Prepare a form for your faculty to complete indicating any preferences they may have about when they would prefer their release time. Include on the form a place for the staff to indicate the reason for their request. Indicate clearly on the form, and announce at your faculty meetings, that although you will attempt to meet the requests, it is not always possible to do so because of other constraints. Include a "return by" date on the form.
Distribute the forms to the faculty several weeks in advance of when you plan to begin the timetabling process. Have the office staff remind teachers who have not submitted their forms by the due date so that you will have all of them ready when you start timetabling.
Prepare a faculty list and record on it the amount of release time each teacher is entitled to. Check the teachers' contract to determine the amount of release time for each.
Record the amount of release time for each teacher in terms of minutes per week as it is listed in the contract. Convert the language of the contract to the method used to build the school timetable template. For example, most contracts list release time in minutes per week while schools are timetabled in periods per week or cycle.
Convert the number of minutes of release time into the number of periods or portions of a period this represents in your school timetable. For example, if a teacher is entitled to 210 minutes of release time per week, and each period in your school lasts 70 minutes, this teacher is entitled to (210 divided by 70) = 3 periods of release time per week.
Convert the number of periods of teaching time per week or cycle into the number of minutes this represents. Write a ratio or fraction that represents the amount of teacher release time compared with their full load of teaching time. For example, if Teacher A teaches 6 courses and each course meets three times per week, if each class lasts 70 minutes, he is teaching a total of 1260 minutes per week. If he is entitled to 210 minutes of release time per week, the fraction is 210/1260
For example, department heads are sometimes given additional release time per week in recognition of their administrative responsibilities, physical education teachers may be given time in exchange for coaching duties, and part-time teachers have proportionately reduced release time depending upon how much they teach.
Set all other components of the school timetable such as where and when courses will be offered and who will teach what. Use available software programs that are available. Make a grid that clearly shows the times that all rooms are occupied or available throughout the day.
Check special staffing considerations that might constrain where teacher release time can be placed. For example, for junior grades that will be covered by a specialty teacher in music or art while their homeroom teacher has release time, the specialty teacher's timetable will restrict her availability. For high schools on the rotary system, especially in smaller schools, once the times for the teacher's courses have been set, there may be no flexibilty about which period will be open for release time.
Review the teachers' request forms and accommodate as many as possible. Do not play favorites as the faculty will become aware and it will damage morale. Give consideration to teachers whose school responsibilities drive their request. For example, if your physical education teacher teaches a swim class off-site at a neighborhood pool and has requested his release time immediately after that class in order to have sufficient time to return to the school and prepare for his next class, this request should be given priority.
Balance teacher requests from year to year. Keep a record of which teachers received their requests in previous years so you can give priority to other teachers in following years to keep it as fair as possible to all of them.