Traut Core Knowledge School

Teacher Job-sharing Policy

Approved May 16, 2000

Amended December 16, 2003

Philosophy:

This policy addresses job-sharing, where a homeroom teaching position is shared between two individual teachers. A job-share arrangement is best addressed on an individual basis relying on a clearly outlined policy that allows systematic input for all stakeholders and trust in the prudence of the decision makers.

A job-share comes with unique responsibilities, requirements, risks, and benefits. Therefore, it is to be treated as a unique and rare situation. A job-share will be viewed at TCKS as an exception to normal practice rather than a work right. Nevertheless, in rare circumstances TCKS may allow this exception to provide an environment in which the individual needs of teachers can be accommodated and the values of family responsibilities can be affirmed.

Before any individual job-share arrangement is approved, the teacher(s) involved must demonstrate their willingness and ability to fully achieve the TCKS mission to provide excellence and fairness in education for elementary school children. The job-share arrangement must provide for the highest degree of continuity in delivery of the curriculum, communication with the families, strong teacher-student rapport, equally shared workload with colleagues, and a beneficial impact upon students. The ability of two teachers to coordinate this continuity requires the highest degree of forethought and effort.

Every additional job-share arrangement within a school will, by necessity, create incremental work for the school staff (additional approval and evaluation work by the principal, additional coverage of substitutes for another teacher by the office manager, additional scheduling and communication challenges for committees, grade level colleagues, specials teachers, literacy team, health office, etc.)

For these reasons, job-share arrangements will be kept to a strict minimum at TCKS.

Procedures For Initial Approval:

1. Two TCKS teachers may request to participate in job-sharing by applying in writing to the TCKS principal by March 1 of the school year prior to the school year in which the job-sharing will be in effect. A TCKS teacher may also request to go to half-time status using this same procedure. (This job share proposal will be contingent upon a hire of another half-time teacher.) This application shall include a written proposal that includes:

• Plan for meeting the criteria listed with this policy

• Anticipated impact on students affected by the job-sharing

• A clear, detailed plan of action, which supports the TCKS mission, and addresses the

following:

-Time for job-sharing teachers to meet for common planning time.

-Communication/organizational plan between the two job-share teachers; between the job-share teachers and other teachers; and between the job-share teachers and parents

-Division of contact time with students

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-Planning time requirements (per Poudre Education Association requirements)

-Substitute arrangements

-Special events

-Grading and report cards

-Parent teacher conferences

-Division of committee, supervision, and grade level responsibilities

-Staff meeting attendance

-Shared homeroom budget

2. The principal will evaluate the proposal and interview the applicant(s) using the criteria listed with this policy to ensure the job-share proposal meets the criteria. In the case of an outside hire being required due to the request of a single teacher, the Hiring Committee members will include these criteria in their hiring decision. The principal will also consider the school-wide impact of adding this job-share arrangement. The applicant(s) will be informed by April 1 whether or not the proposal will be forwarded to the Hiring Committee. The principal is best able to counsel prospective job-sharers as to their suitability, and may choose to veto any job-share proposal based on his knowledge of the teacher(s) involved. Prior to making the job-share decision, the principal will gather input regarding the job-sharing proposal:

§ The Principal will distribute a complete summary of the logistics for the job-share proposal together with a Request for a Specific Learning Environment form to the parents of incoming students. These Request forms may be used by parents to state their preferences regarding the job-share and will be made available to the Principal to determine if the pool of students who can be placed in the job-share homeroom is large enough to allow balanced classes at the job-share grade level.

3. Input from classified and certified staff (especially other teachers at the grade level and the specials teachers) will be solicited by the principal and considered as part of the decision making process. The principal will use this input to evaluate the school-wide impact of continuing this job-share arrangement. The Hiring Committee will consider job-sharing proposals when making recommendations on staff placements for the next school year, and will use the criteria listed in this policy in making their recommendation. The Hiring Committee will interview the teacher(s) submitting the job share proposal prior to approval of the proposal. The job-share proposal will be considered as another application in the interview process.

4. The Hiring Committee recommendation will be used by the school principal in completing the staffing plan to submit to the PSD Board of Education for approval. In accordance with the TCKS Decision-Making Matrix, the final decision on staff hiring is the responsibility of the principal.

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Job Share Policy

5. During the first year the job-share proposal is in effect, the vacancy created by the job-share will be advertised as a one-year position. If the job-share is approved for successive years, the vacancy created by the job-share will be advertised as a continuing position, and the job-share homeroom will become the one-year position. If either of the job-share teachers has continuing contract status, then the continuing contract status teacher(s) must voluntarily reduce the continuing contract status to match the job-share arrangement. This agreement to reduce the continuing contract status will be in writing, and submitted to the principal and Poudre School District’s certified personnel office.

Evaluation:

1. The principal shall closely monitor the job share arrangement each year with appropriate adjustments made as necessary to ensure the needs of students and colleagues are met. The principal will conduct a mid-year job-share survey of parents in the job-share homeroom and grade level colleagues to gain feedback on how well the job-share is working. The principal will also request input from the school staff on the pros and cons of the job-share arrangement.

2. The job-share arrangement must be reviewed annually and re-approved by the principal for the following year.

Procedure for Approval for Subsequent Years:

1. The job-share teachers may request to continue their job-share positions by applying in writing to the TCKS principal by March 1 of the school year prior to the school year in which the job-sharing will be in effect. This application shall include an updated written proposal that includes any changes from the previous year’s proposal.

2. The principal will determine whether the revised proposal includes changes that affect the criteria listed in this policy.

3.1 For a proposal that does not include changes which affect the criteria:

a) Prior to making the job-share decision, the principal will gather input regarding the continuing proposal:

• The Principal will distribute a complete summary of the logistics for the existing job-share proposal together with a Request for a Specific Learning Environment form to the parents of incoming students. These Request forms may be used by parents to state their preferences regarding the job-share and will be made available to the Principal to

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determine if the pool of students who can be placed in the job-share homeroom is large enough to allow balanced classes at the job-share grade level.

•Input from classified and certified staff (especially other teachers at the grade level and the specials teachers) will be solicited by the principal and considered as part of the decision making process. The principal will use this input to evaluate the school-wide impact of continuing this job-share arrangement.

b) The principal will then decide whether to continue the job-share arrangement for an additional year and will inform the teachers by April 1.

3.2 For a proposal that includes changes which affect the criteria:

a) The principal will evaluate the revised proposal against the criteria and will inform the applicants by April 1 whether or not the proposal will be forwarded to the Hiring Committee. The principal may choose to veto the proposal. As part of this pre-approval process, the principal will gather input regarding the revised proposal:

· The Principal will distribute a complete summary of the logistics for the revised job-share proposal together with a Request for a Specific Learning Environment form to the parents of incoming students. These Request forms may be used by parents to state their preferences regarding the job-share and will be made available to the Principal to determine if the pool of students who can be placed in the job-share homeroom is large enough to allow balanced classes at the job-share grade level.

· Input from classified and certified staff (especially other teachers at the grade level and the specials teachers) will be solicited by the principal and considered as part of the decision making process. The principal will use this input to evaluate the school-wide impact of continuing this job-share arrangement.

b) The Hiring Committee will consider the revised job-sharing proposal and will recommend whether to approve the job-share arrangement for another year based on the criteria listed below.

c) In accordance with the TCKS Decision-Making Matrix, the final decision on staff hiring is the responsibility of the principal.

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Criteria:

The following criteria will be used to determine whether to accept an individual job-share proposal. Meeting all criteria does not constitute an automatic acceptance of the proposal. The principal and Hiring Committee will use their judgment to determine whether the proposal is in the best interests of TCKS.

Criteria	Requirements	Recommendations
Student Growth	The job-share proposal must be appropriate for students in the designated homeroom and provide a rich environment that will optimize opportunities for student learning and growth.	Teachers strengths should complement each other.
Parental Assent	Parents who state on the Request for Specific Learning Environment that they do not want their child(ren) in a job-share homeroom will have their request honored.	There should be enough parents who agree to the placement of their children in a job-share homeroom to provide a sufficient number of students to fill the job-share homeroom while enabling the needed balance (e.g., gender, achievement, behavior, leadership, etc.) across all homerooms at the job-share grade level.
Teachers and Staff	Input from classified and certified staff (especially other teachers at the grade level and the specials teachers) will be solicited by the principal and considered as part of the decision making process.	Directly impacted staff (e.g., teachers at grade level and specials teachers) support the implementation of the job-share.

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Job Share Policy

Teacher Experience	Both TCKS teachers in the job-share should have significant teaching experience and have an established record of instructional excellence in a non-job-share teaching position. Compatibility in educational philosophy, homeroom management, instructional pedagogy, work habits, and subject matter strengths is essential.	Previous experience at the proposed job-share grade level is highly desired.
Communication	Both teachers in the job-share must have established a record of strong communication practices with other teachers and parents.
Weekly schedule		A daily 50/50 split is the preferred job-share model at TCKS.
Overall Fitness for Position	The job-share teachers will be evaluated as an instructional team using the same hiring standards applied to other TCKS teacher applicants.
Division of subject matter teaching responsibilities	Division of responsibilities must provide ongoing consistency in the delivery of subject material.
School-wide Impact	A job-share arrangement will have only a neutral or positive impact on the school staff.
Plan of Action	The plan of action portion of the application must adequately address each of the items listed under item #l of “Procedures for Initial Approval.”