Lincoln Public Schools

It is the purpose of this handbook to provide LPS classified employees with a ready resource, which gathers together pertinent information, policies and patterns of practice, related to their work. This is done in the belief that staff morale improves when everyone understands the relationship of his/her work to the total organization and knows of his/her own rights and responsibilities.

This handbook must necessarily state policies as they exist at the time of publication. All policies are subject to change by the Board of Education. This handbook is not to be construed as a contract of employment. General terms and conditions of employment for classified personnel may be found in this handbook and in the negotiated agreement of each employee group. No employee of the school district has the authority to promise any other term or condition of employment (expressed or implied) not found in these two documents.

It is essential that all classified employees be thoroughly acquainted with this handbook and refer to it frequently. Another good source of district information and links to other useful sites is the LPS web site http://www.lps.org.

Throughout this section there are references to district policies and policy regulations. Sometimes the section is composed of the entire policy or regulation and other sections contain only a portion of the policy or regulation. Many times a section contains actual policy language intermixed with day-to-day procedures.

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II. EMPLOYEE GROUPS AND NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS

The Human Resources Division determines the job title and the classification of each employee taking into consideration relevant state laws and Nebraska Department of Education regulations. The descriptions below do not include every position within the district but indicate the general separation of employees into the three categories:

1. Certificated employees include teachers and other educators, as well as school psychologists, school social workers and registered nurses. Also included are administrators who perform duties requiring a certificate issued by the Commissioner of Education.
2. Classified employee groups include technicians, office professionals, custodians, maintenance employees, food service workers, paraeducators and transportation employees. Also included are administrators who do not hold certificates issued by the Commissioner of Education
3. Hourly employees include, but are not limited to, summer crew employees, mentors, substitutes for classified staff and substitute teachers.

All LPS employees, by the fact that they are employed by the school district, share several common benefits and opportunities. Each classified employee group, however, has its own unique set of benefits due to the formal negotiations process or the informal "meet and confer" process. Six of the seven classified employee groups have formed employee associations for the purpose of promoting the welfare of employees within their group. These employee associations are recognized by the Board of Education prior to the negotiations process as being the exclusive bargaining unit representing employees in that group.

One classified employee group, the technicians, is considered a "meet and confer" employee group regarding salary, fringe benefits and conditions of employment. In other words, discussion involving salary and fringe benefits for technicians is not a formal process.

During the formal negotiations process for classified groups other than technicians, representatives of the district and representatives of the employee association meet with the purpose of reaching agreement regarding salary, fringe benefits and conditions of employment for the future year(s). Once agreement is reached at the bargaining table, members of the association vote to ratify the agreement. If the association approves the agreement, it is presented to the Board of Education for ratification.

The purpose of this handbook is to describe the general policies and procedures governing all classified employees except those classified staff members who are administrators. Benefits unique to each group are found in the negotiated agreement or the addendum at the end of the handbook.