K-5 Job Shares

                                                                                    

BFT has developed this list of tips and frequently asked questions in order to assist our members in job shares.                                                                                           

TIPS:

  • Sit down with your job share partner early on to count up the actual school days (setting aside holidays, etc.) in the school year (or whatever period of time the job share encompasses) to assign the correct proportion of days to each person.  Because of Monday and Friday holidays and Staff Development days the weekly schedule may need to be adjusted at times in order to balance out the actual teaching days.

  • Decide how prep time will be divided.

  • Decide early on how Back-to-School night and Open House will be handled and what each person’s responsibilities will be.

  • Make a plan for how report cards, parent conferences, ELD forms, SST's and placement cards will be handled.  You may want to divide these in keeping with the percentages of the job share.  For example, in a 1st grade class one person could do 60% of the report cards (12), and one person could do 40% (8).

  • Talk about how special projects (family nights, dramatic productions, home reading programs, weekly newsletters, etc.) will be handled.  These may require commitment by both teachers.

  • Discuss how each partner will share information from staff meetings with the other person.  For more on staff meetings see the FAQ’s below.

  • If possible, design some overlap in your schedules so that students see the two of you in the classroom together (one of you doing prep while the other teaches).  This gives kids a real understanding that the two of you work as a team and talk things over with each other.  You get to see the lessons and management styles of each other, which makes the curriculum and classroom environment more cohesive.  Wednesdays are often a natural day of overlap.

  • Remember to compliment the skills of your co-teacher with both students and parents.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Q: Am I required to attend all staff meetings?

A: Part-time teachers at .80 FTE or more are to attend all required meetings that a 1.0 FTE teacher would attend.  Part-time teachers at less than .80 FTE are to attend required meetings in proportion to their part-time FTE status (e.g. a .75 FTE teacher is required to attend 75% of required meetings).  Part-time teachers at less than .60 FTE shall meet with principals at the beginning of the school year to mutually determine a staff meeting attendance schedule and to mutually agree on the process whereby the part-time teacher will stay fully informed of staff meeting information.  (See BFT/BUSD Contract Article 11.2.8.)

Q: Are part-time teachers expected to attend Staff Development Days?

A: Part-time teachers are to attend staff development days and to submit a time sheet for hours in attendance beyond their part-time status (i.e. a 50% FTE teacher would submit a time sheet for all hours in attendance beyond 3.5 hours).  Part-time teachers will be paid for extra staff development day hours at the per diem rate so long as the State continues to specifically fund the Staff Development Days.  (See BFT/BUSD Contract Article 23.4)