Well it was an exhausting day the climax being an after school meeting with the union president, the union's legal rep and head of human resources at my school. I met privately first with the union people and they basically told me to let them do the talking at the meeting which I did.
I have two options:
1.continue full time at my current teaching job. I'll need a new note from my doctor stating briefly what accommodations I need. When the district has that, they will require me to be seen by their doctor. If I request a 7 hour work day which is a normal teaching day, I may not be allowed to continue my job as it is because of a few clauses in the contract that says I must do 13 hours of additional duty. That duty can be after school, at night or on weekends. That makes for a very long day for me on days when I have adjunct duty. Another clause says that if the school can't find enough substitites, They can require the other teachers to fill in as subs during their prep time.Since they don't pay subs as much as other districts, the school constantly forces us to do extra hours. You would think the union would support me working a short work day but they can't because of the wording of the contract.
2. Option two is ask for a half day keeping my health benefits. They told me there is no possibility of me staying half time at my current job. I will have to move to a diferent school and a different curriculum.
I have 8 days to make up my mind and I'm going crazy.
The only other alternative is to go on disability retirement and pay out of pocket for my health benefits which they will let me keep. I don't think my rheumy will go for that because she keeps telling me I'm getting better and is hoping for a cure.
So that's how it went and now I have to do some deep thinking and try to figure out what to do.
Wow....I am surprised at how different it is for teachers in your state. 13 hours of duty...whew. I assume that is per week?
To think that some of us at our school thought having lunch duty every other week and one day a week of bus duty was a lot!
I recently retired early from teaching after completing 24 years. In our state we can buy up to five years non-service credit and still receive full retirement if it adds up to at least 28 years. It was costly but worth it. I now teach adult education 21 hours a week and love it!
Good luck with your pending decision. The right decision will come to you. I hope tomorrow will be a better day for you after all the info has had a chance to sink in. That is a lot to think about!
Hi Leslie, the 13 hours of extra duty are per year and not really that much but it can make for a very long day if it is tagged onto a regular workday with a 2-3 hour period between school hours and when the adjunct hours start. I have a long commute so I can end up putting in a 12 or 13 hour day, sometimes longer.
I can buy years of service to count toward retirement, but I need 15 years of sservice(which I can't buy) to keep my health benefits when I retire.
and Leslie, congratulations on your adult ed teaching. That's what I want to do too when I can figure out how to retire and keep my health benefits. I taught at the community college level for 10 years before high school.I was wondering how anyone could do 13 extra hours per week! I commuted over an hour each was so I understand about the long day. Plus taking work home. I worked with RA for the last nine years and it was so difficult.
I would enjoy teaching at community college..what did you teach?
Terri, One of the issues I presented with the union is the involuntarry in lieus(subbing) There is no limit to the number of times the school can force us to sub for another teacher during our prep. They are supposed to do it as a last resort when they can't get subs, but they pay subs below average salary so no one wants to work for us. I've done 13 hours of extra duty this year. As for the adjunct duty they won't let me pick ahead the hours I could do. I have to sign up at the same time as 100 other teachers all madly scrambling to pick the activities they want. That is one of the accommodations I am requesting. For some reason my district thinks it gives me an unfair advantage . If they offer me the half time position I'm going to have to fight to make sure they don't give me half hours but spred them through the day so that I'm actually there more hours when I'm not working. The whole legal contract thing is mind boggling. They don't do what is logical or fair. They go strictly by the wording in the contract.
I am working with a legal representative given me by the union.From what she's advising me, I do not have a lot of control over what happens.
And Marisa Sue, I am going to be doing a lot of thinking and praying this week to see if I can make a good decision. Thanks for the thoughts.
Good luck Roxy. I hope you can work out the half time. The fatigue factor makes working full time so hard.