Prince William County Public Schools

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.

It is the responsibility of the ROP participant to contact work locations to arrange for their ROP work assignment. Most ROP participants choose to ROP at their previous work location or school. Some ROP participants opt to work with administrators/staff they have worked with in the past at a different location. You may work at more than one location in the year. You must submit a work assignment form for each location where you plan to ROP, and a ROP completion form must be submitted for each location at the end of your ROP time.

Remember that your ROP duties must be equivalent to the types of duties you performed in your permanent position before retirement. You must be physically and mentally able to complete the duties required for that position. Administrators are discouraged from assigning any ROP duties that are not in line with the training, experience and skills of the ROP participant.

Some PWCS Departments do manage the ROP participants under their area of expertise:

• Custodial staff must get their ROP assignments through the Facilities Department.
• Librarians must work with the Library Media Programs and Research program.
• Nurses must work through the Student Health and Wellness Department.
• Finance specialists must work through the Finance Department.
• Assistant Principals and Principals must work through the Associate Superintendent for their school level.

If you are having difficulty getting your work location to assign hours and need assistance, please contact Jill Argueta or Kris Brittigan in the Benefits and Compensation Department for assistance.

You can ROP for a maximum to 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 year that you retire, you must be completely separated from PWCS for 30 days from the date you would have begun your new contract year before you can begin any ROP hours. If your last paycheck is August 31, you cannot begin any ROP hours until October 1. For all subsequent years, the ROP year begins consistent with our fiscal year on July 1. For the second and all subsequent years of ROP, you can begin your hours July 1.

If you retire at any time prior to the end of the school year, you must wait until July 1 of the following year, and you lose one year of eligibility for ROP.

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 Kronos 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 Kronos time clock at your location. You must also log out at the end of your day using the Kronos time clock. ROP participants do not have access to the Kronos application on a computer. You must use the Kronos time clock.

If you do not have access to a time clock at your location, you can use a paper ROP timesheet. This must be signed by your supervisor and submitted to the timekeeper at your work location each payroll cycle in which you have completed hours. All time would be entered into Kronos at that location by the timekeeper each payroll cycle.

Make sure that all of your time has been entered correctly in the Kronos time system. You can check the balance of your time on the Kronos 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 for any type of additional pay for PWCS. Once you complete your time, you must submit a signed ROP Completion form and advise either the Benefits Office or the Sub/Temp office that you have completed your time and 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.

You can only work in a sub or temp capacity. You cannot accept a permanent part-time position with PWCS while you participate in the ROP program.

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 re-pay your over payment to PWCS. If you have worked more hours than you were paid, we will pay you out 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.