Article 9
Article 9 is about student discipline and educator assistance. This year there is new contract language intended to help educators and students know the rules and have more consistency when it comes to student expectations. Here are some of the most important protections provided in Article 9:
- Educators should participate in the development of behavior plans for students requiring a plan. Plans should be implemented with fidelity, progress monitored, and used to make data-based decisions (9-1-3).
- The district will maintain a Prevention & Intervention (P&I) manual that will be reviewed annually with a committee of stakeholders. The school’s collaborative committee, PBST, will be responsible for selecting and implementing tiered prevention, intervention and disciplinary strategies from the District P&I Manual (9-1-6)
- Before the first student contact day, educators will be provided with training on the prevention, intervention, and disciplinary processes from the District Prevention and Intervention Manual. Educators should receive training at least twice per year to support students’ behavioral needs (9-1-6-1).
- If a student has been removed from your class then a school administrator needs to talk to you to determine if you and/ or the student needs any additional support prior to returning to class. If the student has been removed from your class for disciplinary reasons two (or more) times, a behavior plan must be established per school board policy JKBA (9-1-6-4).
- Educators may submit requests for reimbursement for damage or loss of personal property and time spent over the 40-hour work week in repairing or replacing items (9-2).
You can also check out this great video by Vice President Dale Munholland going over the highlights of Article 9.
Do you believe your school is not following the contract language in Article 9? Talk to your AR about having a problem solving conversation with your school administrators to get on the right track now while your students are still learning the norms of school.
Leaves
We know navigating your leaves can be complicated, and we often get a lot of questions about how to take a long term leave to care for yourself, a family member, or when about to take maternity leave. The District Leaves of Absence webpage is a great resource for educators who need to take short term disability (STD), use FMLA, or access the state FAMLI benefit. Remember that educators are only paid for the 185 days of our contract year. If a leave extends into a break, you will not receive STD benefits for those days. If you have additional questions about taking a long term leave, you can always call the welcome center to be directed to a specialist on benefits or leave. The number is (303) 982-6515.
Note you will need to login to your Jeffco account to access the webpage linked above.