TTOCs

VSB SFE Handbook for On-Call Employees

• Keys
• Emergency Procedures
• First Aid Contact
• Map of School
• Names of Union Reps
• Safety plans and/or IEPs
• Supervision Schedule, if applicable
• Cell phone policy, if applicable
• Special or Mandatory Event (i.e.: Assemblies or drills)

• Try to arrive at least 15 minutes in advance of the first bell.
• Check in at the office for information and keys.
• Orient yourself to the building and introduce yourself to staff. Find the medical room, staff room, gym, fire exits and emergency procedures manual. Ask for a safe place to store your valuables (purse, wallet).
• Locate the teacher’s daybook and go over the day’s lesson plan.
• Verify the absentee procedures with the office, telephone slips (where used), materials (text and worksheets), and seating plan.
• Find the copy machine code, teacher supply room, and supervision schedule.
• Run off any material needed.
• Put up any board work assignments.
• Write your name on the board (and a special message/greeting if you wish).
• If audio-visual material is to be used during a lesson, double check to make sure the necessary equipment has been signed out at the school and that it works.
• Plan your introduction. Check on class opening exercises. If there are uncertainties about directions or you have questions about materials, ask a neighbouring teacher.
• Ask about attending meetings (staff, committees).
• Ask about medical alert, custody orders, medical order and anything that might impact the health and safety of students and staff.
• Taking Attendance:  The office should provide a School Board supplied iPad.  If not, take attendance and deliver it to the administration.   DO NOT leave for the teacher to do upon return. Please contact VSTA if there is a problem. Link to My Education BC (https://www.myeducation.gov.bc.ca/aspen/logon.do)
• Leave a detailed history of the day.
• Mark the day’s work and leave a plan for the next day.

Other responsibilities

Make sure you know the following procedures prior to starting your day. In a crisis, you may not have the time.

• Any injuries or medical emergencies must be reported to the administrator immediately.
• Follow-up on any student sent to the office.
• If a student appears to be seriously injured, do not move him/her.
• Students who indicate they are ill and wish to go home during the day must be approval from the office.

Fire drills of emergencies

• Check the fire/drill regulations for the classroom.
• Remember to carry the class list with you during an alarm.
• Take the class outside.
• When outside, account for all students.
• Remain outside until the all-clear signal is given.

Reporting absences

• Leave a dated slip of paper for lates and absences (afternoon and morning).
• Check the roll call with the school’s absence List.
• Do not circulate a “sign-in” sheet.  Use MyEdBC and /or class list.  If attendance can’t be entered on MyEdBC, take attendance and deliver it to the administration.  DO NOT leave for the teacher to do upon return.  Please contact the VSTA if there is a problem.

Reporting on the day

• Follow as closely as possible the teacher’s normal procedures, and teach the work planned by the regular teacher.
• Make note of any deviations from or extensions to the regular day plan.
• Indicate in the daybook what work has been completed.

Marking student work

• Written work should be marked, particularly if it is objective.
• If you feel some marking cannot be done because of its complexity or subjectivity, leave it for the teacher with an accompanying note.

Report on concerns of making recommendations and/or suggestions

• When reporting, include any specific items of concern or interest. Include the names of students who were cooperative/uncooperative.
• Single out students for praise.

Planning for the next day

• Whenever possible, prepare a daybook for the next day’s work, unless directed otherwise by the teacher.
• Include comments or suggestions on following up from the day’s work, feedback for the teacher and individual progress.
• Communicate with your colleague and leave your phone number.

Finishing off your day

• Allow things to wind down a few minutes early to tidy up and put things away.
• You may wish to play a game or other fun activity to finish off the day.
• Thank the students for their cooperation – you’ll tell their teacher how cooperative they were.

BCTF Classroom Resources

• https://www.bctf.ca/classroom-resources 

Occasionally, teachers are disciplined by their employer. The VSTA is here to ensure that a fair process is followed and that you have union representation every step of the way. At the school level, Staff Reps are available to support you if an administrator asks to speak to you about your teaching performance. If a Staff Rep has not been invited to meet with you and the administrator, it is your right to ask for one. Please reach out to the VSTA immediately if an administrator has asked to speak to you and it has felt disciplinary.

If you are contacted by an administrator, the RCMP, or Family Services regarding allegations against you:

• Do not consent to or participate in an interview that could be, or is, disciplinary without a union representative.
• Do not make a statement to anyone regarding allegations or charges; instead say “I am willing to cooperate, but I am unable to do so until I can contact the VSTA or the BCTF.”

If a complaint is made against you to the Teacher Regulation Branch, the BCTF provides legal assistance. The VSTA is here to support you in this process.

FAQ – Employment Insurance Regular Benefit and TTOCs

Q: How much do I earn on EI?
A:  We cannot tell you exactly how much you will receive. However, the basic rate for calculating EI benefits is 55% of your average insurable earnings with maximum insurable earnings set at $56,300. In 2021, the maximum EI payment is $595 per week or $1,190 bi-weekly.

Q:  What doesn’t EI cover?
A:  EI does not pay extended health or dental premiums, Teachers Pension Plan, or other entitlements.

Q:  Do I need a copy of my Record of Employment to apply for EI?
A:  No, you do not need a copy of your ROE to complete the application.

Q:  Can a member on an active EI claim continue to work?
A:  Yes, a TTOC on an employment insurance claim may continue working. You can keep 50 cents of your benefits for every dollar you earn, up to 90 percent of your previous weekly earnings. Above this cap, your EI benefits are deducted dollar-for-dollar. If you work a full work week, regardless of how much you earn, you will not be eligible to receive EI benefits for that week.

Q:  Are TTOCs who have a part-time contract eligible for EI?
A:  If you have a part-time contract and also work as a TTOC, you may be eligible for EI regular benefits if you have 700 EI insurable hours (~77 full days of employment as a teacher) when you have no work in your position as a TTOC. The amount of your benefit would be impacted by the FTE of your part-time contract.

Q:  Are TTOCs who have not worked 700 hours of EI insurable employment in the previous 52 weeks eligible for EI Regular Benefits?
A:  TTOCs are not be eligible for EI Regular Benefits if they have not worked 700 hours in the previous 52 weeks. However, you may be eligible for EI Sickness Benefits or the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

Q:  Can TTOCs apply to EI if they are sick or injured?
A:  Yes, TTOCs may apply for EI Sickness Benefit if they are ill and unable to work because of sickness, injury or quarantine. To qualify for EI Sickness Benefit members must:

• Have a reduction of more than 40% in regular weekly earnings.
• Have 600 hours of EI insurable employment in the previous 52 weeks from all employment.

*The information on this page is intended to be used only as a guide. The federal government sets the rules, eligibility, and amounts regarding Employment Insurance applications.

Daily TTOC rate – When you are working day to day as a TTOC, you will be paid the daily rate based on your pay category and pay step. Use this pay grid to calculate your daily rate (Yearly salary divided by 189).  The maximum salary for a TTOC daily rate is Category 5, Step 8.

TTOC rate on a 5+ assignment or Temporary Contract – When working on an extended assignment or on a temporary contract, you will be paid what you work. If the teacher you are covering for works 3 blocks in this semester, you will be paid 6/7 of the daily rate.  However, if the teacher works 4 blocks, you will be paid 8/7 of the daily rate.

Continuing Contract Pay– Once you are on a continuing contract, you will be paid the percentage of your yearly salary divided into 20 equal payments over the school year.  For example, if you have a .57 FTE (4 blocks) continuing contract, you will be paid .57 of your yearly salary divided into the 20 pay periods, regardless of which semester these blocks are worked.  You will continue to be paid the daily rate for the time that you work as a TTOC.

*NOTE – If you have an FTE that is less than 1.0 and you have more blocks in one semester than the other, it may seem that your pay is imbalanced, but it does balance out over the year. 

For example: .57 FTE – 4 blocks in Semester 1, 0 blocks in Semester 2 – You will receive 20 equal payments over the year, so you are paid .57 during Semester 1, even though you are teaching full-time for that semester.  However, in Semester 2, you can TTOC for as much time as you want while still getting paid .57 every pay period, so in this semester your pay could be well over 1.0, depending on how much you TTOC.

Pay in lieu of benefits – When working as a TTOC and not on a Continuing or Temporary contract, you will be paid an additional $11 per day in lieu of benefits. On the 5th day of an assignment, TTOCs will receive an additional 10% of the daily rate in lieu of benefits until the end of the assignment.

Collective Agreement language:

Coverage of an unfilled vacancy during a teacher’s prep block – If you are redirected to cover another class during the teacher’s prep block, you will be paid 8/7 for the day.  Make sure to fill out the form provided in the school office.

However, if you are redirected to a different class and it is not during the teacher’s prep block (because they are a part-time teacher so do not have a prep block), you will not be compensated, as this block is a non-teaching block as opposed to a teacher’s prep block.

When on an assignment for a teacher who is part-time (6 blocks out of 7 or less), there are different expectations for covering unfilled vacancies, depending on the type of assignment. (Day 1 to Day 4 OR Day 5 and beyond)

1. 1. Day 1 to Day 4 – A TTOC is paid for the full day and therefore can be redirected to cover an unfilled vacancy for the 4th0 The TTOC does not receive extra pay when they are redirected during the part-time teacher’s non-teaching block.
   2. Day 5 and beyond– A TTOC is paid on a percentage pay- a 3 block day is 6/7 of the daily rate. If the TTOC covers the additional class, they would fill out an additional form to be paid extra for the day.  The TTOC could also choose not to cover during the part-time teacher’s non-teaching block and would not be required to be on-site during that block. The TTOC would receive only the 3-block pay for that day.

To convert to a Continuing Teacher (Category C) from a category E, you will need to work in Temporary contracts for a total of 10 months plus 1 day. These temporary contracts do not need to be worked consecutively. Once you have reached the required number of days (301), you will receive a letter from the VSB informing you that you have been converted to a Continuing teacher.

The percentage of full-time that you now ‘own’ depends on the number of blocks you are teaching during the semester in which your conversion occurred.

 4 blocks- .57 FTE, 3 blocks-.428 FTE, 2 blocks- .28 FTE. (The only exception to this is if you convert during a year in which you covered 7 blocks from Sept. to June in the same assignment. In this case, you would convert at 1.0 FTE.) 

Your pay will be calculated based on this percentage of your yearly salary (as per your pay step) divided into 20 equal payments throughout the school year.  You can still continue to work as a TTOC and on Temporary contracts, but the pay for that work will be calculated based on the TTOC daily rate or percentage of the day worked.

Collective Agreement language:

Section C Employment Rights

1. Conversion of Temporary to Continuing Contracts

An employee whose certification and qualifications meet the Board’s stated requirements shall be granted a continuing contract under the following conditions:

1. The employee has more than one (1) aggregate year of service under temporary contract.
2. The employee has received a maximum of two (2) full-time temporary assignments in the course of one (1) school year.

Increasing FTE (Full Time Equivalency)

Once you have converted to a Continuing contract teacher, there are a few ways to increase your FTE to 1.0 (full-time).

1. If you are in an extended assignment that becomes a Temporary contract retroactively, that FTE will be added to what you already own.  For example, if you have .57 FTE and you work all four blocks in Semester 1, then you are in a 3-block extended TTOC assignment for Semester 2, after 3 months+ 1 day, you will now have 1.0 FTE.
2. Check the postings on OAM regularly and apply for any 1.0 Continuing posting for which you are qualified.  Teachers on a Continuing contract cannot apply for a Temporary Contract posting.
3. Fill out the Request for Increase/Change in Teaching time form provided by the administration at your school and submit it by March 31st.  If there are extra blocks available in the spring when blocks are being allocated, it is possible in some circumstances to have blocks added to your load. 

Decreasing FTE

1. Fill out the Request for Increase/Change in Teaching time form for the following school year and submit to the Principal at your school.  The decrease will be approved on a case-by-case basis.
2. Post into a job with a lower FTE.

Relinquishing your Continuing contract:

If you do NOT have a 1.0 FTE, you have the option to relinquish your Continuing contract and go on the TTOC list.  The request must be submitted to Employee Services by April 30th.

Contract language-Letter of Understanding:

Vancouver Teachers’ Federation/Vancouver Board of Education Collective Agreement July 1 2013 – June 30 2019

June 16, 2008 LETTER OF UNDERSTANDING

Part-Time Continuing Contract Teachers who wish to Relinquish their Part-Time Continuing Assignment and Remain as teachers teaching on call

1. A part-time continuing teacher, who is also a teacher teaching on call (but not collecting pension from the Teachers’ Pension Plan), will be permitted to relinquish his/her continuing assignment at the end of a school year and remain on the teacher teaching on call List.
2. Notice of relinquishment of the part-time continuing position must be received by Human Resources before April 30 in order for the part-time continuing position to be considered vacant for staffing purposes.
3. The teacher teaching on call can apply for continuing positions which become available and he/she will be treated as a teacher teaching on call for the purposes of applying for such vacancies and for all purposes under the Collective Agreement.
4. In the event that the teacher teaching on call referred to in paragraph 3. above is awarded a part-time continuing position, he/she will be obliged to remain in that continuing position at least until the end of a given school year. If the teacher teaching on call accepts a full time (1.0 FTE) position the employee will be removed from the teacher teaching on call List.
5. This Letter of Understanding will not be referred to or relied upon in the interpretation and application of the Collective Agreement, except to the extent necessary to give effect to paragraphs 1. to 4. above.

All Category F and E candidates may apply for both Temporary (called “Short Term” in OAM) and Continuing positions.  VSB hiring for positions considers:

1. Qualifications-While it is not explicitly stated in the post and fill language of our CA, the current practice is: a university major in the subject area or 1 year of full-time teaching in the subject area.
2. Seniority– If two candidates have similar qualifications, seniority will determine the successful candidate.

Collective Agreement language:

New language was bargained in 2019 and is in use, but has not been melded into our CA.  You can find the agreed upon language here (pg 13-15)

TTOC Experience credits are explained here on the BCTF website

Collective Agreement language:

ARTICLE C.4. TEACHER TEACHING ON CALL EMPLOYMENT

TTOCs accumulate seniority for ½ days or full days.  If on a 5 day+ assignment or on a temporary contract, seniority is accumulated by percentage of the day worked, but can not equal more than 1.0 in a school year.

Collective Agreement language:

ARTICLE C.2   SENIORITY

When working as a TTOC (not on a Temp or Continuing contract) you are accumulating TTOC sick days at a rate of 1.5 days (7.5 hours) per month (19 days).  These sick days will show up on your pay advice in the bottom left corner and will show in hours. (5 hours equals 1 day).

TTOC sick hours can be used when you are a TTOC in an assignment for more than 5 days.  If you are on an extended assignment past 5 days and you become ill, book your illness into SFE and the hours will be deducted from your TTOC sick hours bank.

The TTOC sick hours may also be used if you are a temporary or continuing teacher by emailing employeeservices@vsb.bc.ca to transfer the TTOC sick hours to your Teacher’s sick hours bank. 

TTOC sick hours cannot be used if you are working day to day as a TTOC and are not on a 5+ day assignment.  In this case, you may use an Employment Standards Act day, but only if you are already booked into an assignment for that day.  The ESA days will only be available if you have not already used 5 TTOC sick days in a calendar year. Here is the information from the VSB about how to use ESA days. VSB link.

TTOCs are not paid on non-instructional days unless they are on the 5th day or more of an assignment.

Collective Agreement language:

TTOCs will be paid on Pro D days and can access the Professional Development funds available at their school site (Joint Conference Fund) if they are on a 5-days + assignment.

If not on an extended assignment, TTOCs can request to attend Professional Development opportunities at school sites, but will not be paid for the day. 

The VSTA does have a limited fund available for TTOCs to attend ProD opportunities. If there is a conference or workshop you would like to attend, you can apply to the VSTA for reimbursement for up to $100/year. This is provided on a first come, first served basis, and the fund is at $2000 per year.  Receipts must be submitted to the VSTA for reimbursement.  Click here for reimbursement form.

Collective Agreement language:

The Workers Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (OH&SR) are designed to protect workers by preventing workplace injury and disease. Teachers on call are entitled to the full protection of the act and the OH&SR.  Here are some tips to help you get the most from your health & safety rights:

• When you arrive at a school, ask for the name of the VSTA representative on the school’s health and safety committee. If you have any health and safety questions or concerns, speak with the representative.
• Find out the name of the person who is the designated first aid attendant.
  Ensure that you have been provided with a copy of the school’s emergency plan, including routes for evacuation and assembly areas.
• Ask if any of the students in the class you will be working with have a history of violence. If there is such a student, ask for and become familiar with the student’s safety plan.
• Do not leave any food or drink unattended where it could be tampered with.
  If you suffer an injury at work, advise the principal, vice principal, or first aid attendant immediately. Report the incident on VSB OurHealth.
• You should also call WorkSafeBC – Teleclaim to make a Worksafe claim: 1 888 967 5377. If you want advice about your claim, or if you receive a letter from WorkSafeBC denying your claim, immediately contact the WCB Advocate at BCTF, at 604-871-1890.
• Report any incidents of violence or threats of violence to the principal or vice principal. If the incident of violence or threat of violence is directed at you, treat the incident the same way as you treat an injury at work.
• Know that you have the right to refuse unsafe work. If you find yourself in any situation that you believe presents a risk of injury to yourself or any other person, remove students from the risk and advise the principal that you are refusing unsafe work. You should then contact the staff representative or VSTA health and safety representative for advice and support.

Click here for explanation of paycheque.

Deductions

1. CPP and E.I. (~4.95 + 1.88% of salary respectively) – automatic deductions according to government regulations
2. SUPN TCH – below YMPE ($53,600) 12.5% of salary, max. $2,544.30 – Pension contribution required by all teachers and TOCs.
3. BCTF (1.3% for TOC’s) and Dues (VSTA 0.73%) – automatic deductions required by the collective agreement for all teachers and TOC’s for Union dues 

BCTF Website

• Online Resource Centre provides links to teaching materials, web resources covering educational issues and electronic journals for professional research.
• TeachBC is an online resource of teaching materials, lessons, and research relevant to the K-12 BC curriculum.  The website is public and open to everyone through the generosity of BC public school teachers. Teachers and organizations can share their teaching resources or educational research by registering and uploading their materials or providing links. Anyone can browse and download the resources for classroom or professional use. Browsing is easy. Users can search by subject, grade level, resource type, title, description, language, and more.
• bctf.ca provides up-to-date information on BCTF policy, news, bargaining, teaching resources, research, links to other teacher organizations, links to other educational sites, and much more

BCTF Online E-Mail Lists

• bctf-beginteach – A list to facilitate discussion among and between beginning teachers and among and between beginning teachers and experienced teachers.
• toc-contacts – A closed list for local TOC representatives.
• bctf-diversity – A forum for educators working with students with a diversity of needs in their classrooms. The forum encourages questions, comments, information, and resource sharing related to the inclusion of these students.
• bctf-e-alert – A list to alert members to new information on the BCTF website.