Level 3 Flexibility & Non-Allocated Programs

Administrative Premium, Overtime, and Extra Duty Pay

Purpose

Administrative Premium

Administrative Premium Pay (Object 0132) (“Admin Premium”) is negotiated compensation for Washington Teachers Union (WTU) members only. “Teacher” will be defined as any ET-15 (including ET-15/12, ET-15/11, and ET-15/10) or EG-9 member of the WTU. No other employee or non-employee of DCPS is eligible for admin premium. The rate for admin premium is $40/hour, as set forth in article 36.8.2 of the WTU collective bargaining agreement effective 10/1/2016.

Overtime

For Non-WTU members, time worked outside of an employee’s tour of duty is compensated using overtime pay. The overtime rate is based on the employee’s hourly rate at time and half. 70-hour aides (less than 40 per week) receive regular pay for all hours worked under 40 hours/week. Overtime rates apply when the employee exceeds 80 hours in the pay period.

How Funds are Allocated

Schools are allocated $100 per student for administrative premium and custodial overtime. The use of these dollars will be closely monitored to ensure that schools remain within their allocated budgets. Principals will receive regular reports from OCFO budget analysis to ensure that they remain aware of their monthly usage rate. Schools should budget enough funding for all planned activities or programs that fall into the above categories.

Budgeting Guidance

Overtime and Administrative Premium: Based on a three-year average of historical spending of overtime and administrative premium, schools have a required amount of funds budgeted for them in the QuickBase budget application. To petition to use these funds in an area outside of administrative premium or overtime, schools must explain how the upcoming year will result in lower than the average spending. Examples include changes to programming or staffing that result in a lower need for either.

Administrative Premium Program Guidance

The information that follows provides guidance regarding allowable categories of Administrative Premium. Activities that do not fall within this guidance are not authorized for administrative premium pay.

Afterschool Programs

In accordance with the WTU collective bargaining agreement, the rate of pay for teachers working in the afterschool program is equivalent to the rate established for Administrative Premium Pay (0132).

Class Coverage/Loss of Planning or Lunch Period

In cases when substitute services cannot be obtained for an absent teacher, other teachers may be required to provide class coverage, thereby resulting in a loss of a planning period or lunch for the covering teacher. In addition, teachers may lose a planning period or lunch because another teacher who is typically assigned to cover their class is unavailable. In these cases, the teacher losing the planning period or lunch shall be compensated for the additional workload using Administrative Premium Pay (0132). Compensation shall be in accordance with Article 23.17 of the WTU collective bargaining agreement. Finally, where an elementary school teacher receives students of an absent teacher, which causes the class size to exceed the contractual limit, such teacher shall receive Administrative Premium Pay (0132).

Exceeding IEP Case Manager Limit

Article 24.5.5 of the WTU collective bargaining agreement provides a caseload limit for special education teachers of 15 students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for the year. This refers only to the students with IEPs to whom the special education teacher is assigned as case manager. In cases where a special education teacher agrees to be case manager for more than 15 students with IEPs annually, such teacher will be paid the Administrative Premium (0132) rate in the amount of three hours per year for each additional student with an IEP over 15. For example, if a special education teacher is case manager for 17 students with IEPs during the year, he or she will receive $240 in Administrative Premium Pay (0132) for the year ($40/hour x 3 hours/case x 2 cases).

Other Eligible Activities Approved by the Supervisor or Appropriate Central Office Team

This section details the remaining activities that are eligible for Administrative Premium Pay (0132).

• Additional School Time Programs: Administrative Premium Pay (0132) is allowable for teachers working in the Saturday Schools, centrally run Evening Credit Recovery Programs, and Extended Day Program.
• Before and After School Activities: Administrative Premium Pay (0132) is allowable for teachers who are authorized by their supervisors to participate in activities before or after the school day or school year begins.
• Compensatory Education: Administrative Premium Pay (0132) is allowable for teachers for court-ordered compensatory education activities that take place before or after the normal tour of duty.
• Enrichment/Tutoring: Administrative Premium Pay (0132) is allowable for teachers participating in supplementary educational services, such as a school-sponsored tutoring program that occurs outside of the school day (i.e., either before school, after school, or on weekends).
• Professional Development: Administrative Premium Pay (0132) is allowable for teachers attending training tied to classroom learning and programs outside of the tour of duty. This includes New Educator Orientation, system-wide offerings held after a duty day in which Professional Learning Units are not offered, and Collaborative Planning.
• Scheduling: Administrative Premium Pay (0132) is allowable for teachers assisting with start-of-school scheduling activities outside of their tour of duty.
• Summer School: Administrative Premium Pay (0132) is allowable for teachers working at the Summer School program, in accordance with the WTU collective bargaining agreement. These teachers may be coded into an additional position to perform their services in the Summer School program if they are at a different school than their regular year school.
• Teaching and Learning Curriculum Developers: The Office of Teaching and Learning offers Administrative Premium Pay (0132) for teachers partnering with content experts to develop and review curriculum for fellow educators. Qualifying curriculum development initiatives may include, but are not limited to, Cornerstones, Common Core Math Corps, and STEM Master Teacher Corps.
• Teacher and Principal Selection: The Office of School Improvement and Supports frequently engages teachers beyond their normal tour of duty to assist with new teacher and Principal selection activities. Administrative Premium Pay (0132) is allowable for this activity.

Point of Contact

Principals and Finance Professionals should work with their specific Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) budget analysts and School Finance point of contact to understand appropriate usage and spending of funds as well as balance availability. If a school in unsure of their point of contact, they should email dcps.schoolfunding@k12.dc.gov.

Helpful Resources

Additional Compensation Procedures Document

SEL-School Culture and Climate

Program Purpose

The Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Team supports all DCPS schools in their implementation of SEL curriculum and strategies to promote and sustain safe and positive learning environments that help all students feel loved, challenged, and prepared. The SEL team also supports all DCPS schools in working with student behavior and discipline aligned to Chapter 25 of the DCMR and the DCPS Student Behavior Tracker, Bullying Prevention, and Restorative Practices. This team support schools in determining behavior and student support staffing models to best meet the needs of the school’s student population.

Program Guidance

Schools are not allocated Deans, Behavior Techs, or Restorative Justice Coordinators; however, Principals have been provided the flexibility to hire a dedicated staff member for these positions or assign the duties to other staff in the building.

The behavior staff within a school will report to the Principal who will determine the staffing plan to include protected time for the work listed below. Typically, this team is made up of Deans, Behavior Techs, and Restorative Justice Coordinators. These positions focus on creating and maintaining a safe and positive learning environment and student behavior, with the shared common goals of:

• Creating and maintaining an intentional School Culture/Climate,
• Working with all school resources to provide comprehensive student supports,
• Having an instructional approach to behavior and discipline to focuses on positive skill development, and
• Ensuring the consistent implementation of discipline responses that minimize disruption of Instructional Time.

In compliance with the Student Fair Access to Schools Act and DCPS’ behavior/discipline philosophy, schools should structure their staffing with the goal of working to keep students in the building and using exclusionary disciplinary practices for only severe issues.

Recommendations on How to Budget for this Program

The SEL Team provides staffing recommendations for schools based on overall enrollment, special education programming, behavior and suspension data, in-school suspension programs, and other relevant factors. Schools should intentionally fill these roles with staff members who can build positive relationships and support students’ academic success while working to develop positive Social and Emotional Learning skills to help minimize the occurrence of negative behaviors moving forward.

• Dean: Schools are recommended to have 1.0 dean of students for populations of 200 students.
• Supporting Dean/Behavior Techs: Schools are recommended to have supporting deans and/or behavior techs for each additional 200 students
  • Note that Restorative Justice Coordinators and Behavior Techs may assist the Dean, but cannot complete duties assigned to a Dean alone, as outlined in the Dean position description.
• Schools should regularly monitor their student behavior data to see if additional support is needed.
• Restorative Justice Coordinator: All middle and high schools are recommended to have at least one Restorative Justice Coordinator. Effective RP programs can help students experiencing challenges develop positive affiliations with schools and a sense of belonging, while not falling behind on their academic work. A full-time RP Coordinator is strongly recommended for schools who have the following suspension days per 100 students:
  • > 20 for middle and high schools
  • > 5 for elementary schools; and

Personnel Staffing Recommendations

Based on the table of descriptions above, schools should use the following data to drive their school staffing:

• Panorama Data (LCPI)
• Student Behavior Tracker (Student Discipline Data)
• Trauma Responsive Schools Model Action Plan Survey

If unable to staff one of the positions above, please reach out to either Dr. William Blake and/or Dr. Justin McClain to advise on how to best staff schools.

Menus of Options

In addition to the below specifics, Deans, Behavior Techs, and Restorative Justice Coordinators must be:

• Knowledgeable on Student Fair Access to School Act and Chapter 25
• Trained in Student Behavior Tracker
• Able to implement and incorporate Restorative Justice measures in their work

SEL Staff Responsibilities

Central Support

The SEL –School Culture Team will build school level capacity by providing ongoing professional development in the following areas:

• SEL curricula
• TRS Model
• Restorative Practices
• Student Behavior Tracker (SBT)
• Bullying Prevention

Points of Contact

• William Blake – Director, SEL (William.Blake@k12.dc.gov)
• Justin McClain – Manager, Student Behavior (Justin.Mcclain@k12.dc.gov)

Helpful Resources

• Bullying Prevention
• Student Fair Access to Schools Act
• Turnaround for Children Toolkit Summary

Dual Language

Program Purpose

Students graduating from DCPS Dual Language (DL) programs will be able to communicate effectively in two or more languages and will be able to engage productively in an increasingly diverse and multilingual global community. All DCPS DL programs have as their primary goals the promotion of: 

• Bilingualism 
• Biliteracy 
• High academic achievement 
• Cultural competency 

DL programs serve as a service delivery model for English learners and a means to acquire a language other than English for native English speakers.

Budgeting Recommendations

• The ratio of English to Spanish DL speaking staff will depend on the size of the program and the subjects taught in each language at each grade level.
• DL requirements by grade band:
  • K-5: It is required that DL programs provide a minimum of 50% of content area instruction including literacy in Spanish be taught at each grade level.
  • 6-12: It is required that students be enrolled in at least two content courses in Spanish in 6-12 throughout the program.
• Please note that any DL English learners whose home language is not Spanish must receive additional ESL services.
• Elementary Grades: Typically, a Spanish and an English language teacher form a DL teaching team and serve two groups of students. In “strand” DL programs, these teams may teach across grade
• Secondary Grades: Schools may need to share teachers across the DL and English-Only programs depending on school size. Successful examples have been:
  • English content area teachers may teach their content to both DL students and traditional English students.
  • Spanish content area teachers may teach content in Spanish in the DL program and an appropriate World Language course in the traditional English strand.

Central Support

Financial

Central Office provides the following financial support for DL Curriculum and Assessment:

• Eureka Math in Spanish K-8
• StemScopes in Spanish K-8
• EDL assessment of Spanish Literacy for K-5
• Estrellita early literacy program for K-1

Non-Financial

• Central provides support to K-5 DL programs through the Cluster Support Model, and for K-12 through district-wide professional development days when applicable.
• New in FY22, there will be an ESL Specialist devoted to secondary schools that will support clusters with secondary DL and ESL programs.

Points of Contact

• Elizabeth Sauler, Director, Language Learning Team, Sauler@k12.dc.gov
• Katarina Brito, Bilingual Program Developer, Brito@k12.dc.gov
• For EL-specific funding questions, see English Learners Points of Contact.

Helpful Resources

See the DCPS Way Dual Language SharePoint for more information specific to Dual Language.

Teaching Residency Partnerships

Program Purpose

In collaboration with the DCPS Office of School Improvement and Supports, two residency partners, Urban Teachers and Relay, will train residents in DCPS classrooms alongside high-performing mentor teachers for an entire academic year to prepare residents to assume a lead teaching role in the second year of the program. DCPS’ teacher residency partnership programs prepare recent college graduates, career changers, and outstanding paraprofessionals to be highly effective teachers in DCPS schools.

These programs are an effective way to develop instructional aides and paraprofessionals already employed with DCPS into Highly Effective Teachers within our district. Over the last 3 years, at least 75% of teachers completing either of these residency programs have earned either effective or highly effective on IMPACT, raising student achievement outcomes and positively impacting our schools.

Program Guidance

Schools are not required to budget for either of these teaching residency partnerships. However, if schools do budget for them, they must have the same number of exceptional teachers who would be committed to serving as mentor teachers, co-planning, and co-teaching with residents, so they can develop into strong novice teachers. Mentor teachers must have at least three years of teaching experience and be at the Established Teacher stage of LIFT (Leadership Initiative for Teachers), and preferably would be at the Advanced Teacher stage or above. Urban Teachers prefers for residents to change mentor teachers in the spring to broaden their experience.

Urban Teacher Preferences:

Urban teachers strongly prefer schools host at least two residents. Urban teachers also prefer that residents change mentor teachers in the spring to broaden their experience.

Budgeting Recommendations

When budgeting for the position, we recommend Principals budget for the number of residents they want to have in the building. Whether these residents are current aides applying into the program or new residents that the school will select, we recommend budgeting for those positions during budget development. In the case that no residents are hired, Principals will work with the School Finance Team to reprogram the position.

The Teacher Pipeline team cautions against having too many residents in one school at a time. Some schools have taken on six or more. Since the central idea of this program is for residents to become full time teachers at the school they are placed into and have the continuity translate into a successful first year of teaching, we urge Principals to forecast if they will have enough teaching position vacancies to hire the residents the following year.

Central Support

Central Office provides a point of contact (Sean Elliott) to assist with placement, communication, and relationships with both Urban Teachers and Relay GSE.

Point of Contact

Sean Elliott – Specialist, Teacher Pipelines (OSIS) – Sean.Elliott@k12.dc.gov

Strategy & Logistics Program

Purpose

The School Strategy & Logistics (SSL) program allows participating schools to budget non-instructional staff differently. The program increases operational efficiency, which leads to instructional gains. Schools have already received communication from Cinthia Ruiz about applying to the program.

Budgeting Recommendations

Continuing Schools

For schools who are already part of the SSL program, Principals can budget for positions using flexible dollars or through petitions.

New Schools

Schools interested in joining the program should apply during the 2021 SSL School Recruitment period beginning in January 2021. Once accepted, Principals will have the Director of Strategy & Logistics (DSL), Manager Strategy & Logistics (MSL), Coordinator Strategy & Logistics (CSL), and Assistant Strategy & Logistics) positions as options in their budgets. Operations work must be led by a DSL or MSL based on student enrollment and other factors. The Central Office SSL team will advise each Principal which is appropriate.

Candidates for the DSL/MSL roles are accepted through a centralized selection process managed by the SSL Team. Principals will then make final decisions about which candidates to hire from a recommended applicant pool. To petition for this position, a Principal must:

• Have an approved SSL Application on file
• Have an approved SSL program plan in place with SSL leader

Menus of Options

Participating schools may also choose to add Coordinators (CSL) and/or Assistants (ASL) of Strategy & Logistics. These two positions will hold a broader and more flexible range of responsibilities than the previous, more narrowly defined traditional operations roles (i.e., Registrar, Administrative Aide, Attendance Counselor, and Data Clerk). These roles will address current challenges in the following ways:

• More flexible position descriptions will allow Principals to design front office and other operations roles that best meet the needs of their schools; and
• Operations staff will be trained on all office duties to ensure appropriate capacity during the natural ebbs and flows of different seasons.

Since the DSL and MSL positions are made to hold a broader and more flexible range of responsibilities, Principals are encouraged to design the roles to fit their schools’ unique needs. They may take on logistical roles that are traditionally associated with other operations positions (such as managing enrollment or attendance), and/or they may take on additional responsibilities (such as emergency response and reporting). See below for examples of responsibilities that are commonly assigned to SSL program staff.

Central Support

Schools that participate in the SSL program will continue to receive support and guidance from Central Office’s Operations Specialists, including streamlined communication, resources, and emergency support through their SSL staff. As part of the SSL program, DSLs and MSLs will also have regular opportunities for professional development on pertinent topics throughout the school year.

Point of Contact 

• Cinthia Ruiz, Deputy Chief, Strategic School Operations, Ruiz@k12.dc.gov
• Jacqueline Speight, Manager, Strategic School Operations, Jacqueline.Speight@k12.dc.gov
• Claire Lin, Analyst, Strategic School Operations, Claire.Lin@k12.dc.gov

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