Article IX -- Duties and Activities
1. The school year shall not exceed one hundred ninety (190) days. Any orientaiton
and in-service days are to be included within these one hundred ninety (190) days.
2. Except in emergency situations, the school day shall not exdeed seven (7) hours.
Every teacher shall be present from the start of the school day until the end of the teacher's school day.
Consideration should be given in time allocated for meetings after school in
relation to Middle States, changes in scheduling and restructuring/merger.
2a. Teachers must be available for consultation with parents and/or pupils on a
reasonable basis outside of class hours, but within the school day.
When a parent or pupil requests a meeting with a teacher, the teacher must make
himself/ herself available to meet with the parent or pupil within four (4) school
days of the request. When a parent communicates with a teacher who is not
immediately available, the teacher shall make every effort to return the parent's
communication within two (2) school days of receipt of the parent's communication.
3. On days when school is not held to allow attendance at professional meetings,
teachers are required to attend these meetings. The System shall provide
reasonable reimbursement for parking and lunch on these days.
3a. Local in-service days shall be held within the school day. When conducted
offsite, they shall be held at a reasonable distance from the school.
3b. Teachers are required to attend diocesan/school in-service programs within the
school week, within the normal school day.
4. The System will continue its policy of exploring and developing innovative and
forward looking educational programs, particularly in the area of proper
utilization of in-service programs.
4a. In-service days offer teachers excellent opportunities for professional growth.
The individual schools shall continue their policy, where the official school
calander permits, of providing at least one (1) in-service day per semester for the
purpose of curriculum improvement, human relations and/or the particular needs
of the individual schools. These days shall also be used for workshops to improve
educational skills and techniques. The scheduled agenda and report of these
in-service days shall be forwarded to the Director of Curriculum and Instruction
and Staff Development. If religious activities are a part of the local in-service day,
teachers are required by the System to attend such activities.
5. The System recognizes the importance of days of recollection and requires
teachers to attend such days.
6. No teacher shall be required to attend more than seven (7) professional
meetings a year outside the school day. Graduation exercises are to be included
in these seven (7) meetings.
6a. Faculty meetings shall not exceed ten (10) per year and shall not extend more
than one (1) hour beyond the length of the normal school day.
An agenda, and if possible, printed material shall be distributed at least
twenty-four (24) hours prior to the meeting.
If twenty-five percent (25%) of the faculty members indicate to the Principal in
writing by their signatures their desire to place a specific topic on the agenda, the
topic shall be included on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled faculty
meeting, provided notice is given forty-eight (48) hours prior to the meeting. This
request shall not be unreasonably denied.
These professional and faculty meetings should be published in accordance with
the provisions of Section 7 of this Article.
6b. Teachers shall not be required to attend departmental meetings more that ten (10)
times during the school year and such attendance shall not be required for more
than one (1) hour beyond the length of the normal school day except where modified at the
discretion of the department members.
An agenda and, if possible, printed material shall be distributed at least
twenty-four hours prior to the meeting.
If twenty-five percent (25%) of the department members indicate to the
deparment head in writing by their signatures their desire to place a specific
topic on the agenda, the topic shall be included on the agenda of the next regularly
scheduled department meeting, provided notice is given forty-eight (48) hours
prior to the meeting. This request shall not be unreasonably denied.
7. A yearly calendar in each school shall be published in September indicating
System holidays, school events and meetings, especially faculty meetings,
parent-teacher meetings, assessment dates and closing marks. Local holidays
and necessary changes to the yearly calendar and, when known, orientation
and in-service days will be published on the first school day of each month.
8. When placement examinations, college boards, merit scholarship test, etc. are
administered at a school, the teaching staff at that school shall be given the first
opportunity to volunteer as proctors and receive the usual remuneration. They
shall be chosen according to school seniority. On successive examinations those
teachers who have not yet served as proctors will be given the first opportunity
according to school seniority.
9. The total teaching and service periods shall not exceed six (6) a day or thirty (30)
a week plus a home room as defined in Section 9f. Substitutions as defined in
Section 9c2 are excluded from the foregoing. The total number of teaching
periods shall not exceed five (5) per day or to allow for flexibility in scheduling
shall not exceed twenty-five (25) per week. Teachers who are rostered for more
than twenty-five (25) teaching periods should have a comparable
reduction in the number of service periods assigned.
Rosters for the Librarian and the Director of Guidance and full-time counselor(s) shall
have their preparation, service and lunch periods defined. Any change will be by
mutual agreement between the Librarian, Director of Guidance or the full-time
counselor(s) and the school.
9a. The teaching period is one in which the teacher is actively involved in the
act of teaching, either as an individual or as a member of a teaching team. This
shall usually be a forty-five (45) minute period. To allow flexibility in
scheduling, the weekly total of teaching and service periods shall not exceed
1,350 minutes exclusive of homeroom and substitutions as defined in 9c3 and 9c7.
9b. A service period is one in which the teacher is assigned any professional duties
other than teaching. After two (2) consecutive years of cafeteria duty, a teacher
shall not be involuntarily assigned to a third year except for serious and compelling reasons.
It is the policy of the System to provide adequate supervision of study halls and
cafeteria ensuring that a reasonable number of staff are assigned with particular
attention to periods where classes are added. The number of students per teacher
in a study period or cafeteria are, under usual circumstances:
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Study Period-
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100 to 1
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Cafeteria-
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175 to 1
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9c. Substitutions shall first be assigned to teachers who have been rostered to serve as
substitutes during a specific period which is to be their service period. If a
department head teaches four (4) classes, that department head will have one
(1) of his/her department duty periods designated as a possible substitution
period. The department head shall be given a substitution on his/her other department period only in case of an emergency. If a department head teaches five (5) classes, that department head will only receive a substitution on his/her department period in case of an emergency. Substitutes shall be assigned in the following sequence:
- Rostered Substitutes
- Volunteer Substitutes
- Non-teaching Assistants
- Other Service Periods and Offices
- Department heads according to the following:
First to substitute: department heads with one (1) to three (3) members
Second to substitute: department heads with four (4) to seven (7) members
Third to substitute: department heads with eight (8) or more members.
- Preparation Periods
9c1. The System will work with the individual schools to identify a pool of volunteers
to serve as substitutes.
9c2. The System will work with the individual schools to identify non-teaching
assistants available to be hired on a part-time basis. These non-teaching assistants
will supplement faculty substitutes and the pool of volunteers.
The number of non-teaching assistants shall be determined by the System.
Any individual employed under this Section shall not be covered by any other
terms or provisions of this Agreement.
9c3. If no teachers are available who have been rostered for substitutions during that
period, and if there are no available volunteers or non-teaching assistants, then
substitutes shall be drawn from all service periods except where this will
adversly affect the efficient operation of the school. Department heads should
be used as substitutes so that an undue burden is not placed on the other members
of the faculty.
9c4. If there are no personnel available under Sections 9c and 9c3 above, then only in
that event may a teacher be assigned a substitution from other than a service period.
9c5. The rostered lunch period may not be used as a substitution period.
9c6. There shall be an equitable distribution of substitutions under this Section, and
substitutions shall be distributed without regard to state of life.
9c7. Under the circumstances of Section 9c4 above, the teacher may be assigned up to
eight (8) substitutions per year. Acceptance of substitutions in this circumstance
beyond this number shall be subject to the procedures of Article XVI, Sections 1 and 1a.
9c8. Teachers will be given an additional sick day for every four (4) substitutions
assigned in accordance with Section 9c4 above.
9d. Records of all substitutions shall be available to the Senior Delegate upon proper
notice to the appropriate Assistant Principal.
9e. A preparation period is one during which the teacher is not assigned to a
programmed responsibility. Teachers shall be rostered to at least one (1) such
period per day, subject to the provisions of Article IV, Section 6.
9f. The normal homeroom period shall not exceed twenty-two (22) minutes. The
total homeroom time per week, however distributed, is not to exceed one hundred
forty (140) minutes excluding religious services. Exceptions to the total time
restrictions shall be made only for necessary and compelling reasons. These shall,
where possible, be scheduled in such a way as not to cancel a regular teaching
period. Homerooms shall be assigned on an equitable and rotating basis, except
for necessary and compelling reasons.
If an individual school has Channel One or a similar program scheduled during
homeroom, the total homeroom time per week is not to exceed one hundred
forty-five (145) minutes excluding religious services . If Channel One or a similar
program is discontinued, the local school will determine whether it is necessary to
continue with the additional five (5) minutes of homeroom time per week.
9g. Assemblies that begin before the start of the school day can be scheduled on a
nonrecurring basis only if no more than one-half of the sutdents and teachers
are required to be present and only if this assembly is not the daily homeroom.
10. There shall be a rostered duty-free lunch period of the same length as the teaching
period, which is normally forty -five (45) minutes.
11. Teachers who are required to formulate and evaluate student review programs for
any course to remove a failure in that course shall be compensated for this work at
the rate of $50.00 per student to a maximum of $250.00.
12. 12. All teachers are required to comply with Pennsylvania law and Archdiocesan
policies with regard to the Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries and
to undergo a (i) Pennsylvania State Police Request for Criminal Record Check and (ii)
a Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Child Abuse History Clearance.
All teachers residing outside of Pennsylvania or who have moved from outside
Pennsylvania within two (2) years prior to the commencement of work are also
required to undergo an F.B.I. fingerprint check.
12a. For teachers who have previously provided the foregoing background checks, new
background checks as required above must be provided every five (5) years from
the date of the last background checks.
12b. For teachers who have had a break in service for a year or more, new background
checks as required above must be provided.
12c. The cost of the background checks shall be borne by the System for all teachers in
the System. The teacher shall be required to complete and sign any forms
necessary to complete these background checks.
12d. Teachers who fail to comply with these background check requirements shall be
terminated immediately.
12e. Teachers whose reports state (i) a report of conviction for an offense identified in
24 P.S. § 1-111 (e) (1)-(3), as amended; or (ii) a founded or indicated report
of child abuse on the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Child Abuse
History Clearance Statement shall be terminated immediately.
13. Any deviation not specifically provided for in this Article shall be made subject to
mutual agreement by the System and/or its designees and the Association
and/or its designee.
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