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Category: Your Rights

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When Should You Be A Whistleblower?

When Should You Be A Whistleblower?

Whistle

Red River United’s in-house attorney recommends prior to getting caught in an investigation, it is to your professional advantage to come forward and speak (privately) with legal counsel at Red Rive United. Too often we have seen professional reputations tarnished and jobs threatened when a person lacks representation, or seeks counsel late in an investigation. We will not tolerate illegal and unethical actions in the schools BUT you must speak up. Whistleblower protections cover an employee from retaliation.

• Grade changes

• Testing irregularities

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REMINDER: State Law Requires a MINIMUM of 225 minutes of planning time per week and a 30 minute duty-free lunch

Reminder: State Law Requires a Minimum of 225 Minutes of Planning Time Per Week and 30 Minutes of Duty Free Lunch

Last school year, five high schools in Caddo signed onto a class action grievance citing  the lack of planning time and the resulting injury to classroom instruction. The Caddo Parish School Board answered by unanimously passing a motion to move to a 7 period day for next school year, stating that planning would be daily (minimum of 225 minutes per week) and before and after school would not be used or considered as planning time. The message Red River United members sent in filing the grievances and coming before the board was heard. There is no question that adequate teacher planning time is a professional right which is a core principle of reclaiming the promise of public education.

Louisiana Revised Statute 17:434 states:

Planning time and lunch periods for teachers; requiredA.(1)  The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall adopt necessary rules and regulations requiring, beginning with the 2000-2001 school year, each city and parish school board to provide a minimum of forty-five minutes daily planning time, or its weekly equivalent, and a minimum of thirty minutes for lunch each day which shall be duty-free for every teacher actively engaged in the instruction and supervision of students in the public schools.  Implementation of planning time and lunch periods as required in this Section for teachers shall not result in a lengthened school day.

Before the Louisiana House Education Committee this past spring, State Superintendent John White supplied testimony stating that any district not providing these minimums are in direct violation of the law. RRU will closely monitor the compliance of Caddo, Bossier, and Red River Parishes with state law. Any deviation from state law will result in action from RRU.

This year, if you are not being given 45  minutes of planning time per day or its weekly equivalent and a 30 minute duty free lunch, or you have questions about this law,  contact Red River United atredriverunited.org or 318-424-4579. 

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Know Your Rights- Transfers!

Know Your Rights: Teacher Transfer Policies

Note that these policies only apply to teachers. Support personnel have different transfer policies, especially in Caddo, and less rigid deadlines.

Caddo: 
 
CPSB: GBM
A teacher transferred to a school or position must be certified and qualified for the position to which transferred. Should a person request reassignment to a lesser position, such personnel, upon reassignment, shall be placed in the salary schedule at the level of the new position. Procedures and timelines for requesting, reviewing, interviewing, and making recommendations for transfers of personnel shall be maintained by the Division of Human Resources. All teachers are eligible for transfer during the transfer period, regardless of temporary certification and funding status. Vacant positions must be requested using Caddo School’s official application portal. Transfers will begin May 1st and go through June 30th for the following school year. The Director of Certified Personnel, acting under the authority of the Superintendent, shall be responsible for approving the principal’s recommendation for transfers. Transfer recommendations after June 30th will require approval by the Chief Human Resource Officer. Teachers and the principals will be notified in writing of approved transfers by the Human FILE: GBM Caddo Parish School Board 2 of 2 Resources Department for the upcoming school year. In the event of school closures, those certified teachers affected will be placed first in any vacancies that occur.
Your personnel file/record is the ONLY thing a principal looks at if you are considering transferring to another school or another parish. Make sure you know what is in your personnel file, and that you write rebuttals for everything that goes in your personnel file. 

Fine-tune your SLTs and prepare for your observations using Red River United’s After Hours tutoring, FREE to all RRU members and available after-school by appointment. Call 318-424-4579 for more information or to set up an appointment!  

 
 
Bossier: 
BPSB: GBM

You should have already received your Be Back Letter. Make sure you sign your Be Back Letter, and click the box saying that you intend to transfer schools.

Employees who voluntarily request a transfer to another location or position shall submit such request to the Superintendent or principal in writing.  Such requests shall be submitted on or before July 15 in order to be considered for the next school year.  A written notation of the request to transfer shall also be sent to the employee’s principal or immediate supervisor.  All voluntary transfers approved by the Superintendent shall be completed prior to August 1, whenever possible. 

A teacher transferred to a school or position must be certified and qualified for the position to which transferred.  Should a person request reassignment to a lesser position, such personnel, upon reassignment, shall be placed in the salary schedule at the level of the new position.

 

You should have already received your Be Back Letter. Make sure you sign your Be Back Letter, and click the box saying that you intend to transfer schools.
Your personnel file/record is the ONLY thing a principal looks at if you are considering transferring to another school or another parish. Make sure you know what is in your personnel file, and that you write rebuttals for everything that goes in your personnel file. 

 

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Disciplinary Write-Ups

rebut

This pertains to both disciplinary write-ups and evaluations.

 

If you receive a disciplinary write-up or evaluation result, SEE, SIGN, AND REBUT.

When you are given the paperwork, be sure to SIGN the write-up/evaluation result so you can receive a copy.

Signing a write-up/evaluation result does NOT constitute agreeing with the contents of the write-up/paperwork— it is a record that you have seen the paperwork before it is put into your personnel file. 

After you sign the write-up/evaluation, contact Red River United immediately at 318-424-4579 and write a rebuttal. A rebuttal tells YOUR side of the story, and is permanently attached to your personnel file with the write-up.  

Your personnel file/record is the ONLY thing a principal looks at if you are considering transferring to another school or another parish. Make sure you know what is in your personnel file, and that you write rebuttals for everything that goes in your personnel file. 

OWN YOUR PROFESSION.

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Know Your Rights- Evaluations

rebut

 

 

If you receive an observation or evaluation that is not an accurate representation of your performance,  SEE, SIGN, AND REBUT.

When you are given the paperwork, be sure to SIGN the observation/evaluation result so you can receive a copy.

Signing an observation/evaluation does NOT constitute agreeing— it is a record that you have seen the paperwork before it is put into your personnel file. 

After you sign the document, the clock begins.  In most cases, you have 15 working days to write a rebuttal; however, teachers in Caddo have 48 hours to issue and appeal.  Contact Red River United immediately at 318-424-4579.

Your observations and evaluations may determine if you move up on the salary schedule as well as your possibility of becoming tenured.

 

OWN YOUR PROFESSION.

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Know Your Rights- SLTs

What you need to know about Student Learning Targets

Student Learning Targets (SLTs) are a crucial part of a teacher’s COMPASS evaluation. To make sure that your evaluation is an appropriate, accurate and fair representation of your professional abilities, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers offers the following hints for writing your SLTs in collaboration with your principal.

Student Learning Target tips:

  • Set reasonable, realistic targets.
  • SLTs should include teacher and administrator input.
  • Consider including the stipulation that only the scores of students who took both the pre and post assessments will be included in the calculation.
  • You might stipulate that a certain attendance factor will determine if a student remains in the SLT group. Refer to language for attendance requirements for updating students in CVR. The same rules should apply when writing SLTs.
  • Students with high scores on the pre-assessment instrument may not be capable of achieving their targeted growth. Consider excluding those students from your group.
  • SLTs should be written only for the students you teach, based on their specific past performance and pre-assessment data. Do not base them on the performance of the students in the entire school or school district.
  • SLTs are intended to be a comparison of where your students were at the beginning of the year and how much they have progressed during the year, based on your teaching, just as a VAM score is based on the progress of only your students.
  • Share your SLT drafts with your peers for wording and math calculations.
  • Monitor and record student performance throughout the year.
  • At midyear, check to see if you are eligible to make changes to your SLTs.

For one-on one assistance or questions, contact us today.

redriverunited@redriverunited.org

318-424-4579

Teachers, make sure you check all of your classroom rosters mid-year (in January) and remove students who are no longer in your class. Your SLTs (student learning targets) are based on your current roster— so make sure your roster reflects who is actually in your class.

 You also have the right to amend your SLTs (student learning targets) at the mid- year mark. Contact Red River United immediately at 318-424-4579 if you have any questions. 

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What to Do If A Fight Breaks Out

Guidelines – what to do if a fight breaks out – There is no set of laws or court principles that require you to physically intervene or to put yourself at risk if a fight breaks out at school. Red River United urges you to use your own moral code and common sense. You should, however, take all reasonable steps to deter and dissipate a fight, such as:

  • Call/page for security
  • Send a student to the office
  • Yell and scream
  • Wave your arms and gesture wildly
  • Stomp your feet and clap your hands
  • Do anything but stand still!

 

You run certain risks regardless of how you choose to break up a fight. Red River United wants you to use your best judgment but to also know the risks involved in getting physically involved in a fight.

 

If you physically get involved to break up a fight you run the risk of:

  1. Being accused of using excessive force and charged with battery
  2. Sued by the parents of the students involved in the fight
  3. Fired
  4. Physically hurting yourself

If you choose not to get physically involved you can still be sued or fired. Therefore, it is EXTREMELY important that you take all reasonable steps (listed above) to deter and dissipate a fight.

Contact Red River United immediately if you have concerns in this area.

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Overcrowding on the Bus: Know Your Rights!

Bus Drivers are responsible for the critical task of making sure that our students get to school and back home safely. That being said, there are laws and policies in place in order to ensure student safety on buses. There is no set maximum number of students who can be transported on a single bus, and how many kids you can legally transport depends on the size of children. 

Federal law states that the number of students transported in a school bus must be compliant with the bus manufacturer’s instructions. The bus manufacturer states that in order to ensure maximum safety, all students must fit fully within their seats.

That means that every student must be fully covered by the seat back in front of them.

Hands, feet, and bodies can NOT  be in the aisles. Students can NOT sit on the floors of buses (yes, we’ve heard about this happening).
If your bus is overcrowded, call Red River United IMMEDIATELY at 318-424-4579 before beginning your route.

 

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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About SLTs (But Were Afraid to Ask) – Recorded Live

UStream Video Link

What you need to know about Student Learning Targets (from the Louisiana Federation of Teachers)

Student Learning Targets (SLTs) are a crucial part of a teacher’s COMPASS evaluation. To make sure that your evaluation is an appropriate, accurate and fair representation of your professional abilities, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers offers the following hints for writing your SLTs in collaboration with your principal.

Student Learning Target tips:

  • Set reasonable, realistic targets.
  • Consider including the stipulation that only the scores of students who took both the pre and post assessments will be included in the calculation.
  • You might stipulate that a certain attendance factor will determine if a student remains in the SLT group. Refer to language for attendance requirements for updating students in CVR. The same rules should apply when writing SLTs.
  • Students with high scores on the pre-assessment instrument may not be capable of achieving their targeted growth. Consider excluding those students from your group.
  • SLTs should be written only for the students you teach, based on their specific past performance and pre-assessment data. Do not base them on the performance of the students in the entire school or school district.
  • SLTs are intended to be a comparison of where your students were at the beginning of the year and how much they have progressed during the year, based on your teaching, just as a VAM score is based on the progress of only your students.
  • Share your SLT drafts with your peers for wording and math calculations.
  • Monitor and record student performance throughout the year.
  • At midyear, check to see if you are eligible to make changes to your SLTs.

To understand more about what needs to be included in your Student Learning Targets, check out the SLT cheat sheet here.

A more complete list of tips to survive COMPASS, assist with your classroom observations and Value Added Model evaluations, please click here.

These resources and more are available on the LFT’s Back-to-School resources page – click here for access.

Setting Student Goals (PDF): SettingStudentGoals LDOE