Episode 24: Article 7: Instruction—part 1

Krista and Jeri begin what will most likely be a multiple episode series on the article that governs most of the work we do—instruction! Work day, conferences, and facilities are discussed in this first part of the series. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hello and welcome to REA Union Voices. I'm Krista. And I'm Jerry. And we are the president and vice president of the Richland Education Association. And Jerry's back. So, Jerry, they already got to hear a little bit about my spring break when I made the executive decision to just record on my own after the fiasco of everything. So they know about my twisted ankle and us trying to track down President Larry Delaney at the W-A-R-A, and then him being, I said, kind of maybe a little too busy.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Maybe just a tag.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Chairing the entire uh assembly for a hundred thousand delegates. But how about you? What did you do for your spring break?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

My spring break was good. I got to spend the first like five days with my sister in Utah. And then um I came home Wednesday night and left Thursday for WA Rep Assembly. Yeah. And it was a really good Rep Assembly. And I cannot remember the last time I got done before midnight.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

That was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Yeah. No, it was. It was just it a lot more well organized.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

It was so succinct. Like people. Yeah. Even when people had differing points of view, it was just like, okay, three for, three against, let's vote, let's move on.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yeah. Well, and I had shared too that it was exciting with it being kind of an election year and the historic election of um our president-elect, Jamie White. That was exciting. So that was really kind of exciting. And we got to sit front and center. I mean, we were literally like the first row.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Which, like I said, I was not gonna walk up there. But then once we got up there, we had more leg room, you know. I loved it. I love, yeah, I have to say, yeah, I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

No, I I loved it. I mean, honestly, my chair was maybe a little off-center of the president Larry Delaney's podium up there, but I was like, ooh, look at me. And there was even one time when I must have been making faces like I do, not agreeing with a certain new business item or something. And and I don't know if it was directed at us or just the crowd, but Janie did wink. So I'm like, oh, maybe I shared a moment. Right. She looked at me. She looked at me. Yeah, no, it was, yeah, it was a good rep assembly.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, it was a good spring break. Just not as maybe relaxing as some have been, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

No, it's yeah, getting back to work, especially with these beautiful, I guess it's a little cloudy today, but just kind of sunny and windy.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yeah. A little bipolar weather is what my students said.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Like our weather is bipolar. It is. So we are um getting started with article seven, which is all about instruction. And this article, even though a lot of it pertains to everybody, um whether you are a general education teacher, a special education teacher, or an itinerant, as we learned before, counselors, nurses, school psychs, OTPTs, therapists, speech, the teacher of the blind, the teacher of the deaf, all of those people are itinerant teachers and staff. Um, so there are certain things that do affect them, but really for the most part, a lot of this is about general education teachers because we have an entire article, which is article eight, all about special education. So we'll try to make sure we designate some of that.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Um so yeah. So let's start with the workday, Jerry.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Do you want to tell us a little bit about the workday? Our workday is seven and a half hours, and that includes the 30 minutes before students, um, 30 minutes at the end of the day after students, and then we have a 30-minute duty-free lunch.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah. So, yeah, and you are expected to be on site 30 minutes before and stay for 30 minutes. And one thing that we were really proud to get in bargaining is this new language where it talks about how the designated time of 30 minutes before and after the school day is primarily intended for professional meetings, like staff meetings, IEPs, and 504s, and also contacting and meeting with parents and other and other professional responsibilities. And then it talks about how um teachers can really only be assigned to like one 15-minute AM or PM duty, whether it's bus duty or hallway duty or you know, whatever. Because it used to be that people were assigned daily or they were assigned multiple times a week. And so we were able to free up that time.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Right. So you weren't just like rushing in the door with the kiddos.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah, yeah. Other things that I think I really appreciate in our contract is where it talks about the additional duties beyond the 7.5 work day, maybe requested. Right. That whole may be requested. Yeah, maybe requested. Um and pay it at per diem. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Which is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

So your principal can ask you, you know, hey, I would if people would like to stay after for a training or you know, to stay for a meeting or something, um, you don't have to. You can say no. I need to leave at my designated my contract time. Yeah, in time, like that contract time. That's a good way to say it for a union podcast. Um, but if not, you know, you should ask, do I timesheet my time?

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Because sometimes they're gonna say no. Um doesn't mean the meeting's not gonna happen because sometimes stuff does still happen. And as teachers, we often do things that that we know are best for our students and for everything.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

You know, right.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

But that but it but you always wanna ask if you can timesheet before whatever the event is.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

I agree. Yeah. Um, and then we also have a provision that principals can have one staff meeting a month that can extend for 15 minutes beyond the day, but you still can't be expected to stay there. Right. It does say you are encouraged. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

But you can get up and go if you have, you know, prior commitments or a lot of it is childcare.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

And one area too where I know that sometimes, and you know, for budgetary reasons, sometimes the district doesn't necessarily want to pay for trainings and different things beyond the contracted day. So they will say, Oh, we're gonna be trained for, you know, whatever, the smarter balanced assessment training or some new program, and and they'll call it a mandatory training or a required training and set it to take place outside of the contracted day. That's really where you want to ask to timesheet. And if they say, Oh no, we're not paying for that, then your principal does have an obligation to offer the training at another time when you can be present. So it might mean getting you a substitute or paying you during your planning time.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Or I think we do ours in our staff meeting. I'm doing air quotes.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah, yeah. The staff meeting can be used for that with the extra 15 minutes. And honestly, sometimes they may, if it's really, if it really is a required meeting, they may need to do it during those 30 minutes before and after the student day.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Um, but just because it says required or mandatory doesn't mean you are required to stay past your workday, whether you're being paid or not, because we know you have things that you may have to do. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

And then we have our oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Talk about the that one, the the one about getting to leave early.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Yes. So employees shall be allowed to leave their respective buildings immediately after the departure of students, prior to breaks or weekends, which include a legal holiday, except the last day of school of the school year. Um, on Fridays before a weekend or break with a legal holiday. Elementary teachers may leave at 3.15 and secondary teachers may leave at 2.30.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah, and when we write our, I know when Emily does it and when I do it to write the little reminder like, oh, you can leave early. I've gotten into the habit of just saying you can leave 30 minutes before you're scheduled in time because some of our schools end at 255, some of them end at 3.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Well, yeah, now we're, yeah, exactly. And um I forget about that because we're 255 now.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

And I think River's Edge, I'm not oh no, maybe not. Yeah, and some of the and some there are some schools or ALE programs that are a little Yeah, a little bunky that don't follow that. Or uh an itinerant who might who may start early or zero hour teachers.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

But for the most part, you know.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

30 minutes early, I think, covers it.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Um yeah. And then then we get into planning time, and there is a provision for secondary that talks about how they shouldn't be assigned to more than 300 minutes of classroom instruction and supervision time per day, um, which is important because I think we've had to look at that at different times the way a secondary teacher might be scheduled. But whether you're secondary or elementary, you get 275 minutes of planning.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Which is really good, actually. And when you we look at our contracts across the state.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Yes. When I came from Central Kit Sap, we only had 30 minutes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

That's one thing we've been really proud of in our contracts for quite a while.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Yeah, and I will say that though, even though it still says the 75 minutes for secondary, they don't quite get um, or sorry, 275 minutes because of the social emotional learning schedule and the PLC schedule. So they are getting secondary's getting probably closer to like 265, I think 260, 265.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

That's right in there.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

But that's why in another provision that we'll get to probably in several more several pages episodes, when we talk about PLC time, we were able to bargain language that says there are times when some work of the PLC may be done individually. Um, and that was because we know that the secondary don't get their full 275 minutes. But it is an on average 55 minutes of planning time a day. Um, and then of course, elementary, they have four planning periods of 50 minutes, but then they get a 15-minute planning period attached to lunch, which is a nice it is a nice perk. It is a nice perk.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Yeah, you know, just for what, like a 45-minute lunch.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yeah, or a 45-minute planning. Yes, exactly. Which I think is what most elementary do now. Yeah, you know, but it it you do feel like you actually have time to go to the bathroom, eat your lunch, go make photocopies, check your mail. Yeah, you're not Russian. Secondary, you're still I think Russian. Yes, we're still. But there is one day that you don't have planning. So there is that. Yeah. Um conferences.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Oh yeah. Yeah. So twice a year, spring and fall for elementary. Um, but they do the you talk about that one. I know it's because when I was there, we had all days off.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I mean, we didn't Yeah. Well, yeah, it it is interesting. At the in November, the students don't come at all during that week. And you have the the Monday and Tuesday, and typically elementary in Richland don't come at all on Wednesday because everybody votes for that Wednesday morning to that's right before Thanksgiving, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Since we already have bargained the half day, we only work a half day for Thanksgiving. So most elementary vote to have their trade time on the on the Wednesday morning, which is an excellent perk. But yeah, in November, it's full days on Monday and Tuesday. And one of those days will be a really long day because it will um go into the evening till like 7 or 7:30. Um, and then you get the trade time. And then in the fall, I think kids come on the or in the spring, kids come on the Monday for a half day, and then they go home, or no, not Monday. That would be the Wednesday.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

They come Wednesday, gosh, it's been now four years since I've done it. So Wednesday is a half day, and then the rest of the day, and possibly the evening, are conferences, and then all day Thursday, and then you do conferences for half a day on Friday, and then get your trade time. That's right. You don't you don't get the whole day off, but yeah, and then how about you? Do you want to explain the secondary?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Yeah, so we do ours in the evening. Um, do we just do once? No. Yep. Yeah, we just do once now. So we do ours in the evening. It's like a three-hour block, and high school does it like on a Wednesday night, and then they get their trade time on Friday, and middle school does it on Thursday, and then the following year we switch.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Yeah, and even though the contract does speak to it doing being two times a year in fall and spring, we have an MOU, a memorandum of understanding at the back of our contract that changes that.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

That's what I thought.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah. Yeah, that's why it would that's why you kind of looked at it going, oh, is there a mistake? I know. I'm like, wait a minute, we didn't do it twice.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

But yeah, it is nice. Um it is nice to just get that little trade time.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, oh, it is. I always planned for that. I even plan for it now. I I identify as an elementary teacher, so I always make sure. Yeah, absolutely. I'm gonna take my half day, you know, uh, or my full day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We bargained. Make sure I put in my three and a half hours somewhere in the evening. Yeah, but yeah, no, for sure. Um, yeah, another thing, especially if you are elementary, and it's probably really challenging, I can imagine, for secondary as well, when you only maybe have a five-minute passing period to try to run to the bathroom while kids are coming and going. But with elementary, it used to be for um like the elementary art library, music, and PE teachers, they would sometimes have their schedule so back to back that there was never an opportunity for them to just run right next door to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Yeah, because you had one class coming in as one class was leaving.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

I remember that. Yeah, on a number of occasions before this was bargained, I remember getting to the specialist and they'd be like, Can you just wait like two minutes? Yep. And I'd wait and monitor my class. But yeah, and for any other employees, if you have um a two and a half hour block of time where you are working with students without any sort of a passing time break or any break, then you can um schedule with your principal a time. Um, if you kind of know it's a regular time, you could probably try to get that worked out so that every day at a certain time they come. Or somebody just comes and gives you a call. Or you can just do what I did. It's like, okay, second graders, we're all gonna go take a bathroom break.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Hey, I've thought about that sometimes with my eighth graders. Miss Mario has to go, let's go to the cafeteria.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah, you know, I I don't know if we want to get in too much into the trade time because I it's weird.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Yeah, because we do, but we don't. It's just yeah, it's it's not really something that's utilized a whole lot just because of the way it's written, which I think was the intent.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

I yeah, and I think, you know, yeah, we left it in here because it does talk about employees overseeing a regular scheduled program, which is not compensated by stipend or supplemental contract, about being able to trade that time within, I think it's something like the same week.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Within the same week, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

You know, the only thing I could maybe think of is if, you know, maybe you come 15 minutes early every day because you're letting kids in, or you know, kids are coming to your classroom to check in, or I don't know. They're doing you're you're doing something on a regular basis with students that's causing you to maybe have to come in early or you have to stay late, and then you've talked to your principal about being able to make up that time by maybe leaving early on another day. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

But I yeah, because most of the stuff you do is either stipend or out of the goodness of your heart.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah. And then um kindergarten teachers get their fall day to do their TS Gold reporting. I know it's often asked if they get that more than once a year, and nope, it's not been bargains. Nope. Um, and oh, and Jay, do you want to read Jay?

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Because that's brand new language. Oh, yeah. It says in order to obtain an optimum learning and teaching environment, teachers' schedules and class rosters will be balanced as equitably as possible.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah, so it's not always easy and we don't always understand why.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Um and we always get new kids, which change a lot of things sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

And I think if you're a secondary teacher and you're teaching sp certain core classes that might be more popular, you know, um you might end up with more um multilinguistic learners or students with a 504 or uh.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, because everybody has to take the core classes. So there's not always enough room to split them all up.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

And then we thought we would go as far as workload, but I'm thinking that maybe we can quickly talk about facilities, and then that might be enough. Oh, yeah, for today. For today. Yeah. So yeah, we have a whole section just about facilities. It talks about like the different things that you should have. Do you want to list those, Jerry? Parking lot?

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Yeah, yeah. Well, first you have a building. No, it's the district shall provide the following in each building: parking lot, access badges and keys, telephone in each room, and um a lockable storage.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

And I know this has been a lot more challenging with some of our itinerants who may be working in multiple buildings or are sharing spaces, but I'm hopeful and I do believe that the district has done a better job of making sure that they're at least in the primary location, everybody has access. But if you don't, then you know, talk to the building principal in that building, or you can contact us.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Um and we can follow up.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yeah. And then um, you know, basically we it it just talks about how we have an office with the appropriate stuff that you need to be able to do your job or a classroom with a desk, computer, computer printer desk, a desk chair, office supplies, locking storage.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Um and then the whatever materials, instructional materials you need.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Yeah. And now one thing though that is in our contract, but I honestly am not sure that this is in alignment with state law, because I think the law would say that um if you have a student with an IEP or a 504 plan, that uh isn't it supposed to be before they get there? I think it's supposed to be before they get there. Our contract speaks to five days within placement. You should have the things you need. But essentially, our very hardworking special education staff and itinerants I think are are trying to get this information out for a lot of students. Um maybe with elevation, they'll at least maybe have it there on the computer to look up.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Maybe that'll be helpful. Yeah, and then the the biggest thing too is that you're supposed to have a safe, clean, healthful um environment. You know, you can always report instances to L and I if you think that it's not safe, clean, and healthful. That one's been hard to manage. I know we've had complaints of certain things. Right. And when I've reached out to the operations director, he was able to provide where let's say there was maybe like a possibility of mold, able to provide, like, oh, this is where we, you know, we kind of did the testing, or these are the steps that we've taken, or if somebody saw a mouse in a school, it's like, oh no, we've come in, we've done this, this, this, and this. So I found it difficult as the REA president to find situations where the district really is um not doing what they're doing what they're required to do, and there there is a minimal requirement, you know, and sometimes they have gone above and beyond and and really helped out in situations, and other times they just do what they're supposed to do and let's call it good.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Yeah, move on to the next. And because it's expensive. There's yeah, right, there's an expense associated with all of those kinds of things.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Right. And we're dealing with lack of funds. You know, funding is an issue. Some older buildings. We have really old buildings. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, we want and and I don't think that anybody at the district office wants unsafe. I mean, no, nobody wants that. Um, it's just it's a hard one because when you are a person with allergies and you're suffering or something is getting to you and you can't figure it out. But I think we have had in a few instances this year where the district has come in and done some really deep cleaning and trying to vacuum out vents and checking and replacing air filters where people's um symptoms have improved. So that's that's good.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yeah, so I think that's oh and we get a lounge.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Oh yes, you should have an employee lounge and you should be re should be provided with all of the required materials needed to teach RSD adopted curriculum. And I think that I think we just bargained that this year finally.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Yeah. Um well, yeah, because especially like with science kits and with new um like the CKLA different things, wasn't there there was a lot of stuff that needed to go with that. Yeah. That people were saying, well, is it really necessary?

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah, and the teachers said, Well, yes, it is, it's right here in my curriculum. Required. But it is important to note it's RSD adopted curriculum. If you have some cool activity or thing that you do.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Yeah, you can be like, hey, hey, I need this. 12 bags of cotton balls.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

So I think that I think we've done it. I mean, we this is an important. Yeah, let's stop this. You know, we really went in depth on this, and and next week we'll get into workload. Workload. All right. So, Jerry, what do we say?

SPEAKER_00 23:30

In unions, there is strength. Oh, in union there is strength.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Why are you so strength?