WESTFIELD – The School Committee agreed to “swap” time with teachers to satisfy terms of their contract pertaining to classroom instruction.
The situation arose because the professional development program was instituted after the teachers’ union members ratified the current contract. The professional development program is conducted on 10 early release days during the course of the school year when students have a half day of instruction. The professional development is considered part of the teachers and staff normal working day.
Students, however, are not receiving instruction during the time teachers are gone for the professional development sessions, which is an issue for some school students. The state has requirements for the number of instructional hours that differs among the grade levels, with the highest number of instructional hours mandated for high school students.
The administration, which anticipated the loss of time during the 10 professional development sessions, increased the instructional time by six minutes, by reducing time between classes, to ensure that the schools meet the state standard for classroom instructional time. That additional six minutes a day was not included in the terms of the contracts approved by the School Committee and teachers’ union.
The union threatened to file an unfair labor practice complaint with the state Department of Labor Relations.
Ironically, professional development was a major issue of concern among members of the district’s teaching staff.
The Committee considered two options, one option was to provide additional pay, over $200,000, for that additional time, compensation not included in the district’s original budget and not available in that budget this late in the fiscal year.
The option selected was to swap that time, giving the high school teachers time off during final examinations at the end of the year. Teachers will have the option to take off that time after the last final examination of the day is administered. Students are typically released after the last examination of the day.
“We knew there were bugs in the Professional Development program that would have to be worked out and this was one of them,” School Committee Vice Chairman Kevin Sullivan said. “It was a situation that had to be rectified before the end of the school year and our options were limited.
“It will be addressed in the next contract that we are currently negotiating,” Sullivan said. “The current contract expires on June 30.”
