Elementary school teachers need more planning time during the school day, Lawrence Education Assn. members argued Tuesday as contract negotiations with school district officials continued.

Elementary teachers have about 190 minutes per week for planning and preparing for classes. On most days, that is about 40 minutes of planning time.

“It’s not enough,” said Susan Niedenthal, a third-grade teacher at Deerfield School. “You’re with kids the whole time you’re there, except for those 40 minutes. You have to have time to prepare.”

Addressing planning time at the elementary school level is a complex issue that requires balancing demands for increased instructional time with teachers’ needs to reflect and prepare, said Lynda Allen, the district’s math and sciences director.

It’s an issue the LEA would like addressed this summer. The group on Tuesday proposed increasing planning time.

But district negotiators said that the process of deciding planning time would take time.

Tom Christie, executive director for educational programming and a district negotiator, proposed turning the issue over to a committee for research and input.

“Let’s sit down in a group and let’s come up with a plan that is in the best interest of everybody,” he said. “We don’t have all the facts right now.”

Junior high teachers have about 400 minutes, and high school teachers have about 325 minutes.

Planning time does not include collaboration time on Wednesdays, when students in elementary and junior high schools are released early, according to Sam Rabiola, LEA president.

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At the high school level, teachers may spend their planning time contacting parents, meeting with students and grading papers, Lawrence High School Principal Steve Nilhas said. They also might plan for future lessons.

“It’s definitely well-used time,” Nilhas said.

Carol Armstrong, a sixth-grade teacher at Schwegler School, said increased demands such as those from the federal No Child Left Behind act made added planning time necessary.

“Forty minutes is not enough to meet the needs of individual kids,” she said.

It’s been a pressing concern for teachers for years, said Brigid Murphy, who teaches art at Langston Hughes School.

Murphy said that if the issue were addressed at the school level, the solutions might not be equitable for all teachers.

“It needs to a be a districtwide solution,” she said.