June 8, 2004

ARTICLE		PAGE
1	Recognition	1
2	Negotiation of Successor Agreement	2
3	Association Rights	2
4	Teachers' Employment	3
5	Teachers' Work Year and Work Day	4
6	Extra-Curricular Activities	5
7	Non-Teaching Duties	6
8	Voluntary Transfers and Reassignments For Teachers	6
9	Involuntary Transfers and Reassignments For Teachers	7
10	Professional Development and Educational Improvement For Teachers	7
11	Salaries	8
12	Insurance Protection For Unit Members	10
13	Travel Expenses	12
14	Sick Leave	13
15	Temporary Leaves of Absence	14
16	Extended Leaves of Absence	15
17	Employment Procedures –Secretaries and Custodians	17
18	Custodian-Custodian/Maintenance Personnel	17
19	Secretarial Personnel	22
20	Teacher Aides/Teacher Assistants	25
21	Cafeteria Staff--Work Day, Work Year	26
22	Seniority	27
23	Grievance Procedure For Unit Members	28
24	Board's Rights	32
25	Protection of Employees	32
26	Agency Fee	33
27	Duration of Agreement	35
SCHEDULE A-1	Teachers’ salary guide – 2004-2005	36
SCHEDULE A-2	Teachers’ salary guide – 2005-2006	37
SCHEDULE A-3	Teachers’ salary guide – 2006-2007	38
SCHEDULE B	Extracurricular activities’ guide – 2004-2007	39
SCHEDULE C-1	Custodian and custodian/maintenance salary guide – 2004-2005	41
SCHEDULE C-2	Custodian and custodian/maintenance salary guide – 2005-2006	41
SCHEDULE C-3	Custodian and custodian/maintenance salary guide – 2006-2007	42
SCHEDULE C	Custodian and custodian/maintenance salary guide –longevity	42

B. Teachers shall be required to report for duty 15 minutes before the opening of the pupils' school day, and shall be permitted to leave 15 minutes after the close of the pupils' school day, except in emergency situations.

C. The length of the day for all teachers shall be six (6) hours, 55 minutes, inclusive of lunch. Teachers may be assigned to pupil supervision during the ten (10) minutes which immediately precede the beginning of the pupils’ day and during the ten (10) minutes which immediately follow the conclusion of the pupils’ school day.

D. Each teacher shall receive preparation time of 225 minutes per week in a five day, full day work week. Part-time teachers shall receive pro-rated preparation time. The Board shall make a reasonable effort to schedule such time in a continuous block of time. When a teacher loses a preparation period guaranteed under Article 5, D. in order to cover the class of an absent colleague, he/she shall be paid $20 per period beginning with the first such loss in a school year. Effective July 1, 2001, the rate shall increase to $25 per period. The District will annually develop a list of volunteers. That list will first be exhausted before assignment of non-volunteers. Assignment of non-volunteers shall be rotated when possible. The list will be provided annually to the Association by September 15th.

E. 1. Teachers of grades 6, 7 and 8, including specials who teach these grade levels and who have lunch periods congruent with a 6th, 7th or 8th grade lunch period, shall receive a 45 minute duty-free lunch period one week and, in the next week, a 30 minute duty-free lunch period and a 15 minute duty period contiguous with his/her lunch period.

2. Teachers at grades K-5, including specials who teach at these grade levels, shall receive duty-free lunch time consistent with that received in the 1993-1994 school year.

3. A lunch room assignment will be for the full school year. When a teacher has volunteered to provide lunch room supervision which intrudes upon his/her contractually guaranteed lunch time and/or preparation time, he/she shall be compensated at the rate set forth in Schedule B. The rate will be prorated if the assignment does not cover the full school year. No compensation shall be made if lunch room supervision does not intrude upon contractually guaranteed lunch time and/or preparation time.

F. Teachers of departmentalized grades may be assigned six (6) instructional periods per day.

G. Teachers shall be required, as they have in the past, to remain after the end of the regular work day, or evenings, without additional compensation, for the purpose of attending conferences and faculty meetings as scheduled by the Superintendent/Principal.

H. Nurses, in addition to their lunch period, shall be entitled to a 15 minute rest period in each of the a.m. and p.m. periods.

1. Supervision of Cafeteria when that supervision intrudes upon contractually-guaranteed lunch time and/or preparation time.

1. No later than April 30 of each school year, the Superintendent shall deliver to the Association and post in the school building a list of the known vacancies which shall occur during the following school year.

a. All vacancies which occur during the school year shall be posted internally and externally, if the Board decides to seek external applicants, for at least ten (10) working days.

1. The Board agrees to appropriate $26,000 for 2004-2005 and $29,000 for 2005-2006 and future years into a fund for teachers to pay 100% of reimbursement up to $650 per course for 2004-2005, and up to $725 per course for 2005-2006 and future years toward tuition or registration fees for graduate courses taken by the teachers, provided that the courses taken by the teacher are in the education field or related to his/her work assignments. Effective July 1, 2004, approved courses shall be counted against the reimbursement pool for the year (July 1 through June 30) in which the course begins.

3. In order to be eligible for reimbursement, prior approval of the course by the Superintendent of Schools is necessary. If prior approval is not granted, payment will not be given.
a. Summer session(s): Application for approval shall be made after May 1 for summer courses held during July and August. Summer courses beginning in June must be applied for no later than April 1.

b. Fall session: Application for approval shall be made after July 1 for courses held during August, September, October, November and/or December.

c. Spring session: Application for approval shall be made after October 1 for spring courses held during January, February, March, April, or May.

d. Late Spring Session: Application for approval shall be made after March 1 for courses held during May and/or June.

4. Course reimbursement: employees shall be reimbursed no later than after the second public Board of Education meeting following the submission of their reimbursement request.

5. In order to be eligible for reimbursement a teacher must receive a “B” or better or a Pass in a class designated as Pass/Fail in an approved graduate course.

a. On November 1, 1998 a direct deposit plan will be instituted.

b. If the District’s bank’s or any payroll service it uses has no direct deposit procedure at any time in the future, this plan will not be in effect. If the District’s bank’s policy or the District’s payroll service policy on direct deposit requires some minimum number of participants and said minimum is not reached, this plan will not be in effect.

c. The Board is not responsible for the participation or non-participation of an employee’s bank. The banks to which checks may be deposited directly by the current District’s bank are part of a national system, of which many, but not all banks are a member.

d. There is an understanding between the parties that the direct deposit system may require an earlier “turn-around” time with respect to District business office completion of information in order to get records to the District’s bank in time for direct deposit to the employee’s bank. Therefore, some payments to an employee may be delayed beyond the current parameters.

e. In addition to these agreements between the Board and the S.T.E.A., the parties are bound by bank rules with respect to direct deposit. If the District’s bank changes, the parties are bound by the new bank’s rules.

f. The Board will follow its normal procedures for the posting of the payroll. Delays resulting from an employee’s bank schedule, or its policy on direct deposit, including when funds are posted and available, are not the responsibility of the Board. The District is not responsible for charges assessed to an employee resulting from errors in bank transmission, for the employee’s premature withdrawals of funds, or for any charges that an employee’s bank may apply to such direct deposit services.

g. The employee will be permitted one bank change during the July 1 through June 30 period in any year, beginning July 1, 1999.

1. Provisions of Coverage

The Board shall provide the health care insurance protection designated below and depicted in Appendix 2 of this Agreement (Memorandum of Agreement dated June 11, 1996) with the following modifications effective on January 1, 2004: a) the Patriot X deductible shall be changed to $200 annually for each insured person with a $400 maximum annually per family; b) the Patriot X co-insurance shall be changed to $1,000 for each insured person with a $2,000 maximum per family; c) the emergency room co-pay shall change to $50; and, d) the specialist co-pay shall change to $25.
3. Employees first hired after the date of mutual ratification of the 2003-2004 Agreement who are otherwise eligible for Board-paid health/hospitalization insurance, may enroll at any applicable level in the Patriot V plan option at no cost for the first three years of their employment. During that period, if the employee elects to enroll in a higher cost plan option, he/she may do so by paying the difference in premium through regular payroll deductions. On the first of the month following his/her third anniversary of initial employment, he/she may enroll in any plan option available to all other employees with no requirement to pay any portion of the premium.

a. Prescription Drug Program

(1) The Board shall pay the full premium for each unit member and in cases where appropriate, for family-plan coverage. The co-pay shall be $15 for brand names, $5 for generic and $0 for mail order. Effective on the first of the month after mutual ratification of the 2003-2004 Agreement, the co-pay shall be $15 for brand names, $5 for generic and $5 for mail order.
b. Dental Health Program
The Board shall pay the full premium for each unit member and in cases where appropriate for family coverage for dental services listed below with carriers approved by the Association:
100% Preventative Diagnostic
80/20% Basic Services
60/40% Prosthodontics $1,000 maximum; effective January 1, 2004, this maximum shall increase to $1,250
50/50% Orthodontics (children only) $500 maximum; effective January 1, 2004, this maximum shall increase to $1,000
Effective January 1, 2004, there shall be an annual deductible of $25 per insured person to a maximum of $75 per family

3. Carrier changes which result in benefits levels changes must first be agreed to by the Association.

a. Effective December 1, 1997, there shall be a voluntary insurance waiver incentive plan. It will follow the concepts contained in Appendix 1.

b. Employees will be notified in writing that election to waive health/hospitalization in the time immediately before retirement can endanger their right to retirees’ health insurance under T.P.A.F. under P.E.R.S.

c. All of 4. and Appendix 1 will expire at the close of business on June 30, 2007 unless both parties agree in writing to extend the plan.

b. At the option of the unit member, unused personal days, may, at the end of the year, be transferred to the unit member's sick leave account in lieu of payment. It shall be the obligation of the unit member desiring such transfer to inform the Board Secretary of this fact in writing not later than the last working day in June.

2. Leave of Absence

a. Any full-time unit member who has served in the Shamong Township School district for a period not less than five (5) years, may be granted a leave of absence for a period not more than, nor less than, one (1) year. The request for such leave should be made on or before June 1st of the school year previous to the year for which the leave of absence is desired.

3. a. The Board shall provide for each unit member, in addition to
sick leave and personal days, five (5) days' absence with full pay upon the death of a unit member's mother, father, spouse, child, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, in-law or member of the immediate household.

b. The parties agree that the purpose of the leave under a. above is for bereavement, arranging the details of and attendance at a funeral, attending a memorial service and attending to necessary business-related issues attendant upon the death. The parties further agree, that in furtherance of these purposes, the employee may use up to five days immediately following the death for any of these purposes. To the extent the employee has not utilized all five (5) days under a., he/she may use up to three remaining days within the 60 day period following the death for any of these purposes. To the extent the employee has not utilized all five (5) days under a., he/she may use up to one remaining day within the period from the 61st day following the death through the end of that employee’s work year for any of these purposes.

c. Personal days may be used to cover additional days consistent with the purposes under b. above.

8. The teacher granted such a leave will be required to sign an individual contract agreeing to return to the District for at least two years after completion of the leave. Failure to remain for at least two years shall result in repayment to the Board of the monies expended during the leave period.

One (1) member of the custodial/maintenance staff shall be allowed to attend one (1) of the weekday sessions of the NJEA Convention annually and said member shall provide the District with a certificate of attendance. Attendance at the convention shall require appropriate notice to the district and be on a rotating basis of those members who apply to attend.

Less than 1 year Prorate at one day per month up to ten working days

Less than 1 year Prorate at one day per month up to ten working days

Effective upon mutual ratification of the 2003-2004 Agreement, reimbursement up to $85 per graduate or undergraduate credit will be granted upon completion of an approved graduate or undergraduate course. Approved courses will be determined by the Superintendent who will evaluate the relevance of a course to the field of education or to a secretary’s duties. There will be a limit of two courses per semester.

1. The work year for teacher aides and teacher assistants shall be consistent with the teacher work year as defined in the first sentence of Article 5, A.

2. In order to be eligible for an increment, a ten-month teacher aide or teacher assistant must have worked or been on approved paid leaves of absence under the terms of this contract at least ninety-three (93) or more days during the contract year.

C. Assignment

1. In emergency situations only, the administration may use a teacher assistant to cover a class for a teacher. The administration will insure that it makes provisions for the teacher assistant's cooperating teacher's thirty (30) minute duty free lunch. The administration also agrees that substitute lists will be exhausted, whenever possible, prior to assignment of a teacher assistant to a substitute duty.

2. The Board agrees to pay a teacher assistant their regular salary plus the following rates on full days and on half days or less in which they act as a substitute teacher: Full day - $16.00; Half day or less - $8.00.
Payment of such monies shall be claimed by voucher and shall be paid once a month.

D. Voluntary Transfer and Reassignments of Teacher Aide/Teacher Assistants

Teacher aides and teacher assistants have the option to apply for an open position prior to public advertisement. Known vacancies for the following year for teacher aides/teacher assistants will be posted by May 15th of each school year plus vacancies during the year will be posted.

E. Professional Development and Educational Improvement for Teacher Aides/Teacher Assistants

Reimbursement of up to $85.00 per graduate or undergraduate credit will be granted upon completion of an approved graduate or undergraduate course. Approved courses will be determined by the Superintendent who will evaluate the educational relevance of a course to the teacher aide's/teacher assistant's duties. There shall be a limit of six (6) credit hours per semester with a maximum of twelve (12) credits per year.

F. Movement on the Salary Schedule

When a teacher aide possesses a substitute teaching certificate and therefore gains the title of teacher assistant, the individual will be placed on the first step of the teacher assistant guide which will provide her/him with a salary increase.

G. Any vacancies that occur shall be adequately publicized to the appropriate unit members.

H. Teaching assistants will be reimbursed for the cost of the renewal of their substitute-teaching certificates.

Group C 1. Teacher Assistants

2. Year-End Grievances

3. Time Restriction

7. Level Four - Arbitration

c. The arbitrator so selected shall confer with the representative of the Board and Association and hold hearings promptly and shall issue his/her decision not later than twenty (20) days from the date of the close of hearings, or, if oral hearings have been waived, then from the date the final statements and proofs on the issues are submitted to him/her. The arbitrator's decision shall be in writing and shall set forth his/her findings of fact, reasoning and conclusions on the issues submitted. The arbitrator shall be without power or authority to make any decision which requires the commission of an act prohibited by law or which is in violation of the terms of this Agreement. The decision of the arbitrator shall be submitted to the Board and the Association and shall be final and binding on the parties. The arbitrator shall be limited to the issues submitted and shall consider nothing else. The arbitrator may add nothing to modify or subtract anything from the Agreement between the parties.

5. Levels

If any employee does not become a member of the Association during any membership year which is covered in whole or in part by this agreement, said employee will be required to pay a representation fee to the Association for that membership year. The purpose of this fee will be to offset the employee's per capita cost of services rendered by the Association as majority representative.

The representation fee to be paid by nonmembers/fee-payers will be pursuant to the determination of an impartial arbitrator in accordance with the law.

3. Termination of Employment

Each month in which the Board hires a new unit member(s), the Board will notify the Association in writing of the name(s), job title(s) and date(s) of employment of the new employee(s).

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS OF 6/30	2003-2004 STEP	2004-2005 STEP	SALARY	COLUMN DIFFERENTIALS
0/1/2/3	***/1	1	38150	BA+15 = $1150
4	2	2	38825	BA+30 = $2300
5	3	3	39450	MA = $3450
6	4	4	40125	MA+15 = $4600
7	5	5	40800	MA+30 = $5750
8	6	6	41475
9	7	7	42150
10	8	8	42825
11	9	9	43500
12	10	10	46500
13	11	11	50000
14	12	12	54000
15	13	13	59770
16+	14-15	14	65540

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS OF 6/30	2004-2005 STEP	2005-2006 STEP	SALARY	COLUMN DIFFERENTIALS
0	***	1	40000	BA+15 = $1150
1-4	1	2	40200	BA+30 = $2300
5	2	3	41100	MA = $3450
6	3	4	42000	MA+15 = $4600
7	4	5	42900	MA+30 = $5750
8	5	6	43800
9	6	7	44800
10	7	8	45800
11	8	9	46800
12	9	10	49800
13	10	11	54375
14	11	12	58950
15	12	13	63538
16+	13-14	14	68125

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS OF 6/30	2005-2006 STEP	2006-2007 STEP	SALARY	COLUMN DIFFERENTIALS
0	***	1	42335	BA+15= $1200
1	1	2	42535	BA+30 = $2400
2-5	2	3	42735	MA = $3600
6	3	4	43670	MA+15 = $4800
7	4	5	44605	MA+30 = $6000
8	5	6	45541
9	6	7	46581
10	7	8	47621
11	8	9	48660
12	9	10	51780
13	10	11	56536
14	11	12	61293
15	12	13	66063
16+	13-14	14	70833

CATEGORY I	CATEGORY II	CATEGORY III
More than 120 hours per school year	More than 70 hours per school year	More than 30 hours per school year
Stipend	Stipend	Stipend
2004-2005 - $2,440	2004-2005 - $1,866	2004-2005 - $1,567
2005-2006 - $2,567	2005-2006 - $1,963	2005-2006 - $1,648
2006-2007 - $2,643	2006-2007 - $2,022	2006-2007 - $1,697
Baseball	Field Hockey	AVA
Basketball (boys)	Gymnastics-Competitive	Band
Basketball (girls)	Lacrosse	Camp Ockanickon Coordinator
Cheerleading	P/R Coordinator	Chess Club
National Junior Honor Society	8th Grade Advisor	Chorus
Student Activity Coordinator (Double)	Soccer Boys	Computer Club
Webmaster	Soccer (Girls)	Fine Arts - Drama
	Student Newspaper	Fine Arts - Music
	Softball	Fine Arts - Art
	Wrestling	Music Club - IMS
		Gymnastics - IMS
		Gymnastics - non-competitive
		School Store Coordinator
		Student Council Advisor (2)
		Track (2)
		Yearbook (2)
		Science Fair Coordinator
		Ecology Club

ACTIVITY	2004-2005	2005-2006	2006-2007
Literary Magazine (1 issue annually)	$737	$775	$798
Newsletter (4 issues annually)	$318	$335	$345
ISIP (new)	$49.44	$52.01	$53.57
ISIP (update)	$23.14	$24.34	$25.07
HOURLY
Summer Curriculum *	$40.94	$43.07	$44.36
Curriculum during year *	$28.40	$29.88	$30.78
Home Instruction	$31.56	$33.20	$34.20
SUPERVISORS
Lunchroom per person	$3,000	$3,156	$3,251
Bus Aide per person	$1,161	$1,221	$1,258
In-service Presenters	$120	$126	$130

* Curriculum Note: Minor revisions following administrative review shall be completed without additional compensation.

+75 = $216

+15 = $223

+45 = $668

1. Which employees are eligible for this incentive?

Employees who are eligible to receive any enrollment level above single for any of the insurances under Article 12, A.

2. Is the Incentive Plan voluntary?

Yes. No employee must participate if she or he chooses not to do so.

3. What is the purpose of the Plan?

The purpose of the plan is to encourage eligible employees to waive unnecessary duplicate family coverage.

4. What is the "Incentive" portion of the Plan?

Employees who are eligible for any enrollment above single coverage and who waive all coverage for any of the three types of insurance for a full year shall receive 30% of the premium cost of the waived insurance.

5. May an employee waive only one type of insurance and not others?

Yes.

6. May an employee who has no other health/hospitalization coverage waive the health/hospitalization coverage?

No. Such a waiver will not be allowed.

7. May an employee who has no other dental or prescription coverage waive either or both of those coverages?

Yes.
8. If an employee waives coverage, may he/she re-enroll?

Yes, but only at the open enrollment periods, subject to carrier rules and, for health/hospitalization coverage, pursuant to the terms of the attached letter from AETNA dated June 27, 1997.


9. If an employee waives coverage for an entire year, may he/she re-enter the plans on the next enrollment date?

Yes.

10. When do employees receive their incentive payment?

The payment shall be made in the July of the year following the waiver. Because of IRS withholding and other laws, some deductions must be made at that time.

11. How does an employee sign up for this Plan?

Each potentially eligible employee will receive a form from the administration. It will contain a final return date and waiver of coverage, and will specify the incentive payment which will be received.

12. What if the incentive plan begins later than July 1 in the first year of operation?

In the first year, if the waiver covers less than 12 months, the incentive payment shall be paid proportionately.

13. How long will this plan exist?

For the duration of this contract. Specific contract language will be drafted to make the clause self-expiring at the conclusion of this contract unless both parties agree to continue the plan.

14. Are there any other matters which the parties must attend to with respect to this issue?