HomeMy WebLinkAboutAP 813 Professional Responsibilities and Staff Conduct - Final
Idaho Falls School District #91 Administrative Procedure
AP813.0 – Professional Responsibilities & Staff Conduct
Building Schedule Approval Process
Building Principals will submit their individual building calendar and daily schedule to the
superintendent or designee for approval no later than five (5) days before the building opening
meeting.
Upon approval of the superintendent or designee, building principals must provide certificated
staff a copy of the approved building schedule prior to the first day of school. Building
Principals may determine the format for notifying staff (i.e. Staff Letter, Faculty Handbook,
Outlook Calendar, etc.). A copy should also be provided to the Director of Elementary
Education and the Director of Secondary Education for elementary and secondary schools,
respectively.
Once a schedule is approved, major changes and additional professional responsibilities may not
be added to the schedule without approval of the superintendent or designee. Building principals
requesting additions and/or major changes must request approval in writing. Requests to the
superintendent or designee should be submitted in a timely manner in order to provide staff with
appropriate notice. It is recommended that staff receive notice at least five (5) working days
before the change is to take place. Building principals do not need to request approval for
canceling meetings that are outside of student contact time.
When the need arises to change a teacher’s scheduled planning time to accommodate various
needs within the school, the teacher should be given as much advance notice as possible. Again,
it is recommended that teachers receive notice of changes to their planning time at leave five (5)
working days before the change is to take place.
Guidelines for Developing the Individual Building Calendar and Daily Schedule
When developing the schedule, it is important to keep instructional time sacred by reducing the
amount of interruptions to student contact time and teacher self-directed planning time. Faculty,
staff development, school improvement, and other committee meetings should be productive,
efficient and reasonable. Whenever possible, input from certificated staff should be considered
when developing the building schedule. The schedule shall include:
Certificated staff member expectations for arrival and departure on student contact days
A daily thirty (30) minute duty-free lunch
Sixty (60) minutes of daily self-directed planning time (not necessarily continuous)
Supervision times and duties, if appropriate
Faculty meetings, Professional Development meetings, School Improvement Meetings
and other building level meetings
School functions such as Parent/Teacher Conferences and Back to School Nights where
certificated staff will be expected to attend
Collaboration time, if applicable
Other professional responsibilities, if appropriate
When developing the individual building calendar and daily schedule the following items must
be taken into consideration:
Certificated staff member arrival and departure times do not define a “contract day.”
These times are set to ensure the safe supervision of students.
To the extent possible, teachers should be given 60 minutes of planning time daily.
Planning time does not need to be continuous.
Duty schedules should be distributed equitably amongst the staff, taking into
consideration special circumstances.
Building level faculty, committee and staff development meetings should be scheduled
on Tuesdays. District level committee and curriculum meetings will be scheduled on
Wednesdays. District level staff and professional development meetings will be
scheduled on Thursdays.
It is recommended that buildings do not schedule more than one meeting (faculty,
committee, staff development) per week, except for emergency situations.
Faculty meetings should be no longer than 1 hour in length.
Professional Learning Teams that do not include the entire staff of a building are
excluded from the building schedule. This type of learning team is voluntary and the
schedule is often set by members of the team.
Federal compliance meetings such as IEP, 504, ELP and CAT meetings take priority over
all other building and district meetings.
When providing opportunities for scheduled conferences and other means of
communicating with parents, consideration should be given to the time commitment by
staff to properly prepare for and conduct such activities. Communication activities with
parents should also be evaluated periodically for their effectiveness. Consideration
should be given to the needs of students, parents, staff and school.
Work Days are self-directed days for certificated staff members to work on and complete
their professional duties. No administrator-initiated meetings or staff development will
be held on Work Days.
Emergency and Crisis Situations
Student and staff safety is our number one priority. In the event of an emergency or crisis, the
approved building schedule may be altered to address the situation at hand. (See Individual
School Crisis Plan)