North Livingston County Elementary

North Livingston County Elementary

Faculty/Staff Handbook

2015-2016

WORK DAY (Set your clocks by your cell phone)

The workday at NLES begins at 7:15 a.m. on days when you are assigned extra duty. Otherwise, teachers are to be at school no later than 7:30 a.m. At 7:40, teachers should be standing in the hallway ready for your students to enter. The workday ends when all students have left the building. All employees are required to sign in and out each day, when entering and exiting the building. This allows office personnel to know if you are in the building, should you receive a phone call, etc., and is also a safety check.

Classified employees should be in their assigned area(s) as determined by the appropriate supervisor. Normal hours for instructional assistants are 7:55 am to 3:05 pm with a thirty minute lunch period except for days of early duty.

EXTRA DUTY

All teachers who work at North Livingston Elementary are requested to have extra duty in the morning. This will include gym duties, breakfast duty, parent drop off duty, and bus door/hallway duty. Teachers may vote to have the early duty schedule “rotated” which would mean that their duty responsibilities would vary from week-to-week.

Bus duty consists of being outside at 7:15 a.m. monitoring the unloading of buses as well as greeting students as they enter the building. The principal will monitor bus duty every morning. In the principal's absence, the secretary will inform one teacher in the gym to cover bus duty for that particular morning. Breakfast duty consists of monitoring student behavior as well as assisting students in the cafeteria. Primary students use the first set of double doors and the intermediate students use the second set of doors and will sit at respective tables on that side of the cafeteria. Gym duties require two teachers monitoring student behavior. Teachers in the gym should stand on opposite sides of the gym and provide feedback to students regarding behavior and voice level. Students are allowed to talk at a Level II until a few minutes before dismissal. At that time, the students should be directed to go to a Level 0. Once the 7:40 bell rings, one teacher in the gym will move to the “T” area to monitor students exiting the gym. The remaining teacher shall release students class-by-class quickly but quietly and on level 0.. Students of teachers that are on duty any given morning should be released last. Students are to remain on Level 0 until they reach their room. Teachers not on duty should wait for their class outside their door so that they can greet their students.

Instructional assistants will be assigned duty in the afternoons either in the hallways or at the parent pick-up circle to assure the safety of children as they leave the building.

P.T.O MEETINGS

There are seven scheduled meetings throughout the school year. I would like for you to attempt to attend as many meetings as you can. In order to receive an accomplished on Domain 4 (Professional Responsibilities), you will need to attend the Fall Festival and PTO meetings. PTO attendance should be at least every 3 months as per a rotational cycle that can be established by your PLC. The goal is to have at least 5 certified teachers in attendance for each PTO meeting. It is the responsibility of the PLCs to determine the PTO attendance schedule.

TEACHER/ STAFF ABSENCES

Teachers should not be absent without proper notification. To secure a substitute teacher, utilize the instructions for the AESOP system. You will need your pin number to access the program. .Please secure your sub as early as possible, but no later than 7:00 AM. You will need to log your absence appropriately in the School CheckIN system. If you are in need of an extended sick leave, you must complete appropriate paperwork for BOE approval. This paperwork is available from the secretary. Substitutes for extended absences must be approved by the principal.

Substitutes - To facilitate order in your classroom during your absence be sure to furnish the substitute with clear and definite assignments. Also, you need to leave in an obvious place a substitute folder containing the following:

1. Grade book and seating chart.

2. Your daily schedule.

3. Location of books, A.V. equipment needed.

4. General expectations and classroom rules.

5. Name and room number of a colleague who might help a substitute teacher.

If you are aware in advance that you are going to be absent, please let the secretary and the principal know, either by text, hard copy or e-mail, if it will be a personal day or a sick day, and the name of the substitute you have secured for the day. Verbal requests will not be accepted. The principal shall approve personal days at least two weeks in advance.

All appointments and errands should be done after the school hours; however, if you must leave early or at any time during the day, please make arrangements with the secretary or the principal. If you need to come in late or leave early, a principal courtesy may be granted on a limited baisis at his/her discretion. However, expect that a ½ day will need to be taken on most occasions.

COMMUNICATION

Announcements - Staff members wishing to have announcements made are to hand them to the office secretary in written form prior to 7:43 am. Announcements will be read during the morning report.

Daily Memo – We will have the “Star Communicator” delivered to your e-mail, usually either very early in the morning or the night before. Should you have information that needs to be included, send the announcement, in written form, to the office secretary/principal the day before you need it published. Please check your e-mail for the Communicator before each school day.

Mail Boxes - The mail boxes are located in the main office. Please check your mail box in the morning and before leaving for the day. Please do not send students to pick up your mail, as the mail boxes contain confidential information. Please clean your mailbox regularly.

Text messages- The principal will use group SMS messaging to communicate about various issues. Please make sure that the principal is aware of any telephone number changes.

Telephone: Teachers will not be called from class to receive phone calls unless it is an emergency. Otherwise, a message will be sent to you at the end of the day when Mrs. Ann delivers bus slips.

Email - Each teacher has email capabilities. Please check your e-mail daily!

ATTENDANCE AND TARDIES

On-line attendance will be used to report daily attendance. Attendance needs to be submitted by 8:15 am. Should a student arrive in your classroom after 7:43 a.m., please make sure that the student signed in the office. Each student that signed in will have a tardy slip, signed by the school secretary. If a student does not have the slip, please send him/her to the office to get one. This will help us to take accurate attendance counts. The secretary will record any other attendance event that occurs during the school day.

COMMITTIES/MEETINGS

It is required that each teacher be an active member of a building level committee. A list of committees and their functions/responsibilities will be available at the beginning of each school year. It is the committee chairperson’s duty to ensure that the committee tasks are being completed in a timely manner.

Faculty meetings will be held once per month and/or as needed. Our meetings dates will be communicated to you by e-mail. All certified employees must attend. These meetings will be devoted to implementing professional practices in our school. Housekeeping tasks will be communicated in e-mail and generally not during faculty meetings.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES/PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES

NLES is committed to the concept of Professional Learning Communities. As such, it is imperative that all staff members embrace this concept and make changes accordingly. If you are new to the PLC concept, it will be important to familiarize yourself with the information. Please see the principal for professional materials that may help you with this. Teacher leaders have been assigned to each of the PLC groups. These leaders are responsible for determining weekly agendas, documenting the meetings and making sure the required content is discussed in PLCs.

Every staff member will be working toward raising student achievement through effective instructional practices. To do this, each grade level is expected to follow the pacing guide for all core subjects. This pacing guide not only serves as a guide for when you should cover concepts, but also how long you should spend on concepts. Staff will identify essential skills, which will place importance on some grade level expectations. When these essential skills are identified, the staff member will continue to teach these concepts until all students in the classroom have mastered these skills. Essential skills do not have a timeline. They are taught until mastery!

SMART goals will be developed for each grade level based on certain identified essential skills. All goals will be written in the SMART goal format. Each grade level will develop a SMART goal for reading, and math. We will measure improvement through our common assessments and data sharing in PLCs.

DAILY CLEAN UP

Please make sure that students pick up all trash and articles from the floor in the afternoon. This teaches responsible behavior. The janitor is to vacuum or sweep, not pick up trash and other items that are left on the floor.

LONG DISTANCE PHONE CALLS

We urge you to use cell phones for all personal calls during scheduled breaks. Please do not use your cell phone in the hallway or in the presence of students. School related calls will be paid by the school.

STAFF EVALUATIONS

The purpose of teacher evaluation is improvement of instruction. Formal performance-based evaluation will be conducted as per school board policy and pursuant to the district Certified Evaluation Plan. Administrators will conduct informal teacher evaluations on a continuous basis. Supervision will be conducted in a constructive, candid, fair, and realistic manner. The principal will formally evaluate teaching performance of nontenured faculty each year; all tenured faculty will be evaluated every 3 years.

Teacher Professionalism

Dress - The school administration believes that teacher dress affects student performance. Students view their teachers as PROFESSIONAL role models. As such, teachers are expected to dress professionally as befits their teaching activity. Teacher dress should follow student dress code as well. Dressy jeans may be worn to school as long as they are of a professional nature.

Behavior - Classroom behavior by the teacher should teaching by example. Proper language, gestures, emotional control and mannerisms should be a role model for students.

Staff Ethics and Conduct - Please remember that the welfare of the child is the first concern of the school. It is the responsibility of the staff members to support programs and activities when in public. The philosophy for all staff, including administrators, is kids come first. At times you may have a concern regarding another staff member. If this situation arises, please ensure that your disagreements and conversations are executed in a discrete location out of the earshot of the students. Should you have a concern regarding a staff member, please be sure to follow the chain of command, which first includes addressing your concerns with the individual with which you have a concern. Talking about staff members behind backs and/or in the lounge is unacceptable and leads to problems. When making criticism of staff members, or a particular program in general, it should be done in a professional manner and to an administrator.

Staff members are to be faithful and prompt in attendance, support and enforce board and building regulations, turn in reports on time, attend meetings as scheduled by the administration, look out for the safety and welfare of all students, dress professionally, refrain from using language, gestures, and mannerisms that are rude or profane, and use the faculty lounge for its intended purpose.

Teachers’ kids should follow all school rules and procedures before, during and after school hours. This includes following the same arrival, breakfast and dismissal routines. Teachers’ kids may be dismissed to their parent’s homeroom when the last bus is called. Teachers’ kids who stay after school should follow the same procedures and routines as they would follow during the school day (walking in the hallway, etc.).

Cell phones should be turned off so as not to interfere with the educational environment. Please refrain from making personal phone calls or texting unless it is your break time. Personal social media should never be done on school hours. If you must make an emergency phone call, please feel free to call the office to get coverage for your class.

Confidentiality - Professional communication of educators requires no discussion of individual students and their problems in non-professional situations. The teacher's lounge and public places such as the ball field, Dollar General, or Wal-Mart are inappropriate locations for these discussions.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS AND GUESTS

Guests are welcome in our school building. In order for these guests to be received properly, the office should be notified in advance. All guests are required to sign in the office and receive a visitor's pass before reporting to the classroom. Volunteers should fill out a volunteer policy sheet and submit a background check. These forms are available in the office. Teachers should schedule parent volunteers according to what best suits the classroom needs.

BE NICE AND WELCOME PARENTS TO OUR BUILDING. IF A PARENT WANTS TO VOLUNTEER, LET THEM! Please note: parent volunteers are NOT to grade papers or have access to private student data. This is a FERPA violation. Do not allow parents to enter student grades into Infinite Campus. Parent volunteers are not to be left alone with children. Any parent or volunteer that is given supervisory responsibilities must first have a background check.