligned with
departmental technical competencies, the Common Core Learning and the learning
standards of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
G. A
teacher shall include a variety of instructional materials, strategies and
assessment practices that incorporate the latest technology and instructional
resources into his/her curriculum.
H. A
teacher shall participate as a member of a curriculum team and works
cooperatively in establishing higher learning standards for students.
I. A
teacher shall be willing and able to function as a key link in a career
information system for students, a part of which is the career exploratory
program.
J. A
teacher shall be willing to work and teach creatively with a diverse and
representative group of high school students.
K. A
teacher shall be highly qualified in his/her own subject field and have an
ability to communicate with the adolescent age group.
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ARTICLE IV
WORK YEAR
AND WORK LOAD
A. Length of Work Year
l. Effective the 2003-2004 school year, the teacher
work year shall consist of no more than 182 days. The per diem rate of pay will be 1/182. Checkout procedures shall not be changed
except by mutual
agreement.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of
Paragraph 1 of Section A of this
Article,
guidance counselors and SPED scheduling specialists shall be
required to work four (4) days prior to the first day
for teachers, and three (3) days after the last
day for teachers and shall be compensated at their per diem rate for any days
so required.
3. LPN instructors shall be required to
work 194 days effective
2000-2001
school year and 195 effective the 2001-2002 school
year.
The
instructors shall be compensated at their per diem rate for any
days worked beyond 183 in 2000-2001, and beyond
184 days thereafter.
B. Length of Work Day
The teacher work day shall begin
no more than 10 minutes before the scheduled day for students and shall extend
for no more than 7 minutes after the scheduled day for students. During the 10 minutes before the student day,
Home Room teachers may be required to be present in their Home Rooms and
teachers who do not have a Home Room assignment may, if necessary, be assigned
a duty. Teachers may be required to be
present in their classrooms 5 minutes before the beginning of their first
period. The scheduled day for students
shall be no longer than six (6) hours and 30 minutes of consecutive clock time.
C. Duty-Free Lunch
Each teacher shall have a
duty-free lunch period of not less then 25
consecutive minutes each day. Every effort will be made to schedule this
lunch period so as to begin no earlier then
than
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D. Work Load
The work load of Greater
scope and sequences which can be construed to
mean no more than three
distinctly different subject preparations.
Teachers may be assigned
"mixed classes" (ie., classes containing more
than one level of students at the same time);
however, no teacher shall be
required to teach more than one "mixed
class" per day. A "mixed
class"
of two levels shall be considered as one
scope and sequence and a mixed
class of three levels shall be considered as two
scope and sequences.
No academic "mixed
class" shall consist of students taking more than one course sequence (for
example: Chemistry I and Chemistry II is
a permissible mixed class;
For purposes of this section,
Information Processing/Business shall be considered
as academic and Early Childhood Education, Health Assistant,
and Medical Assistant, Family and Consumer
Sciences shall not be
considered academic.
The foregoing limitation of
this section shall not apply to Special Needs and
other quasi-tutorial teachers.
Workloads/Class Size
D1. All workloads shall be distributed equitably.
D2. Class sizes shall be equitably distributed.
D3. All
class sizes shall be such that safety is ensured at all times. No class
shall have more
students than student stations.
D4. State
Department of Education recommendations on class size shall be
adhered to and the Committee shall direct its
agents to make every effort
to generally reduce
class sizes where applicable.
D5. The Superintendent-Director and the
President of the Organization agree to review class schedules, the assignment
of scope and sequences and workload distribution prior to the opening of the
school year.
E. Preparation
1. Each teacher shall have one period as preparation time
daily. Prep time is defined as the
equivalent of one full teaching period.
2. Any teacher who is going to be assigned to teach a new
course during the following school year shall be so notified no later than June
1st or three (3) months prior to the beginning of the school year, whichever is
sooner.
3. Preparation time is defined as a period
of time set aside each day
for teachers to grade
previous lessons and to prepare for the
following day's
lesson. However, this time is not for
the purpose of
developing
curriculum.
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F. Teacher Substitution
Teachers will not be expected
to cover classes for other teachers who are
absent unless an emergency exists which makes it
impossible to obtain a
substitute.
However, in an emergency teachers may be
assigned
additional students within the same department up to
a maximum class
size of 15 without qualifying for compensatory
time. This assignment may
be made, the provision of the Scope and
Sequence language (Article IV,
Section D),
notwithstanding. Cluster Chairpersons
will keep a record of
class coverage where the number of students
exceeds 15 and ensure that
teachers who qualify receive appropriate
compensatory time during the
year. In
the case of field trips or other educational activities which
necessitate temporary coverage, the Cluster
Chairpersons shall ensure
that all teachers receive the appropriate
compensatory time or lightening
of their duties. Teachers who, as a result of senior
dismissal, student
activities, or field trips have their regular class
assignments cancelled for
a portion or all of a day, will report to
their Cluster Chairperson for a
special class assignment, curriculum work, or
appropriate cluster duties.
G. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of
Section B of this article, teachers
may be required to
remain after school for not more than two (2)
staff meetings per
month, of not more than one (1) hour each. These
meetings shall begin
immediately after student dismissal.
Teachers
shall be notified no
less than three (3) work days, except in
an
emergency situation
in advance of any professional staff meeting.
Also,
teachers may be required to attend two (2) Open Houses each
year to take place on
a school night, provided that there shall be no
required staff meeting that month.
2. Services required of any teacher on a
day in addition to the 182
workdays provided in
this Article should be compensated at the rate
of 1/182 of his/her
salary for each day or fraction thereof on which
services are
rendered. In-service training and the
summer
workshop are not to
be construed as required services under this
Article. If the extra service required is not a service
which should
have properly been
done during the 182 duty days as defined under
this Article, this extra service shall be
voluntary in nature.
3. Release days may take place during the
school year. They will be at
such a time when
students will be dismissed early. The
teachers
will stay the normal
work day as opposed to the contractual
agreement of leaving
ten minutes after the students and these
release days can be
in the form of committee meetings,
presentations by
administration or guest speakers.
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H. No
academic teacher shall be assigned to a schedule which contains more
than 4 hours continuous time on duty on any
day. Shop and related
teachers who are assigned more than 4 hours
continuous time on duty on
any day shall be entitled to a 10 minute duty
free break each day.
I. Close
of School
1. Grading Procedures:
a. Teachers will be provided with grading
sheets for all of their
students by the l75th
student day.
b. Completed
grading sheets for students whom the teacher is
not scheduled to have
in class again shall be returned to the
Cluster
Chairperson by the end of school on the l78th student
day.
c. Completed grading sheets for the
remaining students shall be
due to the Cluster
Chairperson by the end of the last student
day.
2. Not withstanding the provisions of
Article VI, Sections 5E and G, no
teacher shall use
compensatory time, personal or professional leave
days in the last two
teacher workdays except in an emergency.
ARTICLE V
NONTEACHING
DUTIES
A. The Committee and the Organization
recognize that a teacher's primary
responsibility is to teach and that his/her energies
should, to the extent
possible, be utilized to this end. It is
further acknowledged by the
Organization that the position of teacher entails functions and
responsibilities beyond that of the classroom. It is further recognized that
the maintenance of good discipline and the creation of a good learning
and campus environment is a responsibility of teacher, administrator and
the School Committee. The
Organization acknowledges the
responsibilities of the faculty to continue those duties
they now perform
outside of the classroom.
B. Teachers
will not be required to perform the following duties:
1. Health services such as administering
eye and ear examinations
and weighing and
measuring pupils. Any exception to this
would
be, for example, when
the weighing and measuring of pupils is a
fundamental part of
classroom activity such as in a physical fitness
program in physical
education.
2. Collecting money from students.
3. Handling clerical aspects or except for
required input sheets.
4. Keeping cumulative record cards.
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C. Teachers
may be required to perform only the following duties and only
during the scheduled work day.
l. Homeroom duty.
2. Corridor/Mall duty.
3. Cafeteria duty.
4. Outside duty.
5. Bus duty.
6. Registration Desk.
Non-teaching duties shall be
assigned equitably among all teachers to the extent
possible.
No teacher shall be assigned
two duties until every teacher has been assigned
a first duty.
D. Teachers
assigned to duties shall be guaranteed their preparation and
lunch time daily except for emergencies that
affect the health and safety of
students.
E. Teachers
may consent to but will not be required to drive students to or
from activities that are related to students'
programs.
ARTICLE VI
LEAVES OF
ABSENCE WITH PAY
A. Sick Leave
A teacher shall be entitled to
(15) days sick leave per year as of the first
school day of said school year. Unused sick leave will accumulate from
year to year without limitation. Each teacher shall receive no later than
October 1 of each school year,
a written notice which sets forth the
amount of sick leave he/she has accumulated to
that date. If the
Superintendent-Director has
sufficient reason to believe that a teacher has
misused sick leave then he may investigate the
possible misuse and
require verification of the illness. In the event that a teacher retires on a date
ealier than the end of the school year, said teacher
will retain fifteen (15) days per Section A of Article VI.
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B. Sick Leave Bank
l. Effective
annual voluntary
donation of one (1) day of the fifteen (15) days of
sick leave by all teachers who wish to join. Teachers will be eligible
to join only during
the month of September each year except for
teachers new to the
system who are hired mid-year who shall be
given one month in
which to join. The bank shall be
maintained at
no less than one
thousand (1000) days.
2. The sick leave bank shall be
administered by a Sick Leave Bank
Committee consisting of five (5) members.
Three (3) members shall
be designated by the
Committee and two (2) members shall be
designated by the
Organization. All decisions must be by
majority
vote (ie., 3 votes). The
Sick Leave Bank Committee shall determine
the eligibility for
the use of the bank and the amount of leave to be
granted.
3. The decision of the Sick Leave Bank
Committee with respect to
eligibility and
entitlement shall be final and not subject to appeal.
4. Unused days in the Sick Leave Bank
shall accumulate from year to
year and from
contract to contract.
C. Childbearing Leave/Adoptive Parent Bonding Time
Disabilities caused or
contributed to by pregnancy, or termination thereof
and recovery therefrom shall be treated as a
"disability."
"Disability" shall
be interpreted as being within the meaning of
the term sick. Fathers are entitled to a
paid parental leave of up to eight consecutive weeks, to be utilized during the
first year after the birth of their child.
Parental Leave days shall be deducted from accumulated sick leave. Staff teachers who adopt children are
entitled to a paid leave, beginning on the day of adoption, of up to eight
weeks. Days shall be deducted from
accumulated sick leave. Special
consideration will be given by the Superintendent-Director if circumstances
require an absence prior to the adoption.
D. Funeral Leave
Teachers will be granted up to
three (3) days at any one (1) time in the
event of death requiring attention by the
teacher of a teacher's spouse,
child, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, parent,
father-in-law, mother-in-law,
sibling, brother-in-law, sister-in-law,
grandfather, grandmother, grandchild, aunt, uncle or other member of the
immediate household. In extenuating
circumstances the Superintendent-Director may grant
other or longer
funeral leave.