Local Union's Advocacy Gets Results: Fort Bend ISD Directs Administrators to Respect Planning Periods  

 

State law clearly guarantees to teachers 450 minutes of individually controlled planning and preparation time over a two-week period, with that time to be provided in increments of no less than 45 minutes. But the law is not self-enforcing. When administrators fail to respect this law, somebody has to stand up to them.

 

That's where local AFT unions like the Fort Bend Employee Federation come in. Faced with this type of situation, the union in Fort Bend ISD filed a group grievance on September 3 on behalf of its members. Now comes word from Karrie Washenfelder, president of the Fort Bend local, that the union's effort has succeeded in a big way. In response to the grievance filing, the Fort Bend ISD administration has sent out a directive to all campus administrators to comply with the law, and the district directive makes clear exactly what that means.

 

Thus, the Fort Bend ISD directive states (correctly) that state law requires, among other things, the following:

 

--"The planning period must be at least 45 minutes in length."
--"Planning periods must be held during the instructional day (i.e., the seven-hour school day when students are present)."
--"Planning and preparation periods must not be scheduled during a teacher's lunch period."
--"The District cannot impose requirements on teachers during their conference periods."
--"The teacher is relieved of any duty, aside from his or her instructional preparation and planning duties, during this period of time."
--"The administration is prohibited from requiring the teacher to engage in any activity (other than independent planning and preparation) that the administration determines to be useful and important. This includes attendance at any group session, meetings, or trainings. No exception is made for group session, meetings, or trainings that the administration considers to be related to planning and preparation."
–"So long as attendance is voluntary, a school is free to schedule and a teacher is free to attend group sessions, meetings, or trainings. A teacher may choose to give up his or her planning and preparation period to attend such a group session, meeting, or training; however, these activities cannot be required."

 

Congratulations are due to President Karrie Washenfelder and the Fort Bend Employee Federation on winning this complete vindication of teachers' right to planning and preparation time as mandated by state law.