Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
School District 55 teachers are asking the School Board to let them use the time children are engaged in PE classes for planning.
Representatives of the teachers approached the School Board during its regular meeting on Sept. 8 to ask the board to reverse a district practice that has the teachers either attending the PE session or find a classroom where their help may be needed.
There has been a little grumbling among teachers, who feel it is not the best use of their time, said Joyce Baugus, a Hawthorne teacher and former president of the Sweet Home Education Association.
When Mary Beth Angulo, an Oak Heights teacher, started working for the district 19 years ago, she said, the district had music twice a week and library once a week. That gave teachers time to plan; but budget cuts caused those to dwindle.
Now, in addition to their regular duties, Angulo said, teachers are expected to handle music curriculum as well, something easy for those with a music background but not so easy for those who don’t.
Teachers get 45 minutes a week for planning, Angulo said, but it doesn’t give them the time they need.
According to a memorandum of agreement between the district and teachers, elementary teachers receive 45 minutes per day after school with an additional 45-minute period once per week prior to the end of the children’s school day for planning and preparation. It allows limited exceptions for faculty meetings.
During the PE sessions, the requirement to spend time observing another teacher in PE or doing meaningless work in another classroom is offensive, Angulo said. Over the weekends, observers will see teachers’ cars parked in front of schools.
“Countless hours are spent at home scoring papers, infringing on valuable family time,” Angulo said, explaining teacher dedication. “Treat us all as professionals.”
Patricia Kagler, a teacher at Foster, said that, during 19 years of watching the ebb and flow of education trends, one trend is to help every child reach his or her potential. This trend has not proceeded without increasing pressure on teachers, increasing the responsibilities placed on the teachers.
A second trend, tied to budget cuts, exacerbates the problem, she said. That’s the loss of prep time with students spending less time with specialists. The students are also missing out on the skills they gleaned from the specialist time.
At one point, it was decided that all third-graders should know how to use a keyboard, she said. Now it’s back to “hunt and peck.”
A fifth-grade teacher may have 25 to 30 essays, she said, and teachers must grade each paper on six different traits, each trait judged independently of the others. At 10 minutes per paper, that’s 300 minutes. On top of that, teachers must work through work samples to meet state benchmarks.
“I’d like to know what’s going to happen when those two trends collide and the success of the teacher and the student plateaus,” she said. “You’ve got to start talking about teacher prep because we’re overloaded.’
PE teachers really don’t need another certified staff member during PE, Baugus said. Experienced elementary teachers are already familiar with PE, and observation provides nothing new to them. Finding work to do for another classroom takes time, requiring organization; and those teachers may not have work available anyway.
“We’re professionals, and we ask to be treated that way,” Baugus said.
“It’s my understanding that it’s part of the bargaining process,” Chairman Mike Reynolds said.
Baugus told him that she sees it as a separate issue, a policy issue coming from the board.
It’s not in the contract, she said, and the teachers don’t anticipate bargaining it in the contract.
“The board hasn’t set policy on the use of that time,” Reynolds said.
That was not what the teachers were told during in-service week, Baugus said.
He understands it’s a bargaining issue, Reynolds said. “We’re going to leave it at that tonight. Thank you for your input.”
The district and teachers bargaining teams did discuss the issue on Sept. 9, Supt. Larry Horton said, but it is not on the bargaining table.
What was determined during the bargaining session was that the PE time was not prep time but a special kind of time, Horton said.
As it stands, the PE time is “professional time” that teachers may use school by school the way staff and the principal agree is best, Horton said.
Some teachers may use it to observe the PE class, while others may use it to work with students, one-on-one or in groups to improve reading for example, Horton said. They may help other teachers with assessments.
“The staf and administration agree you can work on A, B, C or D that will help our students in our schools,” Horton said.