Grievants,
v.
WAYNE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION,
Respondent.
Grievants are fifty-three teachers from Spring Valley High School (Spring Valley), and twenty-nine teachers from Tolsia High School (Tolsia). (See footnote 1) The Spring Valley teachers filed their grievance against their employer, the Wayne County Board of Education (Board) on August 31. 1999, and the Tolsia teachers filed their grievance against the Board on September 13, 1999. The grievances are identical and state as follows:
Ex. A -
Ex. A -
Grievants presented the testimony of Wilt Salmons, Betty Hale, Linda Maynard,
Karen Alexander, Joy Chittum, Connie McCagg, Hugh Wright, Cheryl Howerton, Alicia
Spears, Phil Alexander, Pam Perdue, Robert Kilgore, and Theresa Stanley.
The Board presented the testimony of Betty Hale, Gary Adkins, James Hale, and
Barry Scragg.
1. Grievants are employed full-time by the Board as teachers at Spring Valley
High School and Tolsia High School.
2. During the 1998-99 school year, most class periods at Spring Valley and
Tolsia were 90 minutes in length, and teachers were allowed one 90-minute planning
period each day.
3. In December 1998, the Board voted that its high schools use a schedule
consisting of eight, 45-minute class periods, beginning with the 1999-2000 school year.
Most classes at Spring Valley and Tolsia now consist of two, 45-minute periods of
instruction; however, some classes consist of only one, 45-minute period. For those
classes which consist of two consecutive 45-minute periods of instruction, after the first 45
minutes of class a bell rings and the students are allowed a five minute break, after which
they return to the same class with the same teacher, and instruction in the same course
is resumed. These students receive one grade for the two 45-minute periods of instruction.
After 90 minutes of instruction, the students are excused to go to their next class. 4. The length of the usual class periods at Spring Valley and Tolsia are 90
minutes.
5. Each teacher at Spring Valley and Tolsia is provided a 45-minute planning
period each day.
6. Each teacher at Spring Valley and Tolsia also is provided a 45-minute duty
period immediately preceding or following the planning period. During this time teachers
may be called upon to cover a class for teachers who are late or absent. Should teachers
have to cover a class, they are only required to cover for the 45-minute time period
representing their duty period. Teachers who have not been called to cover during their
duty period use that period for planning, which gives them a total of 90 minutes of planning
time.
7. There are 93 teachers employed at Spring Valley, and during each 45-minute
period of time, 7 to 10 teachers have a duty period. When a teacher is absent, coverage
is rotated among the teachers on duty. Spring Valley Grievants Karen Alexander, Hugh
Wright, Alicia Spears, and Phil Alexander, have been assigned cover duty, and as of the
date of the level two hearing, had not yet been called on to cover. The policy regarding
calling out substitutes was to change shortly after that hearing, but no additional data was
provided by Spring Valley to document how many times those individuals have been called
to cover, if at all.
(See footnote 2)
8. Spring Valley Grievants Betty Hale and Connie McCagg are both librarians
and cover for each other during their duty periods.
9. Spring Valley Grievant Linda Maynard has after-school duty in the teachers'
parking lot. She has a 45-minute duty period during the day as well, and has voluntarily
covered a few times, but that is not her assigned duty.
10. Spring Valley Grievants Joy Chittum, Cheryl Howerton, and Pam Perdue,
have lunch duty every day. They do not have cover duty assigned to them.
11. While all of the Grievants did not testify, it appears that all of the Spring
Valley and Tolsia Grievants have a 30-minute duty free lunch.
12. It is not clear how many total teachers there are at Tolsia, but that school is
smaller than Spring Valley. Tolsia Grievant Robert Kilgore has cover duty, and had
covered for late or absent teachers approximately 31 times as of the date of the level two
hearing. Tolsia Grievant Theresa Stanley also has cover duty, and had to cover
approximately 28 times as of the date of the level two hearing.
13. By letter dated December 23, 1998, Assistant State Superintendent David
Steward provided Wilts Salmons, Wayne County Superintendent of Schools, with the
Department of Education's recommendations for correcting the near deficit situation Wayne
County had experienced for three years. There were many recommendations. One of the
recommendations was to curtail all nonessential expenditures for the remainder of the
1998-99 school year, including the use of substitute teachers, in order to try to prevent adeficit situation at the end of the school year. Other recommendations included reducing
the number of professional and service employees, reviewing all contracts over 200 days
and reducing extended contracts to the minimum amount necessary, reviewing overtime
policies, and exploring school consolidation. The Board has implemented a plan to reduce
the number of employees by 30 a year for three years.
14. During the 1998-99 school year, the Board exceeded the amount of money
reimbursed by the State Department of Education for substitutes by over $200,000.00, and
this overage was paid out of the Board's funds. The Board ended 1998-99 with a deficit
of about this amount. In addition, the Board is experiencing a shortage of substitute
teachers. The Board believes it has reduced the cost of employing substitute teachers with
the implementation of the 45-minute planning period and 45-minute duty period, and that
was one of the reasons this system was implemented. This system has also provided the
flexibility to offer some additional courses and allowed for better supervision of students
when they are in the hallways, and those were also reasons this system was implemented.
Accordingly, this grievance is DENIED IN PART, AND GRANTED IN PART. The
Wayne County Board of Education is ORDERED to make any and all necessary schedule
adjustments so that those Grievants who have lunch duty every day during their duty
period, and those who cover during their duty period a significant period of time, receive
60 uninterrupted minutes during the instructional day as a planning period. The Wayne
County Board of Education is further ORDERED to compensate those Grievants who have
lunch duty during their duty period, and those who cover a significant amount of their duty
periods, for all days during the 1999-2000 school year on which they were afforded less
than a 60 minute period which they could use for planning, based upon their daily rate of
pay.
Any party may appeal this decision to the Circuit Court of Kanawha County or to the
Circuit Court of the Wayne County. Any such appeal must be filed within thirty (30) days
of receipt of this decision. W. Va. Code § 18-29-7. Neither the West Virginia Education
and State Employees Grievance Board nor any of its Administrative Law Judges is a party
to such appeal, and should not be so named. However, the appealing party is required by
W. Va. Code § 29A-5-4(b) to serve a copy of the appeal petition upon the Grievance
Board. The appealing party must also provide the Board with the civil action number so
that the record can be prepared and properly transmitted to the appropriate circuit court.
__________________________________
MARY JO SWARTZ
Administrative Law Judge
Dated: March 16, 2000