The SBO process can be used to change the configuration of the workday, including reconfiguring time for parent engagement. During the fall of 2014, schools had the opportunity to reflect on the parent engagement structure that they chose, to survey families and to get feedback from teachers and staff. From this reflection process came recommendations for modifying the contracted 40 minutes dedicated to parent engagement to best meet the needs of students and their families.

The DOE and UFT have jointly pre-approved several options for giving schools flexibility with this set-aside time for the remainder of the school year. This "mini-SBO" is for the spring term of the 2014-15 school year only and does not affect the 2015-16 school year.

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New options

Option A: Move parent engagement time to a different afternoon every week.

Option B: Move parent engagement time to a weekday morning every week.

Option C: Combine three sessions of parent engagement blocks of time to an evening. (One parent engagement session per month will still take place in the afternoon.)

Option D: Combine three parent engagement blocks of time to a Saturday session. (One parent engagement session per month will still take place in the afternoon.)

Option E: Combine the four shorter parent engagement blocks into two longer afternoon sessions. If this option extends the workday beyond 4 p.m., please address explicitly in SBO.

Option F: Other proposal. Option F proposals must be reviewed by the Office of Labor Relations prior to a staff vote.

SBO Parameters

• Must account for all time dedicated for parent engagement
• Cannot affect student schedules
• Must be approved by 55 percent of the voting staff