§18A-4-14 Duty-free lunch and daily planning period for certain employees.
§18A-4-14. Duty-free lunch and daily planning period for certain employees.
(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section seven, article two of this chapter, every teacher who is employed for a period of time more than one-half the class periods of the regular school day and every service personnel whose employment is for a period of more than three and one-half hours per day and whose pay is at least the amount indicated in the "state minimum pay scale" as set forth in section eight-a of this article shall be provided a daily lunch recess of not less than thirty consecutive minutes, and such employee shall not be assigned any responsibilities during this recess. Such recess shall be included in the number of hours worked, and no county shall increase the number of hours to be worked by an employee as a result of such employee being granted a recess under the provisions of this section.
(2) Every teacher who is regularly employed for a period of time more than one-half the class periods of the regular school day shall be provided at least one planning period within each school instructional day to be used to complete necessary preparations for the instruction of pupils. Such planning period shall be the length of the usual class period in the school to which such teacher is assigned, and shall be not less than thirty minutes. No teacher shall be assigned any responsibilities during this period, and no county shall increase the number of hours to be worked by a teacher as a result of such teacher being granted a planning period subsequent to the adoption of this section (March 13, 1982).
Principals, and assistant principals, where applicable, shall cooperate in carrying out the provisions of this subsection, including, but not limited to, assuming control of the class period or supervision of students during the time the teacher is engaged in the planning period. Substitute teachers may also be utilized to assist with classroom responsibilities under this subsection: Provided, That any substitute teacher who is employed to teach a minimum of two consecutive days in the same position shall be granted a planning period pursuant to this section.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any teacher from exchanging his lunch recess or a planning period or any service personnel from exchanging his lunch recess for any compensation or benefit mutually agreed upon by the employee and the county superintendent of schools or his agent: Provided, That a teacher and the superintendent or his agent may not agree to terms which are different from those available to any other teacher granted rights under this section within the individual school or to terms which in any way discriminate among such teachers within the individual school, and that service personnel granted rights under this section and the superintendent or his agent may not agree to terms which are different from those available to any other service personnel within the same classification category granted rights under this section within the individual school or to terms which in any way discriminate among such service personnel within the same classification category within the individual school.