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Granite School District > Superintendent's Office > Sup’s Vlog

Sup’s Vlog

Question – Para Educator Hours

Question – I am concerned about the current district policy limiting the number of hours that para educators can work. My concern is the message it sends to para educators about their value and that we as a big employer in Utah do not care more about para educators’ ability to earn a living wage. This, of course, affects their willingness and ability to stay in a para educator position due to limited earning potential and lack of insurance and retirement benefits. And thus, there is a revolving door for hiring and training para educators, which takes a teacher’s valuable time away from teaching to a continual training of new para educators. This is a very real issue in special education settings. In the past, some para educators could find positions offering 20 to 30 hours but now are limited to 19 and 29 hours. I understand that these changes were made to limit their career status for hiring and firing reasons and to save money. The bigger concern for me is the fact that these para educators are not able to work enough hours to make a decent living and now many are not able to earn retirement benefits.
I am interested in your response and the district’s view in providing for the many paraeducators who contribute so much to the education of GSD’s students.

Response – Hourly employees play such a crucial role in the district, providing support in some of the toughest challenges we have to face.  You may be aware that a law specific to classified school employees requires that we pay retirement for folks who work 20 hours or more per week.  With the skyrocketing cost of retirement (now nearly an additional 20% on top of everything else) districts all across the state have begun limiting hourly employees to 19 hours – even though many of these great employees are not aware (or even interested) in the state retirement system.

Let’s work this through:  As an example, when a $15 an hour position moves from 19 hours per week to 20 hours per week the position doesn’t cost only $15 more per week, but $75 (19 hours x $15 = $285 but 20 hours x $15 x 1.20 retirement cost = $360).  $75 per week x 36 weeks = $2700 per employee and that times several thousands of hourly employees equals millions of dollars – all for only working one additional hour.

Recognizing the very concern you raise, and the fact that we’ve been approached by many hourly employees who didn’t know and didn’t care about the retirement system (several offered to waive the retirement – which the law doesn’t allow us to do) but really wanted more hours per week, we worked hard at the legislature this year to get the law changed so our employees had the same opportuntiies as all other government employees in the state (who can work up to 30 hours without the retirement cost kicking in).  A few lobbyists argued against the  bill, asserting that hourly employees accept low pay and few hours in order to be able to retire from the state system after 30 years of service.  Although we worked with those lobbyists to amend the bill to “grandfather” hourly employees who had been receiving retirement, they continued to oppose the bill and it was defeated.

We recognize that there are two ways to look at this problem, but given the cuts of nearly $60,000,000 to our district in the last years, we’ve had to look at ways to avoid incurring additional costs.  Which ever way you perceive the problem, please communicate with the classified employee association and let them know how you feel.

Thank You

Supt. Bates:

Thank you for stepping back and trying to address the original “cart before the horse” question. I appreciate that you took a new look at the original question and tried to restate an answer.
I also was extremely frustrated the other day when the wireless was not functioning (yet again!) because I really am trying to integrate technology into my instruction. But it is really difficult to plan a lesson around technology only to have the technology be unavailable or non-functional. You have a lot more support from teachers on the technology push than you realize, but the infrastructure for technology in our district often fosters complete frustration.

Mary Lamb
6th Grade Teacher
Hillsdale Elementary

Superintendent Snapshot – Something You Have Never Seen a Superintendent Do

All,

Here is the latest snapshot video as a follow up to last weeks snapshot regarding putting the cart before the horse. Hope your week is going well.

Superintendent Bates

Superintendent Snapshot – Cart Before the Horse on Technology?

Here is the latest snapshot regarding the technology initiative the Superintendent is pushing. Please continue submitting your questions!

Superintendent Snapshot – Early Retirement Option?

Great question for the snapshot this week on the early retirement incentive. Here you go.

Question – Sick Leave Hours

Question – This is my twenty-eighth year as a teacher in Granite District. Even with having four children and one major surgery. I still have over five hundred hours of sick leave. There is no compensation for those sick leave hours when I retire, which saves the district money. However, I know of some teachers, who could use my sick leave hours. They do not have any because they have wasted their sick leave but have serious health problems. They do not have any hours left and need to have their pay deducted to compensate for their lack of sick hours until short term disability kicks in to use. Is there any way that I could donate some of my hours to someone else? It would not save the district any money, but it would be compassion for those who are in need.

Response – We often say that the best insurance policy an employee can have is a large accrued sick leave balance. That is great that you have been able to accumulate such a large amount of sick leave over the years. I believe your sick leave balance shows your dedication to the noble career you have chosen.

Although Granite School District does not have a Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank (where employees can donate sick days), GSD does have two specific insurance policies in place to help employees who have depleted their sick leave balance. These two policies are known as Short/Long-Term Disability (STD). STD benefits pay a percentage (80%) of an employee’s salary if the employee becomes temporarily disabled, meaning they are unable to work for a short period of time due to sickness or injury (excluding on-the-job injuries which are covered by worker’s compensation insurance). STD benefits are also intended to serves as an income “bridge” during the period a claim has been submitted for Long-Term Disability (LTD). LTD benefits are in place to provide income (66.67%) to the employee who is unable to work for a long period of time (beyond four months).

Both of these policies help to ensure that even if an employee has used all of their accrued sick and personal leave, they have options for not only continued salary, but also continued insurance benefits as well. In addition, employees who have sick leave do not feel obligated or pressured to donate from their own accrued sick leave balances.

We would remind you as well, that when you began your career with Granite, retirees could choose between a percentage buy-out of unused sick leave or receive a payment of 1/2 of 1% times the # of years of service.  As it worked out, the calculation was always a higher number than buy-out.  Recognizing the better deal, teachers negotiated the calculation into the professional agreement (see Article 23.1.2) and dropped the buy-out option.

Thanks to the Benefits Office for their assistance in responding to this question.

Question – Calendering Questions

We received many questions on this issue such as:

Question 1 – Next year’s calendar has some troublesome issues:
1. By starting so late that gives Granite teachers less instruction time than Canyons, Alpine, Provo, Salt Lake or Jordan school districts. This puts teachers at a real disadvantage to the other school districts. Provo and Salt Lake have a two week head start on Granite. This calendar is detrimental to obtaining optimum teaching results. It’s even more of a concern since our CRT scores, AP scores, IB scores are now published in the paper. Does this calendar really help our “failing schools and school district”?

2. What in the world are we supposed to do with our students for two weeks after Memorial Day? It’s difficult when CRT’s and AP exams are completed by the 2nd week of May. IB exams continue into the third week of May. We’ve covered the text book and finished our exams. Of course we can continue to find educational activities but the students know we have completed the course and Memorial Day signals the start of summer vacation.

3. We’ve put our high school students at a real disadvantage when it comes to finding a summer job. Granite students are out of school June 7th. Their “competition” is out by Memorial Day- again, a one or two week head start for the other school district.

I’m starting to wonder if this is a calendar based on the educational needs of our students or a means to provide cheap babysitting for two weeks. Why do we continue to base our calendar as if our pioneer heritage is in full force and we need to plant and harvest the crops with the extended vacation in August? One of the district goals is to prepare students for the 21st century. I think it’s time our school calendar revolved around testing and performance needs rather than three month summer vacations.

Yes, I know we vote on the calendar but I really doubt the educational consequences of the calendar are made known to parents. I’ve talked with them, I’ve interviewed my classes- all they look at is Winter and Spring recess. At a minimum could we publish the pro’s and con’s of each calendar when we vote in the future?

Question 2 – It may be too late to change the schedule for 2013, but starting later makes the job of an AP teacher even harder than it already is. We already lose a month of teaching time on the regular schedule – on the 2013 schedule we will lose almost a month and a half. We need to teach the entire curriculum, teach the students to write, give them time to practice writing (both essays and DBQs) and still have about 2 weeks of review time before the first week in May. Also, leaving that much time after AP testing, IB testing, Concurrent testing makes for very restless students. In short, for many reasons, I am asking (and hoping) that you rethink next year’s schedule. Is it possible to have a schedule that starts earlier in August and ends the week BEFORE Memorial Day? Using the week before Memorial Day to close out school and graduate just seems to make the most sense.

Question 3 – Granite School District is doing wonderful! But the problem i have is. I have kids in Elementary, Junior High, and High school. Elementary get the Jr high and high schools end of term off. But they don’t get short days. So my elementary kid is home alone and i cant get him a baby sitter since all the other kids i usually have look after him are still at school. This is a real issue and i’m sure it is for other parents to. I wish elementary wouldn’t get there end of terms off. It would make a lot of things easier for parents. Expectantly when you come home and see that your child has trashed the house and broken every single dish. Hope you consider getting rid of elementary having high school end of term days off.

Question 4 – I was wondering if there is any way that we can have a 2 week holiday break next year? As a teacher who puts in a lot of extra hours, who is taking classes for endorsements, and who is continually trying to have time with my family, having those few extra days that other districts received would have given me time to prepare and really enjoy the holidays. I realize that we get out of school a few days earlier than other districts in June, but personally I would feel as though I was getting a Christmas Bonus to have the 2 weeks of vacation. I know that I am not alone in my desire. I would be more than willing to work a few more days in June to have the 2 weeks off in December. It would be great if our school board would reconsider next year’s calendar.

Question 5 – I just had a question about the traditional schedule. I am in one of the schools transitioning from year-round. I actually support the change, as I feel that there was a lot of wasted time with all the going on and off track. I definitely think a traditional schedule is more conducive to a sustained learning environment. That being said, I think having an occasional break in the schedule is still beneficial to families/students/teachers, be it to just have a time to breathe, to catch up on grades & lesson plans, to travel, etc. I wonder if a hybrid-type of schedule was considered or is a possibility in coming school years (even next year)? What I mean by that is having something similar to one of the two following possibilities:

A) Start school a week earlier (Aug. 20), and extend Fall Recess to a whole week (Oct. 15-19), extend Thanksgiving Recess to a whole week (Nov. 19-23), and Winter Recess to a full two weeks (coming back on Jan. 7), then having the last day of school be on June 12. Summer vacation is only shortened by a week and a half, yet we still have some breathing time in the school year. If the school is closed during these week-long breaks (two weeks for Winter Recess), operating costs shouldn’t be greatly affected, right?

B) Start school two weeks earlier (Aug. 13), and extend Fall Recess to two weeks (Oct. 8-19), extend Winter Recess to two weeks (Dec. 24-Jan. 4), extend Spring Recess to two weeks (Mar. 25-Apr. 5), and end the school year on June 14. Summer vacation is only shortened by three weeks (so it’s still two months long), and we have some decent breaks in the school year. Again, if the school is closed during at least some of these break times, operating costs shouldn’t be greatly affected.

I am partial to option A, since the breaks are less dramatic (shorter), and therefore would result in a smaller disruption in learning continuity. I understand it is important for families who have children in elementary and secondary schools to have the same schedule, so the options above or any similar to them would be for both elementary and secondary schools.

Question 6 – I’m hoping that it was just an oversight in scheduling and not that educators are supposed to be UN-romantic. However, I noticed that the Spring Parent Conferences are scheduled for the Junior High teachers and parents on Valentine’s Day. While that may not be a problem for some, it will be for some others, myself included. While Valentine’s Day isn’t one of those major holidays, it is still a day some of us plan on doing something with our wives. In fact, for once in my life I actually planned ahead and have tickets to a concert. An easy solution could be to put both High School and Junior High Conferences on the Wednesday and Thursday (15th and 16th) having them overlap both days rather than just overlapping the one day. That would move the Junior High Conference off of Valentines.

Response – The procedure for determining the 2012 -2013 calendar (or any calendar) includes forming a committee of parents, teachers, principals, district administrators, GEA, and transportation. Reviewing the most recent survey from parents, this committee decides on two calendars that best represent the data from the survey. The calendar committee has been unanimous in their decision on the two calendars. These two calendars are posted to our web site, for input from parents, teachers, and students. The results of this input, along with the two calendars, is shared with the Board. The School Board then selects the calendar with the most support. This was the case with the approval of the 2012 – 2013 calendar.

Of the five concerns that we received:
– One wants to start one week earlier, end two weeks later, and lengthen every break during the year.
– One wants a two week winter break
– One wants the elementary school to be on the same schedule as the secondary (which will probably happen after the next board meeting)
– Two want to start earlier and end the week of Memorial Day (a week or two earlier) with no longer winter break, with testing as their number one concern

Unfortunately the competing values are often mutually exclusive.  This makes the surveys we’ve been conducting from year-to-year so important – they help inform the decision for the calendar under review and provide conceptual direction for calendar development for future years.

On the other hand, we will more clearly identify the implications associated with potential calendars as we post them for review and input in the future.  We strive to develop calendars that best meet the needs of students, parents and teachers.  We will certainly reinforce this as we meet with future calendar committees.

Thanks to our School Leadership and Improvement Services Directors who head up our Calendar Committee for assisting in responding to these questions.

Question – Fire Drills

Question – During lunch at any elementary school most teachers leave for lunch how do we track where children are if the alarm sounds during this time frame. Seems like it would be a mess, let us know.

Response – Current practice and policy indicates that in the event of a fire alarm regardless where the students are (such as lunch) they are supposed evacuate to the outside
and line up in the same location as their classroom would during any fire drill. This gives us the ability to account for them in a timely manner.

As a practical matter, it’s difficult to schedule real emergencies.  Our hope is that real emergencies never occur.  If they do however, we hope that folks will keep cool heads, evaluate the actual situation, and use the principles they have practiced to make the best and safest decision possible.  We than you for being the professionals that you are!