How to Run a Manual Intervention Task Conflict Check

RTI Scheduler doesn’t check for conflicts automatically. It shows your tasks in time order and leaves the judgment to you. That’s deliberate: only you know whether two tasks can overlap, or whether a room change makes a gap too short. A short manual conflict check, once a week and whenever something changes, catches almost every clash before it happens.

When to run a conflict check

• Monday morning, or the last working day before the week starts.
• Whenever a session moves, before you consider the change finished.
• When a schoolwide event is announced, such as an assembly, testing, a fire drill or an early dismissal.
• After a team meeting that added new tasks or changed group times.

The five-minute conflict check

1. Open Upcoming. Look at the next five school days.
2. Check each day in the week strip. Select a day to see it alone, then scan from top to bottom.
3. Look for overlaps. Two tasks at the same time, or a task that starts before the previous one can realistically end.
4. Check the gaps. Is there enough transition time between back-to-back sessions in different rooms?
5. Check the calendar. Compare each day with school events and your own commitments, like duties and meetings.

Types of conflict to look for

How to decide what moves

Use priorities. Low tasks move first, then Medium. High tasks, especially sessions, should move only if there is truly no alternative, and when they do, move their preparation and follow-up with them.

When you move a session for one date only, edit just that task. Because each session is a separate task, the rest of the series stays as it was.

After you fix a conflict

• Check the day before for preparation that now needs to move.
• Check the day after for follow-up.
• Tell anyone affected, such as the classroom teacher whose students you collect, using your school’s usual channel.

Make it a habit

The conflict check works best attached to something you already do: the start of Monday, or straight after the Friday planning review. Within a few weeks it becomes automatic, and surprises become rare.

Example: a Monday check that caught three problems

Here’s what a real Monday check might turn up, and the quick fix for each.

None of these is dramatic. Caught on Monday, each takes a minute to fix. Caught on the day, each costs a session.

Conflicts you can see coming

• Testing windows. State and benchmark testing often take over rooms and staff for days. Check the testing calendar at the start of each term.
• Early dismissals and half days. Afternoon groups disappear. Plan make-up sessions when you add the round.
• Holidays and breaks. When you repeat a session weekly, check the weeks it lands on and delete sessions that fall on days off.
• Your own duties. Lunch, bus and recess duty change by term. Add them as tasks so they show up in the check.

Common questions

Why doesn’t the tool flag overlaps automatically?

Sometimes overlapping tasks are fine, like a prep task you do while students settle. And some conflicts, like an assembly, aren’t in the planner at all. A two-minute human check catches both.

How far ahead should I check?

Check the next five school days in detail every Monday. Once a month, skim the next four weeks for testing, trips and breaks.

Related: transition time between sessions · intervention task dependencies