Teachers press for clearer PD and planning time; PTO and mentoring issues raised

Teachers and district staff spent part of the session reviewing professional-development time, planning time, PTO structure, and mentoring definitions.

Teachers said two-hour early-release professional-development days often leave insufficient time during the workday to complete grading and planning responsibilities, particularly before holiday breaks. Several speakers said that expectation had the practical effect of shifting grading work to teachers’ personal time and asked the district to rethink how PD is scheduled or to clarify how grading and planning time should be used.

On leave policy, participants discussed trade-offs involved in switching to a PTO model, including concerns about carryover and how PTO interacts with retirement or final-pay calculations. Staff noted examples from other districts and said they would research language and bring more concrete suggestions.

Negotiators also clarified mentoring scope: the mentoring role discussed is not the full instructional-cycle mentor but a support contact for experienced teachers new to the district who need orientation to local systems (attendance, Skyward, district procedures). That definition would allow veteran teachers joining the district to receive targeted support without entering the full mentoring program.

Staff committed to gathering additional data on planning-time models and PTO consequences and to bring those findings back to the negotiating group at the next meeting.