September 9, 2010 Consultation Agenda

HOUSTON FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

Please include the following to the September 9, 2010 Instructional Consultation agenda:


1. Apollo Schools – extended hours/pay

When Apollo school employees were required to work the week of August 9th - 13th, professional development was planned and followed the Apollo workday hours with the added extra hour. It has come to our attention that employees were not paid for that extra 5 hours of work that week.

2. Staff Review Process/IPDP

We have numerous concerns regarding the legality of the new Staff Review process but our immediate complaints are about how the IPDP is already leading to coercive and abusive behavior among principals and other assessors. The following are some complaints we have received from our members:

“our principal said that she had a right to write an IPDP for us and we were obligated to sign it since it was to help guide our instruction and help us improve our teaching”

“she mentioned that we need to list all of our weaknesses and that she if we didn't write any or she didn't agree of what we wrote, that she was going to TELL us what to write”

“It will count against you on your PDAS scores for not complying with doing what principal told you to do."

"now, if you don't think you can abide with what I am telling you to do, let me know. I will gladly let you go and find someone that is willing to do what is being asked without questioning."

Is this the positive climate that the Staff Review Process is supposed to create in order to ensure an effective teacher in every classroom?

3. Opening of School

As the school year opens there are several negative issues principals can avoid simply by routinely following the rules:

• Classes should be balanced early and class sizes should adhere to legal limits where a law applies and reasonable limits where there is no legal mandate.
• Lesson plans exist to facilitate instruction. They are not a vehicle to document that every imaginable rule or regulation is being followed. The law requires plans to be “brief and general”. Let’s follow the law. We have already received numerous complaints regarding lesson plans
• All teachers are entitled to 30 minutes of duty-free lunch periods.
• All teachers are entitled to 450 minutes planning time during a 10-day period. That planning time belongs to the teacher and there can be no assigned duty during that time.
• The teacher contract specifies a 187-day work year. Those days are approved by the Board of Education when the calendar is adopted. There can be no required duty beyond the contract year.
• The length of the teacher workday is 7 hours and 45 minutes.
• All employees are entitled to all supplies necessary to do their jobs.
• There must be an elected Shared Decision Making Committee in place and actually functioning.