49-10. Joint Staffing Committee on Equity

The BOARD and the UNION shall staff a 10-member Joint Staffing Committee. The BOARD shall appoint five members, one of whom must be an educator, and the UNION shall appoint five members, one of whom must be an educator. The Joint Staffing Committee shall fulfill the following responsibilities:

  1. Develop criteria to determine the highest need schools

    1. Committee shall develop criteria by which to determine the 120 district-run schools that have the highest need for additional staffing. The Committee shall use an equity lens to determine the criteria, including reviewing data related to rates of poverty, special education students, English Learners, existing staffing levels, and other metrics agreed to by the Committee.

    2. Committee shall begin its work no later than the beginning of the second semester of the 2019-20 school year and shall complete its work no later than the end of the third quarter of the same school year.

  2. Phase-in allocations of full-time positions to each of the highest need schools
    1. Beginning in the 2020-21 school year, the Committee will phase in one centrally-funded full-time position for each identified school at the following levels:

    • 30 schools at the start of the 2020-21 school year

    • 30 schools at the start of the 2021-22 school year

    • 30 schools at the start of the 2022-23 school year

    • 30 schools at the start of the 2023-24 school year

    1. The Committee has authority to enforce these staffing provisions above.

    2. The principal in collaboration with the school community, through the development of the Continuous Improvement Work Plan (CIWP), shall determine how the position is defined, provided the position advances social emotional learning and trauma-informed practices, restorative justice, counseling and advising, or instruction (including library). Examples of appropriate positions include librarians, restorative justice coordinators, school counselors, or other positions as determined by the principal and LSC.

    3. Positions allocated by the Committee will be provided for in the school’s budget must be used to supplement and not supplant its current staffing, and shall remain for the duration of this Agreement.

    4. As an alternative to allocating one full-time position, at the request of the principal and Local School Council (LSC), the Committee can approve the allocation of an equivalent amount of funding to advance social emotional learning and trauma-informed practices, restorative justice, counseling and advising, or instruction (including library).

    5. The Committee will provide oversight of schools’ implementation of positions allocated by the Committee and monitor timelines for position posting and hiring.

  3. Oversight of staffing level increases

    1. Committee shall provide oversight of the posting and hiring to reach staffing targets for School Social Workers, Nurses, and Case Managers in this Agreement, including but not limited to making recommendations on pipeline strategies that may increase hiring.

    2. Committee has sole authority to enforce the staffing provisions above, and the staffing provisions above are not subject to the grievance and arbitration procedure in Article 3, except that disputes over the compliance with the process set forth in this Article with respect to the Committee, and enforcement of Committee decisions, are subject to expedited grievance and arbitration in Article 3-8.3.