It is interesting that this conversation has taken a turn from planning time to compensation of salaried and hourly paid teachers. I have worked in many settings as a teacher. Many of which provided paid planning time. There is an assumption however that teachers (salaried or not) will be able to run a classroom, even with planning time that is inadequate. Who can decide what is inadequate? It all depends on what the demands are on your teachers.
Are they planning for themselves or a team (assistant teacher etc)?
Do they need time to communicate with parents or other specialists?
Do they need to provide documentation, how much?
Do they send a newsletter on a regular basis?
Do they need to write yearly developmental reports?
You can probably think of other items that are important for your center as well
If you make a list of what your teachers are responsible for, you can probably then come up with how much time they need. I would also ask input from the teachers to see what kind of tasks they would they use their planning time for.
I think what many teachers complain about is that they are not getting paid enough to begin with and then they don't get time to plan for what they want to do.
My salaried staff is exempt. My hourly staff gets paid for work and meetings. Everybody gets planning time daily.
There is probably not one magic number, but it will depend on what your staff is responsible for.
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Janet Bauer
Director
Windy Hill School
Colby-Sawyer College
New London, NH
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-09-2019 10:38 PM
From: Nora Krieger
Subject: Teacher Planning Time
When I was a Director, our teachers were considered exempt. They were all State certified teachers with a minimum of a BA. on the other hand, the assistant teachers who were not certified teachers and did not have a BA and specialized knowledge were paid by the hour and thus paid for all hours that they worked no matter if it was during the school day or in the evening or on weekends.
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Nora Krieger, PhD
Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
Highland Park, NJ
Original Message:
Sent: 11-09-2019 06:06 PM
From: Amy Gottschamer
Subject: Teacher Planning Time
Hi Nora,
I should have clarified, in most cases Early Childhood Teachers are not considered 'teachers' from the Dept. of Labor's perspective. The exemption there would be if they work in a school district or perhaps a lab school at a University, were required to have a bachelor's degree for instance. But generally community based preschools/childcare centers do not hire staff the DOL would consider exempt based on specialized knowledge. They also are looking for people that are more in the category of administration or managers. Does the person have the ability to make decisions concerning the program? Is the person in question, responsible for hiring and firing? Basically, is this person regularly in charge? In community based programs this is not usually the case for our classroom teachers. If anyone on this thread, has a question or concern, I would contact the US DOL directly and explain your situation, to make sure.
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Amy Gottschamer
Executive Director
Googols of Learning Child Development Center
Lawrence KS
Original Message:
Sent: 11-09-2019 05:44 PM
From: Nora Krieger
Subject: Teacher Planning Time
Amy - Thanks for the information that you put out. The question as to whether a teacher is exempt depends on a number of issues.
In my search on Google, I discovered that teachers are exempt if . . . The issue that puts them in this category is one of expertise among other characteristics. So the answer is it all depends. Are your teachers highly educated and have specialized knowledge? Do they earn enough per week to be considered "exempt"? Do they have to use discretion and judgment in their work? Are they paid hourly or are they paid a salary?
Below is what I learned from my Google search.
"Exempt professional employees include lawyers, physicians, teachers, architects, registered nurses and other employees performing work requiring advanced education or training. These typically are intellectual jobs requiring specialized education and involving the use of discretion and judgment."
Exempt Employees vs. Nonexempt Employees - FindLaw
https://employment.findlaw.com › wages-and-benefits › exempt-employees-..
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Here is another definition that goes further:
Who qualifies as exempt employee?
BREAKING DOWN Exempt Employee
"Exempt employees are paid not for the hours worked but rather for the work that they performed. In order for an employee to be considered exempt they must use discretion and independent judgment at least 50 percent of the time and must earn more than $455 per week. (Jul 2, 2018)"
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And further still -
"What is a professional exemption?
A learned professional is an employee who is paid on a salary basis, earns above the FLSA exemption threshold weekly or annually, and performs primary job duties that include work requiring advanced knowledge in the field of science or learning that was acquired through a prolonged course of specialized intellectual ...Nov 8, 2016"
FLSA Learned Professional Exemption: How to Determine if ...
https://www.fuseworkforce.com › blog › flsa-learned-professional-exemptio...
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Nora Krieger, PhD
Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
Highland Park, NJ
Original Message:
Sent: 11-09-2019 05:19 PM
From: Amy Gottschamer
Subject: Teacher Planning Time
I would make sure everyone is VERY clear on the US Dept of Labor laws. I am not an expert, but I can tell you that generally teachers are not considered exempt employees, even if they are on salary, and thus you are responsible for paying overtime. If they work from home, you must pay them for it. If they come in after hours for an event or you require them to attend a weekend conference or training, you have to pay them for their time. In some cases you must pay them for the cost of their training or travel to that training. If attending evening events or even planning from home puts them over 40 hours, you must pay them time-and-a-half for every extra hour over 40. Even if you have an agreement with a teacher that they'll receive a salary based on a number of hours more than 40, you still have to pay time-a-half, (at the higher rate). I only mention this because it is very common for teachers of every age group to work from home and they put in way more than 40 hours. We have our teachers document any time they spend outside of the classroom, how long and what they were doing. Please make sure you are familiar with the Wage and Hour laws. https://www.dol.gov/whd/
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Amy Gottschamer
Executive Director
Googols of Learning Child Development Center
Lawrence KS
Original Message:
Sent: 11-05-2019 04:40 PM
From: Elizabeth Miner
Subject: Teacher Planning Time
I wanted to get a feel for what other programs use as a best practice number of hours outside the classroom per week teachers are provided to plan, document, and communicate with families for a five day, full-day program. How many hours per week do teachers in your program use? Is out of the classroom time split between all members of the teaching team or mainly to the lead teacher?
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Elizabeth Miner
Ames IA
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