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March 10th 1:45 Administration, School Board Auditorium

Agenda for meeting provided by Sherry Pianalto

Attendees: , Tonya Truitt, Maribel Tapia, Steven Smith, Rebeca Gonzalez, Maria Vazquez

Christina Napolitano, Janet Hornberger, Vicky Reed, Meranda Bowlin

Absent: Sherry Pianalto, Dawnel Bilderback, Jeremy White, Damon Donnell, Dee Hobbs

• • Maribel Tapia conducted the meeting in Sherry’s absence

  • February Minutes approved

  • Update on Google site, Google Form Input and S’more Newsletter

  • The Classified PPC site is live and linked under “Staff Links” on the district website.

  • Classified Input form is working but still needs to be tweaked to be sent to the correct dept. For now, all questions are sent to Maribel & she is routing them to the correct person to get response for Classified Personnel concerns.

  • Smore Newsletter is sent out to 2246 classified employees. It was opened 1099 times and has been visited more than 2700 times.

  • Staff PD-move to April meeting

  • Staff Evaluations-move to April meeting

  • Reading and Proofing PPC Bylaws- All PPC members that were present were given a draft of the bylaws. The draft was compiled by Sherry Pianalto from a previous meeting when the committee went through a copy of another district’s PPC bylaws and adapted it to work for our needs. The committee will review the draft and determine whether or not to adopt it at the April meeting. If approved the by-laws would be in effect for the 2022-2023 school year

  • Member Rotation-to be addressed in April (this is also part of the bylaws)

  • Where to get questions for classified staff that are not a policy question?

  • The answer given is “your supervisor”

  • The committee discussed concerns that in some instances the employee might not be able to speak to their supervisor due to the nature of the question. In that case where does the employee direct their question? Some departments have a clear chain of command to follow, whereas others do not.
    

  • The committee would like to be provided a clear chain of command for employees to follow when concerns arise. This would need to be tailored to each department.

• Salary Comparisons with the 4 big districts-moved to April

C. Knapp Elementary's Nutrition Team! Super Stars!

• What will early out Wednesdays look like for classified?
  

• Yet to be determined. (K.Hayes)

• Will classified staff be required to supervise students?
  

• Yes.(K.Hayes)

• Will the IA's be able to attend training or time to collaborate?
  

• Yet to be determined.(K.Hayes)

• Will building computer techs be able to use this time to work on technology related issues and get professional development or will this be another time when they are required to cover duties and supervise students?
  

• Yet to be determined. (K.Hayes)

• Classified contracts state the hours of 7:30-3:30. However, I have to be at my duty spot BY 7:20. I don't mind at all. I leave at 3:20 so no worries there. Since I have to be at my duty spot by 7:20, I have to get here no later than 7:15 to make it to my duty spot on time. If I were to slip and fall on my way to clock in, will I be covered under workman's comp since my contract states 7:30-3:30 instead of 7:20-3:20?
  

• If a person's work has not yet begun, then workers comp typically does not cover. Please note that no specific starting and ending times are listed on a person's contract; only the number of days is listed. (K.Hayes)

• Classified workers have a 30 minute UNPAID time every day for lunch. Most of the classified workers in my building are scheduled to be in class or on duty until their lunch time but also scheduled to be in their next class or duty in 30 minutes. So, for example, "Susie" has to be on lunch duty until 11:00, and then is scheduled to be at her next assignment BY 11:30, hence only getting 20-25 minutes of lunch depending on if the person relieving her from duty is on time. In the grand scheme of things, it is not that big of a deal, but at my school every minute of our day is controlled, and it just doesn't seem right that they get to steal minutes from us every day. When I have brought up this concern in the past, I have been told, "Well that is the same way for teachers." Teachers are on a salary contract and they make way more money than we do. It is the same thing with our breaks. My afternoon break is scheduled from 2:30-2:45, but I cover class "until 2:30" but the teachers are never back at 2:30. I usually don't leave their classrooms until 2:35 at the earliest. When I brought this up, I was told, "Well, we'll make sure the teachers get back quickly." The teachers are scheduled to be in the meeting until 2:30. There is no way they can get back to their classrooms in a minute.
  

• As it appears this person has done, an employee needs to work with their building administrator on the 30 minute unpaid lunch and the 15 minute break. (K.Hayes)

• Why do custodians have to work their first 3 months without a contract? Do other departments follow the same procedure?
  
• Custodians do not have to work three months before they are contracted.

  When I first started 5 years ago it was one year, then Dr. Cleveland shortened it to 90 days. Kelly Hayes and Jeremy White worked on this earlier this year, they are no longer on the timesheet, we are putting them on contract. Thank you for the question. (W.Buttram)

• "If custodians are asked to cover additional areas besides their own area, why aren't they able to get overtime or comp-time to cover the additional work they are being asked to complete? Issue example: Custodian has an assigned area. Custodian is asked to cover an additional area because of staff shortage. Custodian is expected to cover an additional area within their regular shift instead of being offered additional time to complete all duties. Solution: Allow custodians to be compensated for any additional work that is assigned. Overtime or Comp-time. "
• Our work areas are defined daily by the needs of the students and schools.

  We have to be able to pivot to the needs of the day, week or month.

  No one has only an assigned area, that is just a base. We will always need to flex to the school's or district's needs. We do not ask them to do more than the normal eight hours, we just may need to change the assigned duties for the day or event. When we are shorthanded we may only do basics first, (trash, disinfect, and restrooms) and then work on other duties. We have had several custodians out this year, we were having only basics done to cover entire schools. Larger schools High Schools and Junior High Schools have to flex with what we have each day. We all have to flex with the students' needs, our schools have events going on daily, as well as being a space for the community. We may not be able to go to that area until a later time.

  We would be able to handle that situation better as a group once the event ended. We do not have a third shift, so we do not have overtime after 12:00 midnight. If the person works over 40 hours per week, we do pay overtime.

  Overtime, we offer over-time for events and weekends. We have clubs, sports and outside events that require weekends for our custodial staff, this is where they can work overtime, or receive comp time. We have a list that we call daily for over-time, if anyone wants to be on the list they can call the custodial number and leave a message. (479)872-3059

• Why do custodians need to change schools in the summer? We were told a few years ago that it was because it cuts down on accidents and there are many vacations. We take vacation, because we aren't familiar with the schools. If we stay at the same school where we are familiar we are going to be more productive.
  

• Moving Custodians allows us to be more efficient and minimize accidents. It also allows us to work around summer programs and still get all the schools deep cleaned. JW

• Custodians have been asking why we have to use our personal or sick days for inclement weather, can this be changed or modified? Can we just make up for those days, supposedly Fayetteville's custodians have those days off.
  

• Custodial and Maintenance staff all work 240 or 250 day contracts. Since they can't do their work remotely they can come to work or take a personal, sick or vacation day. I am open for them to make up the days if they don't want to use a day or don't have a day. This would mean they would have to work during a non contracted day.(Thanksgiving, Christmas or Spring Break). They will need to reach out to their direct Supervisor for approval. JW

• Why do bus drivers get an attendance incentive of $20 and the bus aides do not get the incentive? The bus drivers that drive the smaller buses do not need a CDL.
  

• Bus routes are being canceled on a daily basis due to lack of drivers. The attendance was to encourage drivers to be at work. Kelly Hayes also stated that the aides could get their CDL.

• A new policy on Banquet pay after school hours and expectations of groups using facilities. Including the agreement that there will be numerous adult volunteers along with the students from beginning to end. That facility will be left exactly as entered. Also, staff that volunteer are offered/allowed a small break or meal during the event.
  

• Current policy is that Child Nutrition staff will be paid at their regular rate plus overtime in the event the requested banquet puts them over 40 hours for the week. The worker is there to assist in preparation and supervise clean up. A minimum of a 15 minute break shall be available for staff. Kitchen use agreement form will be reviewed for necessary changes.

• These questions are in reference to Arkansas Code 6-17-2305 #'s 1-3
  

• When classified staff are hired are they given the option to get a paper copy or a digital copy of the Classified policies?

• No, but we will start offering a hard copy. (Khayes)

• Is there a hard copy of all Classified Policies available to review at each location?

• Not to my knowledge. All policies are posted on the district's website. (Khayes)

• Is each classified employee furnished a copy of any amendments to the personal policies within 30 days after approval from the school board?
  

• All policies are posted on the district's website. (K.Hayes)




• Is there a way to combine the group email of secretaries and registrars? I sometimes get emails that she needs and doesn't get and vice versa.
  

• If you are a secretary/registart and want to be added to the secretary or registrar the instructions are on the internal contact list-registrar/secretary tab







Meeting adjourned at 2:54 pm

Springdale Public Schools Classified PPC By-Laws: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VuAjyFkP0PyPMAkCpAIBMUXOdRu-SALSXbuwWKOv3wI/edit?usp=sharing