Welcome New Hires
Compensation & Benefits
The Teacher Incentive Allotment provides more funding and increased salaries to highly effective teachers. The focus of the TIA is to prioritize teaching in high-need areas and reward high-performing teachers. Highly effective teachers can receive a designation of recognized, exemplary or master. This designation is added to the teacher’s SBEC certificate and remains valid for five years. The four campuses participating in TIA as part of the district’s Cohort C application include: Carolyn Bukhair Elementary, Forest Lane Academy, RISD Academy and Thurgood Marshall Elementary.
Calendars
State law entitles all employees to five days of paid personal leave per year. Personal leave is available for use at the beginning of the year. A day of personal leave is equivalent to the number of hours per day in an employee’s usual assignment, whether full-time or part-time.
Personal leave may be used for two general purposes: non-discretionary and discretionary.Non-discretionary
Leave taken for personal or family illness, family emergency, death in the
family, or active military service is considered non-discretionary leave. Reasons for this type of leave allow very little, if any, advance planning. Non-discretionary may be used in the same manner as state sick leave.
Discretionary
Discretionary leave is a planned personal day that may be taken at an employee’s discretion and should be scheduled at least five days in advance of the anticipated absence. The effect of the employee’s absence on the educational program or department operations, as well as the availability of substitutes, will be considered by the principal or supervisor when the request is made. Discretionary personal leave may not be taken for more than two consecutive days and for no more than five workdays per school year, except in extenuating circumstances as approved by the RISD superintendent or designee. Any additional days taken – or discretionary days taken without prior approval from a supervisor – will be without pay.
*Number of days provided are contingent upon the date employee
- 187 Days (August 7, 2023-May 24, 2024) – Teachers, Nurses, Speech Therapists, Librarians, Aides and other Campus Paraprofessionals
- 190 Days Sped (August 7, 2023-May 30, 2024) – Some Central Admin. & Staff Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Instructional Support Specialists
- 191 Days (July 31, 2023-May 24, 2024) – Teachers, Nurses, Librarians NEW to RISD
District
RISD issues all employees an identification badge. The badge provides building access to the employee’s assigned location.
The district utilizes and practices an emergency management model.
District employees who reside outside of RISD boundaries are eligible to enroll their students in RISD schools through an interdistrict transfer that must be completed and employment must be verified to begin the enrollment process.
Professional Learning
- A full professional learning day is considered to be six hours in length.
- A half professional learning day is considered to be three hours in length.
- Total 18 Non-Duty Hours are then met to exchange the three days before Thanksgiving (November 20,21 and 22, 2023). These non-duty hours must be accrued before April 19, 2024.
Exchange days are on-duty time that is being paid back to the district during the non-duty time.
18 non-duty hours are to be exchanged when staff is off on the three days before Thanksgiving. The dates to be exchanged in 2023 are: Nov. 20, 21, 22.
- Required: Classroom Management Modules for First-Year Teachers Only
- Complete within the first 30 days on contract.
- 6 non-duty hours will be earned
- Required: T-TESS Orientation for First Year Teachers Only
- Complete within the first 30 days on contract.
- Required: Onboarding Course for all New Hires (New and not New to Teaching)
- 6 non-duty hours will be earned
- Required: First-Year Teacher Academy for Zero Year Teachers
- GROWRISD 23
- Asynchronous GROW launches on July 17 through September 8
- Eduphoria Support
- How to register for courses.
- How to complete your evaluation.
- Required: Professional Learning Guidelines for all Campus Professionals
Technology
- Elementary – Macbook, iPad & iPencil
- Secondary – HP Laptop, iPad & iPencil
- Elementary students – iPads
- Secondary students – Chromebooks
- Projectors
- Apple TV
Teaching & Learning
Teaching & Learning provides the aligned and viable curriculum along with instructional resources and professional development that yield high-quality teaching in every classroom.
RISD curriculum is aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills state standards and follows the backbone and sequencing supported by TEKS Resource System. RISD curriculum is taught using a variety of resources, including print and online. While scope and sequence, learning objectives, and rigor of mastery remains consistent across the district, teachers plan daily lessons to meet the needs and interests of the students in their classroom. For this reason, each subject or grade level and school will vary in the reliance of the textbook resource.
The chief purpose of the TEKS Resource System is to provide teachers curriculum and assessment resources that align to the state standards. Additionally, the TEKS Resource System provides a central technology hub that allows for districts and schools to customize and house their own innovative resources.
An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.