Calculate your hourly rate. Your district has this somewhere.

Add up the number of days/hours you're already working outside your contract. Subtract that amount from what you've been paid in stipend. The stipend will run out of money usually in mid-October.

Start putting in requests for extra duty pay, authorized by your HBD.

A stipend is to cover the EXTRACURRICULAR portion of your job - football games, concerts, and the like. It does NOT cover Summer Band (unless the agreement says it does) nor does it cover extra Saturday duties.

They want you there? Pay.

Working 6 days a week all year? Abso**lutely not! Say goodbye to your health, mental health, and relationships. Glad I left teaching with what it continues to become.

Look at your stipend contract. If it says something like "extra duties as needed," you're probably SOL.

This is nuts. You need a written description of what's included in your stipend. I don't care how much your stipend is, it's not enough to work every Saturday of the year. Your HD is stupid or crazy.

You might ask for an itemization of the stipend. Your request will highlight that the stipend isn't itemized and can't be a carte blanche for all time outside of the work day. Beware, it will create other pressures. If we could not see eye-to-eye about this, I would be looking elsewhere for next year. They still would not be getting me on Saturdays for private lessons.

Is HBD working those Saturdays?

I have a related question. I was told that I have to work extra days outside of my contract days (during summer before contract begins) because it's already part of the stipend. I'm not seeing how the stipend doesn't cover additional days within the contract period. How can I possibly be expected to work outside of my contract?

Usually a contract will have the magic line, "and extra duties" in there that will pretty much clears them of any issue. You could very well have to work every single Saturday and per the contract that'll serve as your "extra duties".

Still, working on Saturdays is something even I haven't heard of before. Is that coming from admin or is that something your HD wants?

I dont have any advice on exactly how to do it, but personally I would push back on this hard. We already work enough hours during the week, late into the evening on Fridays for football games, and Saturday marching contests/all region competitions...the students dont deserve our entire lives!

Personally since becoming a Head Director I have made it priority of cutting out any extra frivolous things after hours and on weekends that I can. Could the band be doing better if we held sectionals every afternoon and lessons on the weekend? Probably. But mine and my assistant's personal life, family life, and mental health would all suffer and to me that is not worth it at all

Have you talked with the head director (do this first) or school leadership?

Coaches have film on Saturdays, so—unfortunately—it can sort of be justified.

I was one of two assistants who had to teach lessons until 9:00 PM each night, plus 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Saturdays (in a small West Texas town 25 years ago). 80% of the students never showed up, and the head director was nowhere to be seen. After one year, we moved on. You can try to draw a line and say no, but you will most likely have to move on as well. When you become a head director, remember the balance needed—and don’t pull crap like this on your assistants.

— Dies