Your Rights

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Know your rights Be Empowered

Knowing our rights empowers us to make decisions that are in the best interest of our students.

– Rachael Sonia

Elementary: Teachers are entitled to a minimum of 220 prep minutes per 5-day week calculated in at least 20-minute increments. If you have early release Wednesdays, you are entitled to a minimum of two consecutive hours of uninterrupted prep time on all modified Wednesdays.

Middle School: Teachers are entitled to a minimum of 225 prep minutes. Teachers are not required to attend Collaboration if the 225 minutes have not been met.

High School: Teachers are entitled to 450 minutes of prep time per two-week work period. At all levels, time spent in Collaboration is not considered prep time. All preparation is free from specific duty assignments—this is your time to plan and prepare.

Essential and Related Service Educators: All educators are guaranteed the same amount of prep time as teachers.

Called into your administrator's office?

These Are Your Weingarten Rights

If you are called into your principal’s office to be questioned about your conduct or a specific incident, and believe that this could lead to a reprimand, suspension or termination, you may assert your Weingarten Rights. In such cases, you can request the meeting be stopped and to have a union representative present when the meeting resumes later. You have the right to consult privately with the union representative before the meeting continues.

These Are Your Weingarten Rights

Required Meetings

Principals have 2 hours for every 20 working days, or one month, to schedule mandatory meetings outside the duty day. The two hours do not “roll over” to the next month.

Sick Leave Usage

Your sick leave is a guaranteed contractual right. You can take sick leave whenever you feel sick or to go to a doctor’s appointment at any time. If a principal suspects abuse of sick leave (usually indicated by a pattern of usage), she/he can ask for a doctor’s note.

A doctor’s note can be requested if a person misses 4 or more consecutive days, or if a person misses a Friday AND the following Monday.

Does your school have a special ed vacancy?

Additional compensation will be paid for services and responsibilities related to student IEPs of those students assigned to the teacher’s caseload, if the caseload exceeds the teacher’s contract, including any extensions for teaching during a prep period.

The additional compensation is based on caseloads as recorded in Synergy on official count dates (40^th day, 80^th day, 120^th day, EOY). Release Head Teachers are eligible for overload compensation for any caseload assigned to them.

At each of the official count dates listed above, the Special Education Department will calculate each employee’s excess caseloads using the Synergy FTE report run at 4:30 p.m. on the count day for active students. Payments will be submitted after each count date. This compensation is on pay stubs listed as in the “overload” category.

Comply Now. Grieve Later.

If administration is asking you to do something that is against your negotiated agreement, ATF advises members to comply at that time, then grieve later. First, let your administration know that they’re asking you to do something that’s against your contractual rights. Then, comply with the request and call your ATF Staff Rep.

Your Rights

Know your rights Be Empowered

530 Jefferson St NE Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108

(505) 262-2657

act@atfunion.org

Monday– Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

act@atfunion.org

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