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Phone: 412- 417-1748            Allegheny Intermediate Unit Education Association

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Section 54 – Vacancies, Transfers, and Realignment

 

A.    Vacancies – Transfers

1. The Board recognizes that in filling vacancies in the Bargaining Unit which are defined as openings due to resignation, retirement, death, transfer, and any new position but, shall not include temporary positions by employees taking approved leaves of absence, it will consider the interests and aspirations of the professional employees. Notification of teaching and administrative vacancies shall be sent to the AIUEA, the Special Education centers and AIUEA representatives (one per exceptionality group whose names and addresses will be supplied by the AIUEA to the Allegheny Intermediate Unit Human Resources Department by no later than October 1 of each year) at least twenty (20) days prior to the position being permanently filled, except during the period June 1 through September 1 when the twenty day posting period is waived. Postings will be available on the AIU Employee Postings Phone Line and AIU Intranet “InSite.”

 

2. Employees interested in transfer during the period September 1 to May 31 of the following year must complete a form provided by the employer and submit to the Office of Human Resources in order to be considered for transfer by no later than the twentieth day of the position posting. Requests for transfer or promotion are current only for the particular position posting to which the employees are responding.

 

3. During realignment of the same year, all employees desiring a transfer must request on forms provided by the employer, up to a maximum of two requests for transfer to the Office of Human Resources.  It is understood that the procedure as set forth in the preceding statement is established exclusively so that the current employees will be given consideration for transfer during the five (5) day posting moratorium period.  All employee requests made during the period June 1 to June 30 of the same year shall be considered first in filling vacancies.

 

4. Employee’s requests for transfers at realignment will be honored only if they are present at the scheduled realignment meetings.

 

5. Positions that become available between June 1 and September 1 will be filled as per normal procedures, i.e., transfer requests will be considered prior to the final employment decision being made. All positions will be posted for 5 workdays during this period.

 

6. Individuals shall be considered for transfer on the basis of seniority and certification.  All factors being equal, seniority will prevail.

 

     B.              Delayed Transfers

 

                          Whenever a vacancy occurs due to a resignation, retirement, death, transfer, and any                                 new Special Education, DART, Non Public Schools Program position after September 1, the                           employee requesting transfer to the vacated position shall assume that  position at the

                          beginning of the new semester. The day the delayed transfer is granted, the vacated position                           will be posted.

 

C. Realignment

 

1.   Unit Realignment

Following the determination of staff needs for the next school year the Special Education Program, Non-Public Schools Program, ESL, Travel Instructor, Reading Coaches and the DART Program will conduct their own unit realignments to determine employee(s) positions. Unit realignment, except for ESL teachers, will be held no later than the third Wednesday in April. ESL Unit Realignment will be held during the third week in July.  At this time all staff within the unit will meet.  Any Employee whose position has changed 50% or more may choose to stay in the position or be considered without position and enter unit realignment.  An administrative change in position from full time to part time will be considered a significant change for which the employee may exercise realignment rights.  According to AIUEA seniority and certification, employees within the Unit seeking to transfer may select an open position. Those Employees without position may, according to AIUEA seniority and certification, select an open position, fill a leave position (retaining unit bump rights for the next year), bump an employee in the unit with less seniority or attend Central Realignment following the procedure in C-2 of this section.

 

Unit Realignment will occur within:

 

Centers (one for each center in operation)

School Districts (one for each district contracted)

NPS Program (including Speech/Language)

DART Program (including Speech/Language)

SE Speech/Language Program

Hearing Program

Vision Program

SE Psychologists    

SE Social Worker

SE Transition Consultants

Travel Instructors

Reading Coaches

English as a Second Language

 

2.    Central Realignment

At Central Realignment employees without position will select (by AIUEA seniority) from all open positions, bump the least senior  person in a support area per unit for which he/she is certified and highly qualified or take a leave position. If an employee is without position at the completion of the Central Realignment, the State regulation for reduction of staff will be followed. 

 

Central Realignment shall be held on the Wednesday before Memorial Day. ESL Central Realignment will be held during the third week in August.  All open positions will be posted and Employees will be called according to their seniority date. If multiple employees have the same seniority date a lottery will determine selection order.

 

At the completion of the Central Realignment all open positions will be posted for 5 work days. After 5 work days those open positions can be filled by administration.

 

       If an employee transfers into area other than the one from which he/she came, the employee        must attend up to five (5) days of training. This training will be held in the summer months so        as to prepare the employee for the new area into which he/she has transferred. The employee        will be paid the per diem rate for the mandatory training.

 

       When two or more professional or temporary professional employees with identical seniority        and the identical area of certification are without position, they shall draw numbers for that             current realignment only.  The person who draws number one (1) shall be the Employee             considered as having the most choices available. Those subsequent numbers drawn shall             represent the selection order of positions.

 

 

 

                                 

 

Section 68 - Definition of Seniority

 

Seniority as used in this contract shall mean the total years of continuous service in positions included within the Special Education Division/Non Public School's Program, Discovery, Assessment, Referral, and Tracking Program, and English As A Second Language Program in the AIU.

 

A.      Seniority shall be computed from the date the individual was employed, first day worked as a Temporary Professional or Professional employee (effective date in Board Minutes).

 

B.      Seniority shall accrue during all approved leaves of absence whether such leaves were taken before or after the effective date of this agreement.

 

C.     The Allegheny Intermediate Unit agrees to give to employees within the bargaining unit, for purposes of calculating seniority, credit for all years spent in active service in the military as defined in the Pennsylvania Veterans Preference Act, upon submission of verification of such service. For employees hires on or after July 1, 2007, this applies to reduction in force only.

 

An employee's seniority shall be lost and an employee's name shall be removed from the seniority list by any of the following:

1.       Retirement

2.       Resignation

3.       Discharge for Just Cause

 

Provided, that if an employee is re-employed by the AIU within sixty (60) days after the date of the break in service, the employee's previous earned service shall be reinstated. The employee shall not be entitled to credit for the period between the date of the break in service and the date of reemployment.

 

The AIU shall make available to the AIUEA a seniority list of all employees covered by this agreement. This list will include the names of the employees and the date of employment. Five (5) copies of the seniority list will be given to the AIUEA no later than January 15. The list shall be revised annually.

 

An employee shall have a period of thirty (30) calendar days after posting in which to challenge the seniority list by notifying the Human Resources Office and the Association in writing. Rankings not challenged within thirty (30) days may not be challenged for one (1) calendar year. In the event a challenge is not resolved at the Human Resources Office level, the challenge shall move immediately to Upper Liaison Committee and then to the third level of the grievance procedure.

 

In the event two or more employees began work on the same date, their seniority rank shall be determined by lottery

Section 73 • Post Graduate Study

 

Effective upon the signing of this agreement, all employees after one year of employment with the AIU shall be reimbursed for graduate credits toward certification and/or a Master’s degree at an amount equal to 100% of the prevailing state system of higher education rate.

 

The credit reimbursement above shall not be applicable for payment toward in-service credits. Also, in those instances where the cost of credits is less than the amount set forth, payment shall not exceed the actual cost of credits.

 

The employee shall be reimbursed for no more than 18 credits in any one calendar year. Such reimbursement will be made thirty (30) days after the Program Administrator receives a registrar's receipt and proof of satisfactory completion of such course or courses. To be reimbursed the employee must earn a grade of B or better. Employees must give notice to the Program Administrator upon registering for said credits. If any employee receives full payment for said credits as a result of a scholarship or government grant, he/she shall not be entitled to reimbursement. If, however, he/she receives only a partial scholarship or government grant the AIU shall reimburse him/her for the difference between tuition costs and scholarship or government grant up to the amount stated above.

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