The UFT and the Department of Education reached agreement in mid-May to continue the current configuration of the workweek for the 2015–16 school year.

The union negotiated a one-year extension after 74 percent of the more than 12,000 teachers and paraprofessionals who responded to a one-question poll via email stated that they would prefer to keep the current structure of the workweek rather than go back to the 37.5-minute model.

The contract ratified in June 2014 had included a one-year pilot of a new standard workweek for single-session schools that featured a 6-hour and 20-minute workday followed by 80 minutes of professional development on Mondays and 40 minutes for Parent Engagement plus 35 minutes for Other Professional Work on Tuesdays.

In its recent negotiations with the DOE, the UFT took the opportunity to clarify the contract language regarding the workweek in order to address issues that members had raised with it:

• For the time allotted for Other Professional Work, teachers can choose from the activities listed in the contract over the course of the year. Principals can direct the teachers to an activity on the list “on an as-needed basis” to improve class instruction and meet the needs of the school as outlined in its Comprehensive Education Plan.
• Meetings with parents of English language learners have been added to the list of permissible activities during Parent Engagement time.
• Schools may use the school-based option process in the contract to expand the list of Parent Engagement activities.

As was the case last year, single-session schools must approve SBOs if they want to vary their workweek from the standard configuration. If a school wishes to pursue an alternative schedule, the principal must now also hold a Parent-Teacher Association vote prior to submitting the new session times to the DOE.