On November 19, 2021, the STA and the Employer have reached an agreement that settles Grievance 20-21-011 regarding secondary teachers’ preparation time for 2020/21 school year. The Association filed a grievance on November 23, 2020, following the Employer’s failure to provide appropriate preparation time to secondary teachers who taught in the quarter system. Secondary teachers are entitled to a minimum of 12.5% of total instructional time when averaged over the school year. For 2020/21 school year, all secondary schools in our District followed a quarter system. Since teaching blocks in this system were not equal in length, teachers in some quarters, specifically Q1 (Blocks A/C), Q1 (Blocks B/D) and Q3 (Blocks B/D) did not receive the preparation time they are entitled to under the Collective Agreement.
The Settlement Agreement is a result of a mediation between the STA and the Employer with Arbitrator Bob Pekeles. It has been agreed that additional preparation time will be added to lost preparation time banks, subject to the terms of Article D.4.9 of the Collective for the following secondary teachers:
- Each secondary teacher whose 2020/21 assignment included a morning prep block in quarter 1 will receive 85.5 minutes of additional preparation time
- Each secondary teacher whose 2020/21 assignment included an afternoon prep block in quarter 1 will receive 371.5 minutes of additional preparation time
- Each secondary teacher whose 2020/21 assignment included an afternoon prep block in quarter 3 will receive 286.5 minutes of additional preparation time.
If you have any questions regarding this Agreement, please contact Joanna Cerazy, Grievance Officer, at grieve1@surreyteachers.org. Read the agreement here
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