Planning Time
State law provides all educators with 150 minutes of duty-free planning time per week. This can be divided across work week.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between MNPS and MNEA is our contract. MNEA and MNPS bargained the language of the MOU, including language regarding planning time. You can download a full copy of the MOU here: https://mnea.com/mou. Remember, planning is covered in more than one section of the MOU.
MOU Article: Planning Time for Professional Employees
All professional employees shall have daily planning time which shall be free of student responsibilities except for emergencies. Planning time at each school shall be equitable, with each professional employee receiving the same amount of planning. The professional employee shall have three individual (self-directed) planning periods or 180 minutes per week. During designated individual (self-directed) planning, professional employees shall have no other duties and responsibilities but to plan and prepare for instruction. Principals may designate two administrative planning periods or 120 minutes per week. During these designated planning periods, the principal may mandate meetings, school or district administrative duties, or other activities at the principal's discretion. Professional employees may be required to attend two additional administrative meetings per month. However, professional employees must receive at least 150 minutes of planning time per week consistent with Tennessee School Board of Education Rule 0520-1-3-.03 (4). The principal shall determine the planning schedule after consultation with the faculty. Individual professional employee schedules shall indicate which days are individual planning and which days are administrative planning when individual professional employee schedules are distributed at the start of each semester.
MOU Article: Noninstructional Workday
A noninstructional workday is one in which students are not in school, but professional employees report to work (with the exception of parent-teacher conferences). Noninstructional workdays shall be seven hours in length including a one-hour duty-free lunch with the right to leave campus for lunch. For each noninstructional workday on the district calendar, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools will allot three hours of teacher planning over the course of the academic year. As an example, if there are 10 noninstructional workdays on the calendar, the district will allocate a minimum of 30 hours of planning (i.e., 3 hours x 10 days = 30 hours). In this instance, the 30 hours of planning will be allotted over the course of the 10 noninstructional workdays. Noninstructional days shall be scheduled consistent with the following:
· Six hours of professional development,
· Six hours of teacher planning, or
· Three hours of professional development and three hours of teacher planning.
The number of noninstructional workdays varies each academic year. 26 Before July 1, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, in consultation with Metropolitan Nashville Education Association, will publish a guidance document indicating the professional development and planning designations for all noninstructional workdays for the academic year. The guidance document will clearly indicate the number of noninstructional workdays, the time allotted for planning, and the time allotted for professional development.
MOU Article: Professional Employees Covering Classes for Other Professional Employees (In Lieu of Substitute)
Any professional employee covering an in-person or virtual class because a substitute is not available shall be paid the highest substitute rate available, exclusive of the substitute bonus. Covering a class during a professional employee’s two and a half hours of weekly 14 self-selected planning time because a substitute is not available shall be done so on a voluntary basis except in urgent/emergency situations as defined herein. Such additional compensation shall be prorated for the time period or percentage of the class that each professional employee covers. When a class is split among several professional employees, the highest substitute rate will be divided evenly among all professional employees receiving students.
What do I do? I’m Not Getting my Planning!
Option 1: Faculty Advisory Council (FAC)
If your school has a Faculty Advisory Council (FAC), you can refer the matter to the FAC for resolution. Don’t know what an FAC is? Check out the article in the MOU!
Option 2: Alert your Administration
If you aren’t getting your allotted planning time in accordance with the MOU, let your administrator know (preferably via email so you have a time/date stamped record).
Option 3: Contact MNEA/File a Grievance
A grievance requires documentation (you will need to establish a pattern) and it requires that we work to resolve the issue at the lowest level possible (your principal) before moving up the chain of command. To file a grievance, you will need to provide at least two (2) weeks of documentation to show that your administration consistently breached the language of the MOU.
Documentation for Grievance:
On a calendar or a sheet of paper, write down the total amount of planning time you are allotted for each day. On the day, write down the type of planning (self-directed or administration-directed) and how much time you were allotted along with a description of what you did during planning.
For Example:
In the example above, the two weeks establishes a pattern of being out-of-compliance with the MOU. Each week an educator is supposed to have 180 minutes of self-directed planning and no more than 120 minutes of administrative-directed planning. In week one, this educator had 90 minutes of self-directed planning (90 minutes less than the MOU provides). In week two, the educator had 120 minutes of self-directed planning (60 minutes less than the MOU provides).