Overview:

Time is a crucial element to giving our students a high quality education. Educators need time to prepare lesson plans that best meet the needs of their students, collaborate with their fellow educators, grade student work, analyze student learning data, implement new professional development strategies, reach out to parents, and the list goes on.

Recently, members of the Kenosha Education Association distributed a survey and found that 78% of elementary school educators said they did not have enough time in their standard work week to craft lesson plans that best meet the individual needs of their students. The findings from this survey are similar to the results of a KUSD survey conducted in February of 2016 in which 65% of educators said that teacher prep time is the most important use of non-instructional time.

Solution:

Members of the Kenosha Education Association have worked with their colleagues to identify some positive, proactive, and reasonable solutions that can help solve this issue and give educators more time to prepare for the needs of their students. They have crafted these solutions into a resolution for the KUSD School Board members to consider and pass. The full text of this resolution can be read below.

Action:

If you believe that educators need more time to prepare for the needs of their students, here are the next steps you can take:

1. Sign this Petition - Enter your information in the boxes on the right to sign this petition and register your support for this resolution to give educators more time to prepare for the needs of their students.
2. Come to the School Board Meeting - Educators, parents, and community members are organizing to attend the regular KUSD School Board meeting on at 7PM on March 28th. Click the box on the petition and we'll be in contact with you with more details.

Proposed Resolution Language:

WHEREAS, it is the right of every child to have a high quality, public education;

WHEREAS, the quality of that education is dependent on a highly qualified staff providing effective and meaningful instruction for their students;

WHEREAS, it is a well-established fact that the quality of instruction is directly related to students’ teachers being provided adequate preparation time to create effective and meaningful lessons, as well as tailor them to the specific needs of their individual classes and students;

WHEREAS, regardless of professional obligations, responsibilities mandated by building level administrators and the District, and other clerical duties; it is critical to provide adequate independently led time to teachers so students can benefit from personalized instruction;

WHEREAS, educational personnel are often the primary sources of support, resources, and information to assist and support students and student learning, which includes their emotional health;

WHEREAS, the District has a responsibility to ensure that teachers are given the additional time needed to work with their colleagues to improve student achievement;

AND WHEREAS, the Kenosha Unified School District distributed a survey in February of 2016 that determined 65 percent of staff prioritized teacher prep time as the most important use of non-instructional time;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that on the Fridays designated below, all non-student contact time is to be independently led and not to be used as PLC or PD time, for preparation and planning purposes, which includes but is not limited to, planning lessons to best meet the individual needs of their students, grading papers, contacting parents, reviewing student cumulative folders and/or instructional material or activities, developing strategies to implement professional development courses, and/or other instructional tasks to be determined by the teacher;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in months with 5 Fridays no fewer than 4 Fridays be entirely independently led by the teacher for preparation and planning purposes during non-student contact time.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that months with 4 Fridays no fewer than 3 Fridays be entirely independently led by the teacher for preparation and planning purposes during non-student contact time.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that months with 3 Fridays no fewer than 2 Fridays be entirely independently led by the teacher for preparation and planning purposes during non-student contact time.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that months with 2 Fridays no fewer than 1 Friday be entirely independently led by the teacher for preparation and planning purposes during non-student contact time.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that months with 1 Friday no fewer than 1 Friday be entirely independently led by the teacher for preparation and planning purposes during non-student contact time.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the District declares that teachers may be required to attend no more than two (2) faculty meetings per month and that, if required to attend, hourly employees are fully compensated for time spent in faculty meetings;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that elementary school teachers shall be given no less than one (1) months’ notice of when staff meetings, professional development, or in-service days are scheduled;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the District provide employees a means to evaluate the preparation, content, delivery, and relevance of all professional development sessions and that the cumulative evaluations of these sessions be provided to employees upon request;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that if the professional development session is not applicable to an educator’s job duties, that attendance to the professional development session be optional.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the District implement and enforce these changes no later than September 5th of the 2017-2018 school year.