Retirement Opportunity Program

To participate in ROP, you must sign up at the time of retirement. To be eligible to ROP you must meet the following criteria upon retirement:

• Employee must be full-time at the time of retirement.
• Employee must be between the ages of 55 and the age at which he/she is eligible to receive full Social Security.
• Employee must have completed 17 years of service with VRS or verifiable service in another educational position.
• Of those 17 years, employee must complete at least 10 years full-time with PWCS, including the last 7 years immediately preceding retirement.
• Employee is not eligible for disability retirement.
• Employee has received satisfactory performance review for each of the last three years before retirement date.

ROP participants will be assigned to a work location based on the needs of the school division. While most ROP participants currently return to the school or department where they worked prior to retirement, placements may be made at other locations depending on division needs.

Certain work groups will be assigned under specific PWCS departments as listed below.

Work assignments will be sent to ROP participants by the Benefits and Compensation Department through Records. It is the responsibility of each ROP participant to contact their assigned work location(s) to arrange the details of their ROP assignment.

Remember that ROP duties must align with the responsibilities performed in the permanent position worked before retirement. ROP participants must be physically and mentally able to complete the duties required. Administrators are discouraged from assigning duties that do not match the training, experience, or skills of the ROP participant.

Departments That Directly Manage Their ROP Participants

• Custodial staff must obtain their ROP assignments through the Facilities Department.
• Librarians and Library Media Assistants must coordinate through the Library Media Programs and Research office.
• Nurses must work through the Student Health and Wellness Department.
• Finance specialists must work through the Finance Department.
• Assistant Principals and Principals must coordinate through the Associate Superintendent for their school level.
• School Counselors are assigned to College, Career and Student Support.
• Music and Art Teachers are assigned to the Music and Arts Department.
• There can be updates to this list as the need arises in the division.

If you are having difficulty connecting with your work location or securing assigned hours, please contact Jill Argueta or Kris Brittigan in the Benefits and Compensation Department for assistance.

You can ROP for a maximum of 7 years or the year you reach full Social Security age. As long as you have not reached full Social Security age as of July 1 (and have not completed 7 years of ROP), you are eligible to ROP for the year.

*Please note that if you do not complete the full contract year, through June 30 of the year you retire, you will lose one year of ROP eligibility.

The ROP year begins on July 1, consistent with the PWCS fiscal year.

The year that you retire from PWCS and start your VRS Pension, you must be fully separated from PWCS for 30 days from the date your new contract year would have begun before starting any ROP hours.:

• If you complete your contract year by working through June 30, you must have a one-month break in service during a period when you would normally have been under contract. Your required break depends on the length of your contract:
  • Year round (250day) contract employees:
    Must be off during the month of July and may begin ROP on August 1.
  • 11-month contract employees:
    Must be off during the month of August and may begin ROP on September 1.
  • 10-month contract employees:
    Must be off through the month of September and may begin ROP on October 1.
• If you retire before the end of the contract year, you must wait until July 1 of the following year to begin ROP. Retiring early results in the loss of one year of ROP eligibility.

For every year after your first year of retirement, the ROP year aligns with the PWCS fiscal year and begins on July 1. This means your second and all subsequent ROP years begin on July 1.

All ROP participants work 10% of their regular pre-retirement schedule, based on their contract length, with the minimum number of days being 20 days. A "day" is considered the number of hours currently required for the position you held before retirement, either 6.5 hours, 7 hours, 7.5 hours, or 8 hours, consistent with the schedule for your job type.

• 190-day contracts = 20 days
• 195-day contracts = 20 days
• 200-day contracts = 20 days
• 214-day contracts = 21 days
• 223-day contracts = 22 days
• 250-day contracts = 25 days

All ROP time is kept in the Time For School timekeeping system. When you begin your day on-site at any PWCS location, you should log in using your ROP badge, or by entering your PWCS ID Badge number into a Time For School time clock at your location. You must also log out at the end of your day using the Time For School time clock. An alternative to the time clock is to log into the Time for School Application on a PWCS computer while at a PWCS work location. If you have complications using the Time for School system, please contact Jill Argueta for assistance.

Make sure that all of your time has been entered correctly in the Time for School time system. You can check the balance of your time on the Time For School time clock. Once all time is complete, you will receive an email with confirmation of your completion date and details about next steps. If you are planning to participate in ROP for the next year, you will be required to complete a ROP Participation agreement, which will be assigned to you from Records in March. You will then receive a ROP Work Assignment in May with details of your ROP assignment for the upcoming year.

You may work additional time once you have completed all ROP time for the year. You are required to fulfill all ROP hours before you are eligible to work any type of additional pay with PWCS. The Benefits and Compensation Department tracks ROP time through reports in Time for School. Once completion of your hours is verified in Time for School, you will receive email confirmation of your completion date. Once you receive this confirmation, you must advise the Benefits and Compensation Department that you wish to work in a sub/temp capacity. You cannot be paid for any additional time until the sub/temp office sets up a position in our payroll system for you to be paid.

The first year that you ROP, you must complete an electronic ROP to Sub checklist, which will be sent to you via PWCS email from the sub/temp office.

For a full ROP year, your annual ROP salary will be divided over 24 paychecks – from July 1 - June 30. The first year of ROP requires that you separate from PWCS for 30 days before you begin ROP. The first year of ROP you do not receive 24 paychecks; your full ROP salary is divided evenly over the check you receive from your start month through June 30. Since it divided over fewer than 24 paychecks, it results in a higher per-paycheck amount for the first year of ROP.

What you receive in July of your second year of ROP will be what you receive each paycheck for the remainder of your ROP service.

If you cannot complete your ROP time for the year, we must calculate how many hours you have worked and how many hours you have been paid. If you have been paid for more hours than you completed, you must repay your overpayment to PWCS. If you have worked more hours than you were paid, we will pay you the difference.

If you do not complete your time for the year, you forfeit any future years of ROP. Once you end your ROP, you cannot participate in the future.