What to include in teacher contract for Special Ed. Teachers

[rookieABC123]

Hi all,

I have been asked to come up with a "wish list" of things I would like to see in our teacher contract since it is up for negotiation soon. Currently there is no language in the contract that is geared towards special education teachers because the intermediate units previously ran all of our special ed. rooms.

So, what is in your contract? I know two things that I can think of are time off to write IEPs, and being compensated when we are at IEP meetings that run past school hours. There have been times that I have been after school in an IEP meeting until 5:30.

Please be specific as you can. I know most get 2-3 days off per year just for IEP's.

Thank you in advance for your help!!!!

[MrsC]

It's interesting to me that Special Ed teachers would have a different contract; all teaching staff here, regardless of assignment, have identical contracts.

[teacherwithlove]

If that's the case, Gen Ed. teachers should get 2-3 days off per year for grading, inserting grades online, prepping for classroom projects, etc.

In my district, your contract would get laughed at.

[Caesar753]

Originally Posted by MrsC

It's interesting to me that Special Ed teachers would have a different contract; all teaching staff here, regardless of assignment, have identical contracts.

Originally Posted by teacherwithlove

If that's the case, Gen Ed. teachers should get 2-3 days off per year for grading, inserting grades online, prepping for classroom projects, etc.

In my district, your contract would get laughed at.

Same here on all counts.

[FourSquare]

Wow, how rude.

Nowhere did the poster say Special Ed teachers got a SEPARATE contract. She said what language should be GEARED towards Special Ed teachers within "our" general contract. Also, nobody implied Special ed teachers did any more work. We also grade, insert grades online, and prep class projects....so I have no idea why that time off would only apply to Gen Ed teachers. There are some very real issues that only apply to Special Ed and I'm glad districts are considering this.

Anyway, our new contract has the following language for Special Ed:

• Special Ed teachers will be paid for IEP meetings outside contract hours, including missed preps.
• Special Ed classrooms must not be clustered together and must be of comparable quality to Gen Ed classrooms. (AKA you can't put SPED kids in a closet anymore. Or in a trailer out back.)
• Special Ed teachers will not be required to do unassigned duties outside of Special Ed. (like recess monitoring, morning duty, etc.)
• Special Ed teachers will have a district web site with resources specifically for Special Ed.
• $500,000 grant will be applied towards caseload reduction and assuring Special Ed teachers are in legal compliance with their numbers.
• All clinicians will be provided a proper workspace with something that locks.
• All clinicians and Special Ed teachers will be provided testing/diagnostic materials in a timely manner. Materials will be re-filled as needed.
• Paraprofessionals will be provided direct professional decelopment on working with students who have Autism.
• Administrators are "encouraged" to use substitutes for teachers who need time writing IEPs.
• Substitutes in Special Ed must have at least 8 credit hours of Special Ed background.

We did not technically win on getting subs to write IEPs. Notice it says "encouraged" not "required." Some principals have said no to this. Luckily, mine said to take what I need and let her know when I want time to do them. I have not had to utilize this offer yet. It's actually easier for me to just do them at home. But if I ever had like 6 in a month, I would definitely take the time!

[MrsC]

Didn't mean to be rude, FourSquare, sorry you were offended. Here, all teachers within a school district work have exactly the same contract.

[BumbleB]

Originally Posted by teacherwithlove

If that's the case, Gen Ed. teachers should get 2-3 days off per year for grading, inserting grades online, prepping for classroom projects, etc.

In my district, your contract would get laughed at.

I co-teach math and language arts, so I do all of the tasks listed above in addition to being responsible for writing 22 IEPs this year.

The only item that I'm aware of in our contract geared toward special education teachers is that we can have up to 3 release days to write IEPs.

[JustMe]

This worries me because each job within a school has unique needs and requirements. Maybe each position should have language geared toward those?

[czacza]

Originally Posted by FourSquare

.

Anyway, our new contract has the following language for Special Ed:

• Special Ed teachers will be paid for IEP meetings outside contract hours, including missed preps.Outside contract hour compensation should apply to all teachers. Preps can be used for meetings in my district.
• Special Ed classrooms must not be clustered together and must be of comparable quality to Gen Ed classrooms. (AKA you can't put SPED kids in a closet anymore. Or in a trailer out back.)
• Special Ed teachers will not be required to do unassigned duties outside of Special Ed. (like recess monitoring, morning duty, etc.)Just curious, why?
• Special Ed teachers will have a district web site with resources specifically for Special Ed.ALL teachers in my district ave a webpage linked thru the shool website
• $500,000 grant will be applied towards caseload reduction and assuring Special Ed teachers are in legal compliance with their numbers.Was this grant written specifically for SPED dept?
• All clinicians will be provided a proper workspace with something that locks.
• All clinicians and Special Ed teachers will be provided testing/diagnostic materials in a timely manner. Materials will be re-filled as needed.
• Paraprofessionals will be provided direct professional decelopment on working with students who have Autism.
• Administrators are "encouraged" to use substitutes for teachers who need time writing IEPs.
• Substitutes in Special Ed must have at least 8 credit hours of Special Ed background.Do you ave a big enough pool of subs who meet this requirement?

!

Was your contract passed? My district has the same contract for all facuity, but different job descriptions.

[chicagoturtle]

Originally Posted by czacza

Was your contract passed? My district has the same contract for all facuity, but different job descriptions.

Yes our contract was passed.

We have the same general contract, but there are special "sections" of the contract for many different disciplines which include special education teachers, librarians, elementary school teachers, clinicians, counselors, nurses, assistants, drivers Ed, etc.

We don't have enough subs in the district period at the moment, so I doubt we have enough certified SPED teachers that are subs, however, I do know there have been a few meetings of retired sped teachers to get them to sign up for subbing, I assume because if this.