PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS AND VISITATIONS		DMD (R)
	The North East Independent School District shall encourage staff development through allocation of funds to campus budgets for travel and substitutes and through the development of high quality training programs. The District must balance the importance of staff development with the clearly demonstrated value of having experienced, well-qualified teachers interacting daily in the classroom with students.
PROFESSIONAL ABSENCES CONFERENCES	An employee may request or be asked to attend conferences/ meetings when such conferences have been budgeted by the school or department. Employees may receive reimbursement for expenses at these professional conferences, subject to Regulation DEE (R). Principals shall be expected to monitor absences of campus personnel to ensure that an excessive number of substitutes are not on a campus on any given day.
REQUEST PROCEDURE	Individual requests to attend professional conferences must be submitted to the Superintendent for approval if one or both of the following apply: 1. Attendance will require a substitute 2. The event is being held in another state or in another country. Requests shall be submitted on the Application for Professional Travel form. [See DMD (E)] The approval of immediate supervisor and/or building principal shall be required, as well as the Budget Manager, if a district-level department is paying expenses. The principal shall verify that this travel relates specifically to the campus plan for improved achievement. Campus inservice activities, involving the use of substitutes, shall require approval by the Superintendent prior to scheduling the activity. No districtwide approval shall be given for a group of employees to attend a conference or meeting. Requests shall be considered on an individual basis.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM PARTICIPATION	An employee who is invited to be a speaker or major contributor at a professional conference or competition shall request approval from his or her immediate supervisor and/or building principal and the Superintendent prior to accepting the invitation. The employee shall verify that his/her attendance at the event shall not result in personal gain.
MANDATED TRAINING	Groups of employees for whom specific training is mandated, with the approval of the Superintendent, may be required to attend workshops, conferences, and/or District inservice. Examples of such groups are gifted/talented teachers and special education personnel.
SCHEDULING DISTRICT MEETINGS AND INSERVICE	All Districtwide meetings involving campus personnel, when possible, shall be held after student contact hours for the employees involved. All department chairpersonsí meetings shall be held at the agreed upon planning time for this group within the A-B schedule. If meetings require off-campus attendance by the principals during contact hours, then the meeting should be approved in writing. Approvals should follow the chain of command from the person requesting the meeting through each level of authority to the appropriate associate superintendent(s). Notification shall be made to the Director of Administrative Staff Development. Tracking reports will be forwarded periodically to the Executive Director of Research and Information Technologies. Staff development activities provided by District departments shall be scheduled on designated District staff development days, after student contact hours, or on weekends.
PROFESSIONAL LEAVE FOR ASSOCIATION OFFICERS	See Regulation DEC (R) for procedures to be followed when employees who serve as officers or delegates of a professional or classified organization request to take professional leave for state convention of the organization.
REIMBURSEMENT FOR EXPENSES	See Regulation DEE (R) for reimbursement through budgeted accounts, Campus Activity Funds, or Student Activity Funds.
SUPERVISION OF STUDENT TRAVEL	Absences for teachers who are required to supervise student travel shall not be governed by this regulation. [See FMG (R)]
ISSUED DATE: 07/21/98	REVISED: 07/21/00