Teachers to Earn Full Pay for Professional Development
USEP and the District have agreed to tap into the last of the Race-to-the-Top funds to provide two professional development days to teachers at their full daily rate of pay. The funds for these days do not come from the categorical allocation set aside for regular raises. Teachers will get whatever raises are negotiated, plus two extra days of pay.
The purpose of the days is to allow teachers to plan together for implementation of the Common Core State Standards.
One day will be scheduled during the pre-planning week. So as not to supplant critical planning time, teachers will chose whether to come in and work the Friday before preplanning or work 9- hour days during pre-planning week. Attendance at the professional development will be mandatory. Teachers will be paid for the first extra day on September 13, 2013. Teachers who do not work these additional hours will not be compensated for the additional work time and may not use accumulated leave for these hours.
The second professional development day is scheduled for February 17, 2014 (President’s Day). This unpaid holiday will now become a paid professional development day. Teachers will be paid for this day on March 14, 2014. The negotiation teams looked at other unpaid holidays earlier in the year, but with an active hurricane season predicted, the other holidays needed to be kept for possible hurricane make up.
As part of the agreement, the District agreed to work to address the particular professional development needs of Special Area Teachers and those teachers of “singleton-type†courses.