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SCHOOL COMMUNITY COUNCIL WAIVERS AND

SCHOOL COMMUNITY COUNCIL EXCEPTIONS

POLICY


The Board of Education (Board) has established procedures whereby School Community Councils (SCC), upon application to the Board, may be granted waivers from specific Board policies or rules and/or may be granted exceptions to specific provisions of labor agreements to which the Board is a signatory. The Department of Education (Department) shall administer the procedures and make them widely available to the public.

Requests for waivers from rules not under the direct control of the Board shall be forwarded to the appropriate governmental agency by the Department.

Waivers and exceptions are designed to enhance flexibility in order to facilitate school improvement. Schools are encouraged to explore alternate solutions before seeking waivers or exceptions to collective bargaining agreements.

Schools shall ensure that requests for waivers and exceptions align with their respective school's Academic and Financial Plan and demonstrate how the waiver or exception will improve student learning and increase student achievement.

To facilitate its commitment to School Community Councils and to make the process of obtaining waivers less burdensome and less time-consuming, the Board hereby establishes the category, "Generic Waiver and/or Exception" to which the Board may assign any request.

Generic waivers and/or exceptions have been found by the Board to have sufficient merit or be sufficiently routine so as to justify automatic approval* upon application by a school. The Superintendent shall maintain an up-to-date list of SCC Waivers and SCC Exceptions that have been designated "Generic" by the Board, and shall approve upon receipt, all requests from schools for such waivers or exceptions.* A list of SCC Waivers and SCC Exceptions, along with the stipulations for automatic approval, that have been designated “Generic” by the Board, is provided in the attachment.

The Board, for reasons it finds appropriate, may remove the "Generic" designation from a waiver or exception at any time without necessarily affecting the status of schools previously granted such waivers or exceptions under this policy.

All requests for waivers or exceptions not designated by the Board to be "Generic" shall require Board approval.

*In the case of SCC exceptions to the provisions of a labor agreement to which the Board is a signatory, such approval indicates only Board agreement. The exception also requires union agreement.

Approved: 10/07/04; Amended: 05/05/05; 01/19/06

 
GENERIC WAIVERS/EXCEPTIONS



1. Creating No More Than Two (2) Staff Development Days by Adjusting the School’s Calendar (October 24, 1996)

The following stipulations shall apply:

· The school shall submit a chronology of involvement that documents community support for this initiative;
· An evaluation shall be conducted to include the use of student achievement data and full-day teacher attendance information, and the results shall be available as a public document;
· The complex area superintendent shall review the request to assure that the request is in alignment with the school’s Academic and Financial Plan;
· There shall be no additional cost to the Department of Education; and
· There shall be a definite plan/agenda for the time spent on staff development.


Note: Schools shall be allowed to request one (1) additional Waiver Day to the School Year 2005-2006 second semester calendar.

The following stipulations shall apply:
· Only schools that have already purchased and/or contracted consultant services for all of their four (4) Planning/Collaboration Days and zero (0) to two (2) Waiver Days may request one (1) additional Waiver Day for Spring 2006; and
· This generic waiver/exception shall apply only to School Year 2005-2006.

2. Withholding the Posting of Probationary Teacher Positions to Retain Probationary Teachers (October 24, 1996)

3. Distributing Grade Level Chairpersons’ Pay Differentials to Other Faculty Members (November 5, 1998)

4. Reporting Quarterly Grades for Schools (November 5, 1998)

The following stipulations shall apply:

· The school shall be flexible to accommodate students who need up to the last day of the quarter to turn in their work; and
· This expectation shall not be punitive on its application to grades.