Archive: May 2002

Limitation on Number of Preparations - Secondary
By Steve Kaplan, UniServe Field Organizer

Article 8, Section 8.10 of the Collective Negotiations Contract is a short section with major implications for the master schedule at a secondary school. It reads in part:

"The District and the Association agree that the number of different preparations directly affects the work hours of the secondary classroom teachers. As recognition of this situation, the District agrees to limit the number of courses to be taught by a secondary classroom teacher to no more than three (3). Exceptions may be made to meet the needs of the site, as determined by the principal and approved by the division."

Whenever a classroom teacher is assigned more than three preps, the burden falls on the administrator to demonstrate the necessity for the assignment. Are the assignments equitable in the department and across departments? Would a simple switch between teachers in one or two periods create more equity in the number of preparations? Are there other teachers on site who are credentialed to teach the assigned courses and who have fewer preparations? The following scenario can illustrate some of these issues.

Teacher A has 2 preparations
Teacher B has 2 preparations
Teacher C has 4 preparations
This is not equitable.

If Teacher A and Teacher C switch their 4th period assignments equity is achieved or
If Teacher B and Teacher C switch their 6th period assignment equity is achieved.

In this case the assignment of 4 preparations to Teacher C would clearly violate the contract. Keep in mind the analysis is not always this straightforward.