Mentor Program a. Each new Bargaining Unit Member (first year employee) shall be assigned a mentor. An exception may be made, as determined by the Superintendent, for new part-time Bargaining unit Members of whom have prior service in the same program operated by the Board. The mentor shall assist the new Bargaining Unit Member in general teaching procedures, techniques, classroom planning and organization, school functions and regulations and other areas of professional growth and development. The Association President in collaboration with the Lead Mentor/Resident Educator Coordinator and appropriate Directors shall submit nominations of three (3) qualified staff members to the Superintendent, after obtaining the candidates’ permission. The Superintendent may elect to nominate one of the candidates to the Board of Education for assignment, or ask the Association President and Lead Mentor/Resident Educator Coordinator for additional nominations.
b. No mentor shall be assigned more than one new Bargaining Unit Member per year. The mentor shall not be involved in any way in the formal evaluation of the new Bargaining Unit Member, but shall confer with the assigned Supervisor on the strengths and weaknesses of the new unit member and his or her overall performance and progress. In order to be assigned, mentors must possess the following qualifications:
i. At least two (2) years of successful teaching experience at Tolles.
ii. A variety of teaching experience.
iii. An ability and willingness to help improve another teacher.
c. Mentors shall attend one or two (2) training seminars held outside the regular workday. The Association President in collaboration with the Lead Mentor/Resident Educator Coordinator and appropriate Directors will draft a list of tasks which mentors are to perform.
d. Mentor teachers shall certify that they have spent a minimum of 15 hours during the school year in mentor training and working with their assigned new Bargaining Unit Member. The new Bargaining Unit Member may make written application to the Superintendent for up to 15 hours additional mentor service. The mentor teacher, the new Bargaining Unit Member, and the Superintendent or Superintendent’s designee, will meet to discuss a plan of action for additional hours requested. Mentor teachers shall be paid for the documented work hours at the hourly rate of $30. The payment shall be in a one-time lump sum at the end of the school year.
e. If there are teachers who are new to the District, the Lead Mentor will receive two (2) days extended time to work with new teachers and the administration before the regular instructional year for the purpose of training new staff members in the successful use of the teacher handbook, school regulations, and operational procedures.
Bus Drivers A. The Board agrees to pay bus drivers their regular rate per hour for driving in excess of four (4) hours per day on their regular route. The Board agrees to pay bus drivers their regular rate while transporting students on another regular route during an emergency situation.
B. The Board agrees to pay bus drivers $15.00 per hour for field trips. Field trips will be paid from the point where students are picked up to the point students are returned or the point when the driver returns to the pick-up location.
C. The terms "field trips," "special trips," and "extra trips" shall henceforth be known as field trips. All non-walking field trips which are sponsored by the District, have been approved by the Superintendent, and are accompanied by an advisor/teacher shall be offered to regular drivers before they are offered to substitutes. Dropped trips or trips that arise within twenty-four (24) hours of the scheduled departure time can be filled with the first available driver.
D. Each bus driver shall be paid for all time that is spent on their bus including deadhead, breakdown, maintenance time, layover time, and random drug and alcohol testing.
E. All drivers may take their regularly assigned bus on short trips, however, longer trips shall be assigned at the discretion of the Transportation Department.
F. The Board agrees to pay the cost up to thirty-five dollars ($35.00) for costs incurred to any bus driver for physical, eye tests, or abstracts.
G. At the beginning of each new school year, field trips shall be offered on a rotating basis from a driver rotation list, beginning with the most senior driver on the list. A bus driver who cancels a trip (non-emergency cancellation as determined by the supervisor) with less than forty-eight (48) hours notice shall miss their turn on the next two trip rotations. Drivers may elect to remove themselves from consideration for extra trips. If removed, drivers will remain so for the designated period of time that trips are bid or they may elect to remove themselves for the entire school year.
H. The Board agrees to supply each bus with a broom and window cleaner, for the proper inside and outside cleaning of the bus.
I. Mid-day preschool routes shall be offered, bid, and paid as part of drivers’ regular routes.
J. All bus routes shall be bid with the most senior driver appointed, providing it is not excessive cost to the Board.
K. If a driver takes a field trip he/she will only be deducted the actual morning or evening time from regular route.
L. Nine (9) or more students shall be considered a field trip to be transported in a van, mini bus or regular bus, excluding trips by the multiple impaired students, History Day, Science Olympiad, Mock Trial, Vision Unit, commercial buses sponsored by a non- Board entity for football state playoffs, and all other regional and State sports events.
M. The Board shall make available to all bus drivers a copy of the State Manual to assist drivers in passing the required written examination.
N. The Board shall provide inservice education for all regular drivers employed the effective date of this Agreement to assist drivers in passing the required written examination.
O. All bus drivers shall be required to meet all licensing requirements of the State of Ohio to be employed or to remain in the employment of the District.
P. All bus drivers shall pass any drug testing requirements established by the Ohio Department of Education, Ohio State Laws, and/or Federal Law governing the commercial licensing of all bus drivers. The cost of said required testing shall be borne by the Board.
Q. The Board shall reimburse up to $44.75, once every (4) years, the cost of renewal of the Commercial Driver's License fee, upon submission of a fee receipt.
R. The drivers who were grandfathered to drive their buses to and from home on their current routes as of 2001-2002 will remain grandfathered as long as they are drivers for the District, and remain on the same routes. All new drivers shall be subject to the approval of the Transportation Supervisor and Superintendent on taking buses home. (See paragraph J.) In the event a bus driver authorized to take his/her bus home, including the grandfathered drivers, moves from his/her present residence, the Transportation Supervisor and Superintendent shall determine whether the driver will be permitted to continue to drive his/her bus home. (See paragraph J.)
S. Bus drivers who are required to plug bus heaters in at their residences shall be paid $1.50 per plug-in.
T. The Board will pay for the cost of mandatory training to meet certification requirements.