GFT President, Tim Fedenko, does not agree with the SY2016-17/2017-18 Calendar presented and approved at the Guam Education Board (GEB) meeting on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. The GEB claimed that GFT’s proposal of the Calendar was used but Fedenko clarified at the GEB meeting that none of GFT’s proposals were presented. GFT representatives discussed and proposed three (3) Calendar options during working sessions with the DOE Calendar committee held in the past few months. However, GFT representatives were not included in any final committee sessions to mutually agree on a finalized Calendar.
The Guam Education Board approved a Calendar that increases the overall worktime for teachers with no additional compensation. The Guam Education Board took one of GFT’s proposals and changed it by adding seven (7) Professional Development Days. This will add 37.5 more duty hours for elementary teachers and 43.25 more duty hours for secondary teachers without extra pay. This increase for secondary teachers is already on top of the 28.8 hours increased through the use of homerooms in high schools, which was implemented immediately after the Collective Bargaining Agreement expired.
GFT’s proposals included various options with 180 and 173 instructional day calendars. Unlike the Calendar approved by the GEB, GFT’s proposals do not add more duty hours for teachers.
Guam’s public school teachers have sacrificed countless hours beyond their duty time for our children and are paid the second lowest in the nation. The Calendar approved by the Board slipped in more duty hours through the additional Professional Development days, still without compensation.
The GEB SY2016-17/2017-18 Calendar makes our teachers work longer hours, with more days, than they already do with no just compensation. This is not right that the voices of our teachers are not heard.
GFT Proposal #1: 180 Instructional Days at 307 minutes per day
• 2 Teacher Workdays/Professional Development day (Half day Teacher work day/Half PD)
• 2 back to back half day Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC) per semester. One PTC would be in the morning and on the following day the other would be in the afternoon to allow more options for parents. Instruction would continue during the other half of the day. This would free up 1 full day for Professional Development. If we do this for both PTC days for both semesters this would allow for an additional two PD days.
• The gained days would allow for two extra Professional Development days to be added to the existing 2 days for a total of 4 days.
• FLEXIBLE MAKE UP DAYS
– Seven minutes per day banked would give us flexible make up days. If not needed then the following days would become holidays: Columbus Day, Super Bowl Monday, Presidents’ Day, and Easter Monday (these days are gained by banking an additional 7 minutes to the instructional day).
– The day after Thanksgiving
GFT Proposal #2: 180 Days Instructional Days: First 45 days of the year would be 328 minutes. 135 days at 300 minutes.
• 2 Teacher Workdays/Professional Development (Half day Teacher work day/Half day PD)
• 4 full Professional Development days
• 2 half day Parent Teacher Conferences per semester. One PTC would be in the morning and the other would be in the afternoon. Instruction would continue during the other half day. Both days would then count towards the 180 instructional days. The two additional days gained would be Professional Development Days.
• The extra 28 minutes for the 45 days would be banked to create flexible make up days. If no days are needed then Columbus Day, Super Bowl Monday, Presidents’ Day, and Easter Monday would become holidays.
• 1 Flexible make up day – day after Thanksgiving.
GFT Proposal #3: 173 Days at 312 minutes per day
• 2 Half day Teacher Work days
• 2 Half day Professional Development Days
• 4 Half day Parent Teacher Conference Days
• 4 Full day Professional Development Days (two garnered from PTC days)
• 7 FLEXIBLE MAKE UP DAYS FROM BANKING EXTRA 12 Minutes may move the school year ending date if flexible days were used.
• 1 Flexible make up day – day after Thanksgiving.