Unit 76 Staff Handbook To The Employee: In order to fully inform our staff, the district administrative team offers this document of guidelines that are common to all of the Unit 76 staff members. Please read over thoroughly to familiarize yourself with the rules and procedures that form the basis of expectations that are held for each of our employees. It will be assumed that employees will consult this document and become familiar with the regulations and procedures listed in it. Staff Duties/Responsibilities Each position in District 76 has its duties and expectations delineated in a job description, which is on file in the office of each building. It is the responsibility of each staff member to know the duties associated with the position they hold. It is the responsibility of each building administrator to be sure staff members have a copy of the updated job description for their position, or have access to an updated copy. Building administrators are responsible for reviewing job descriptions for the staff positions in their buildings and update as needed. Every employee of District 76 has an obligation for the supervision and safety of students and enforcement of discipline. Staff members will be acquainted with the disciplinary guidelines that govern the buildings in which they work and the general rules that apply throughout the District. Staff Absences/Arranging for a Substitute Each building principal has established a procedure to follow when a staff member needs to arrange for a substitute. In the case of pre-arranged absences, staff members are encouraged to arrange for a substitute as far in advance as possible. In the case of illness it is understood that early notification is impractical. It will be the responsibility of each staff member, both certified and non-certified, to prepare for a substitute. Certified staff will need to have a copy of pertinent information available for a substitute. Such information may include, but is not limited to: seating charts emergency drill information persons to contact in case of emergencies classroom/course rules daily schedule Non-certified staff may have available information for a substitute that could include: daily schedule duties to perform persons to contact if questions or emergencies should arise All employees who are absent on a work day are required to submit an absence in TimeclockPlus that lists the days and/or hours that were not worked due to absence, and indicate the reason for the absence. Use of District Vehicles/Arranging for Student Trips 1 All district-owned vehicles, including school buses and district Suburban are supervised and maintained by the district Transportation Department. Use of any of these must be arranged with the district Transportation Director or his/her designee. Budgetary or funding constraints may force the district administration to limit the number of field trips that will be funded by the school district. Staff members always will be given the option of procuring outside funding for a field trip in lieu of cancelling the experience. Buses/Field Trips Any staff member who needs to arrange for a bus for a student trip will fill out a district transportation request form and submit it to their building administrator for approval, after approval, request should be entered into Transfinder and submitted to the Transportation Director. Any request that is not totally completed, or lacks an administrator approval, will be sent back to the respective building for completion. All field trip requests must be accompanied by the educational objectives that will be met by the trip. Trips by Student Groups that are not Field Trips If a student organization, club, or other student group is requesting transportation for a group trip, the request will be made by the group’s faculty sponsor/representative and submitted to the appropriate building principal. Such trips are not educationally related and will not be totally paid for with district funds. It will be the responsibility of the group to pay for a driver and to pay for any fuel used in excess of that which was originally in the vehicle. Every school vehicle will start each approved trip with a full tank of fuel. Suburban Any non-custodial staff member may arrange in advance for school-related use of the district suburban by submitting a request in Transfinder. Custodial and administrative staff may arrange for use of the truck, or trailer by calling the Maintenance Director at 446-6081. The guidelines for paying for school vehicle usage that has been previously noted will apply as well to the suburban, truck, and trailer. Any staff member wanting to schedule use of these vehicles must be given approval by an administrator and arrange their use with the transportation department. Anyone using a district suburban or truck must fill out the Mileage Log sheet, which is found in each vehicle. Note: District policy prohibits any non-school use of school equipment. This prohibits any personal use of school vehicles by district employees. Purchasing Procedure o Staff Members submit a requisition using WebLink to the building principal o If approved, it will then be submitted to the bookkeeper to check fund balance. o It will then be submitted to the Superintendent for approval. o Then submitted to Sheila Odle, purchaser, to be ordered. 2 Special Situations o Any other special purchase situations are to be approved by an administrator prior to any purchase, lease, or rental transaction. Conferences and Workshops Conference Request Forms Any staff member wishing to attend an educational conference or workshop must fill out a Conference Request Form and submit it to the building principal for approval. Approved request forms are sent to the Unit Office for final approval. The staff member will receive a copy of the request form indicating whether or not it has been approved. Reimbursement of Conference/Workshop Expenses Staff members wanting reimbursement for approved conference expenses must fill out an Expense Reimbursement Form. Receipts must be attached for all expenses for which reimbursement is being requested, and round trip mileage should be listed. Expense Reimbursement Forms are submitted to the building principal for initial approval, who will then send them on to the Unit Office for approval by the Superintendent. Conference reimbursements are paid on the next payroll date. Special Note: “Normal conference expenses” do not include the purchase price of books, educational materials, manipulatives, etc., not required for conference participation. Staff must request a pre-approved Purchase Order from their building principal. The principal will set a purchase limit for each request that is approved. These transactions will be charged to the “Educational Supplies” budget line. Employee Workdays/Hours The current Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article XV-Section A, illustrates the number of days and full workday hours for non-certified staff. Teaching staff hours are established by the principal of each building and will not (under the 2018-2020 Bargaining Agreement) exceed 7 ½ total hours in a normal working day. Certified staff members are expected to attend Open Houses, Parent-Teacher Conferences, and any other events held after the school day that the principal feels is necessary for educational improvement, direct communication to staff, or providing communication to the parents/guardians. The Superintendent will issue a schedule of times that certified staff will be dismissed on student attendance days that students will not be in school a full day. All staff will work the established days and hours associated with their positions. Non-Certified Staff (ESP) Work Year Maintenance/Custodians, Custodians, Transportation Coordinator, and Unit Office staff are 12-month employees whose work year will begin July 1 and end June 30 each year. Teacher assistants, library assistants, student personal assistants, and Cooks/Cafeteria Workers work nine months (186 days). Secretaries work either 10 months (44 weeks) or 11 months (48 weeks), as is noted in the Negotiated Agreement. The Superintendent will issue a work year calendar for all ESP in the bargaining unit that work 9, 10, or 11 months. Certified Staff Work Year 3 The contractual work-year for certified staff will begin with the opening In-Service Day that begins the school-year calendar and will end with the official last day of student attendance/report card distribution day. School Improvement Work Sessions (1/2 Days)/Early Dismissal Days On half-day school improvement work sessions all staff will be expected to work the normal hours that are assigned to their positions. On days that have early student dismissal that have been pre-scheduled (first day of attendance for K-9, first week of attendance for all students, staff In-Service days, etc) all staff members will work the hours assigned to their positions. Staff Evaluation The Board of Education of Unit 76 and the Unit 76 Education Association will jointly develop an evaluation program that will be used to assess employee performance. Certified Staff Non-tenured certified staff will be evaluated a minimum of once every semester until tenure status has been determined. Each evaluation will cover a minimal period of time that is defined in the evaluation plan, but will be no less than one class period. Tenured staff will be evaluated a minimum of once every two years. Each evaluation will cover a minimal period of time that is defined in the evaluation plan, but will be no less than one 30-minute period of time. Non-Certified (ESP) Staff Non-certified staff will be evaluated a minimum of once every year. The evaluation period for non-certified staff will cover the performance over the entire work year up until the time of the evaluation. The administrator performing the evaluation may seek input from certified staff members who work with non-certified staff at each school as to their overall quality of work.