It's Your contract; they're Your rights …
Duty Assignments During the Last 10 Minutes of the Day

In the past couple of weeks, questions on the topic of "assigned duties" between the times of 3:00 - 3:10 pm (elementary/primary and others) or 3:15 - 3:20 pm in the high schools, have resurfaced. In some cases, staff members are being assigned to hall, street or playground duties during these times. These duties violate our contract!

The contract agreement, with the clarification written by the fact-finder, states the following:

"In the elementary schools, five (5) minutes of teaching time and five (5) minutes of non-instructional time shall be added to the end of the day. "

As a result, our students' day went from 2:55 pm dismissal to 3:00 pm dismissal. You know that prior to the new agreement; staff had a five minute period after student dismissal to get their stuff together before they left for the day. This was non-assigned time. With the additional five (5) minutes of non-instructional time added, staff now has ten (10) minutes after the students are released (3:00 pm) until the staff dismissal.

The agreement further states:

"The non-instructional time shall be used for self-directed professional activities, e.g. meeting time, preparations time and the like. The District shall not assign duties during this non-instructional time." (Emphasis added)

Seems pretty clear, doesn't it? The students are dismissed for the day at 3:00 pm. Staff must stay ten (10) additional minutes in which they have self-directed professional activities. Straightening out your room, setting up for the next day, marking papers, meeting with your colleagues to discuss a student, taking ten minutes to speak with a parent who may have stopped by while picking up their child are all examples of the things YOU might choose to do in those ten minutes … not playground supervision, street supervision, hall duty, etc.

In the high schools, there shouldn't be any question about this time, since the extra time there is assigned to every period, so no additional after school time exists.

In the beginning of this school year, a staff member was assigned to street corner duty. While doing street duty, a driver lost control of her van, and ran into the staff member. He was taken to the hospital for his injuries. The District tried to say that his injuries were related to a previous accident and refused to pay for his treatments!!!! NO MEMBER SHOULD BE DOING SIDEWALK DUTY, STREET DUTY, CORNER DUTY OR ANY ASSIGNMENT THAT IS IN VIOLATION OF THE CONTRACT. NONE!!!! We are supposed to be in our rooms performing profession-related non-assigned tasks.

Hopefully, this will clear up any misinterpretations that may have been made in this area. Now when told to walk the streets during those 10 minutes, YOU KNOW BETTER !

Don't let Pogo Possum's mantra … "We have met the enemy and he is us"… be true in Paterson.

Stand up for your rights … Protect your contract. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.