Philadelphia Federation of Teachers School District of Philadelphia

VIII. Examinations and Appointments
D. Secretarial examinations
1. Examinations for positions within the Secretaries’ bargaining unit shall be
given in well lighted quiet rooms under conditions similar for all applicants and
with equipment in good working order.
2. An employee who has taken and passed the applicable examinations for
secretarial positions shall be issued a certificate of grade indicating the date of
the test, type of examination passed, scores attained, and expiration date of
certificate validity. A copy of this certificate will be placed in the employee’s
personnel file.
3. An employee who desires to improve his/her score on a qualifying examination
for a secretarial position can retake the examination with all other test
applicants; whichever score is higher will be used in the final composite grade.
4. An employee who takes the examination for Secretary I and passes the
written examination but fails the practical portion may choose to retake the
entire examination or may choose, within the life of the eligibility list, to take
the practical portion of the exam only. In the latter case, if the employee passes
the practical portion of the examination, his/her total score shall be based on
the score of the last written examination and the score on the passed practical
examination. The option to take the practical portion only is limited to one (1)
time within the life of the eligibility list.
5. To be eligible to take a Secretary III examination for a school office position,
a secretary must have had experience for two (2) years in a school office.
E. Food Service
Examinations shall be required for food service managers to be appointed to
entry-level positions.
Article iX
Employment Security
A. Seniority
1. An employee shall have both school system seniority and location seniority.
Professional/Technical employees and Food Service Managers shall also
have departmental seniority.
2. When the term location seniority is used, it shall include seniority accumulated
at any school, center or other work location.
3. Wherever, in this Agreement, reference is made to seniority as the basis
for decision, it shall mean that the person with the highest seniority of the type
of seniority specified shall receive preference.
4. Seniority shall be determined as follows:
(a) School System seniority of an employee shall date from the beginning of
his/her continuous appointment in any classification in any bargaining unit represented
by the Federation as an appointed employee.
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