Background

The Division believes support staff performance is enhanced when clearly stated working conditions are outlined.

Procedures

1.      Grid Placement

Staff members who have two years of post-secondary training from a recognized institution in an area that is directly applicable to the duties of the support staff member are to be placed at level 3(c) of the support staff grid. Some points of clarification are:

1.1              These two years would be a two-year diploma or degree program or two separate one year certificated programs. 

1.2              It would be the responsibility of the staff members to provide Central office with official documentation of this training.

1.3              A person could not rise to this level through the accumulation of smaller PD events such as workshops and in-services.

2.      Job Security

We will create a group of staff members who we would consider to be hired “on a continuing basis”. The procedures may be as follows:

2.1              A staff member must work for a minimum of the equivalent of one full year (1000 hours minimum) to qualify for such status.

2.2              A staff member would require a positive formal evaluation done by their school administrator. This evaluation must include input from the professional staff that work with this staff member.

2.3              Schools are to be informed of their Special Education TA hours before the end of April.

2.4              Principals would be required to provide information to Division office listing those support staff members who would be retained and those who would not be retained. This information is to be received by Division Office by May 15. Division office would let those TAs know, in writing, before the end of May, if their services are not needed for the following fall. Copies of this notice would need to be forwarded to the Principal. It would be assumed that support staff members would be retained for the fall, if they had not been informed in writing by the end of May.

2.5              These staff members who are considered to be hired “on a continuing basis” would have their benefits in place over the summer months. Those who are not in this group would have their benefits discontinued over the summer.

2.6              We would request that support staff members, who are planning not to return, inform their principals before May 15. 

2.7              If a staff reduction is to be made at a school, the following points should cover the procedure:

2.7.1              Support staff members may be removed “with cause” if their performance is deemed to be unsatisfactory. There would be an expectation that the Principal would have made the staff member aware of these shortcomings and given them some time to make the required improvements. There would need to be some written evidence that this had taken place. Division office will need to be involved in this process before any staff member’s employment is terminated. This will require the involvement of the Assistant Superintendent (Personnel) or the Secretary-Treasurer.

2.7.2              There may need to be a reduction in Support Staff numbers as a result of enrolment changes and movement of individual special needs students. To determine who will not have a job in the fall, the following points need to be followed:

2.7.2.1        We must be aware of the needs of our programs in the schools and need to retain staffs that are able to deliver these programs. 

2.7.2.2        We must apply the basic rule “if the most senior staff members can do the job, then they should have it”. It would be the responsibility of the administrator to adjust assignments in order to best accommodate their staff members in order of seniority. This rule does not always recognize the fact that someone else may do a better job. 

2.7.2.3        The most senior person may not be retained if there is a belief that this person is not suitable for the assignment.

2.7.2.4        If a support staff member has “on a continuing basis” status and cannot be retained, the Principal would be required to contact Division office, prior to providing notice to the affected staff member, to discuss this problem so that a joint decision can be made. Principals should not be declaring support staff who have this “continuing” status as surplus, until they have had these discussions with Division office. As a Division, we would make every effort to place those staff members in other positions in other schools. If another position is offered and the staff member turns it down, then his/her place in the “on a continuing basis” status would be forfeited.

Reference:    Section 60, 61, 113, School Act