COMMITTEE REPORTS
ARC (Appraisal Review Committee): Nothing new.
DISCIPLINE: Met December 5. OCR says our plan in compliance with what was requested. Still unsure when we will have to implement the new Student Code of Conduct. Next meeting February 6.
DLT (District Leadership Team): Met November 28.
ER&D (Educational Research and Dissemination): We expect to run the Managing Anti-Social Behavior (now called Managing Behavior in Schools) starting in February running until April. For summer:
June 3-7: Thinking Math 2 and Foundations of Effective Teaching.
June 10-14: School, Family and Community.
June 17-21: Reading Comprehension.
June 24-28: English Language Learners.
We are also investigating the use of paypal for ER&D fees by this summer.
GRADING TASK FORCE: Met November 14 and followed up on a task members were given to ask students to predict the grade they would get (or some asked students if they received the grade they expected) in a 1 hour webinar with Doug Reeves. They then discussed “Busting Myths About Grades” by Douglas Reeves. The next meetings are December 12 and January 23.
Middle School Subcommittee – in the process of reviewing grading practices specific to middle school and middle school retention/promotion.
INSURANCE: We are still under the Express Care Online pilot through December – just learned this does not cover children younger than 2.
MASTER TEACHER: Six certified staff members submitted their letter of intent. Three renewals and three initials. MT support sessions start December 19th at SDC from 4:00 to 5:30. The next Master Teacher Committee meeting is December 13th at the board office.
MOBILIZATION: After Kindergarten teachers presented at the November 5 Board meeting a full day meeting was held where they worked with administration to redo the Kindergarten assessment schedule for the year that is much more developmentally and educationally appropriate.
OFT (Ohio Federation of Teachers): We are currently recruiting members to work on ODE testing committees.
POLICY TASK FORCE: met November 13 to look over BOE policies to be adopted. Next meeting December 11 was postponed.
PTA: PTA Council met November 29. On December 13 there will be a speaker.
RETIREMENT: STRS is now providing more reasons why retirees are not getting a cost of living raise. They plan to review this again in 2022.
SOCIAL: We are investigating venues for our spring social May 3.
SUMMIT: no new meeting since last Exec Bd. Summit will meet December 18.
1. Grievances:
a) Unfair Discipline: A grievance involving a member who we believed was disciplined unfairly will be heard by an arbitrator September 25. Additional dates are scheduled for October 29 and 30. The Board has asked to call rebuttal witnesses, which will be December 17.
b) Subcontracting – the union filed a grievance on September 26 over sub-contracting of a position at the high school. The union sent a notice to negotiate this issue when it first arose several years ago, but we did not move forward. We had a step 2 hearing October 11. The grievance was denied on October 18. The union filed a notice with the State Employees Relations Board for bargaining unit clarification for this position. The BOE legal counsel has responded to SERB on December 5, so we will have to provide a response.
d) Changing Salaries – the union filed a grievance on September 21 because the letters of intent given and signed by two members listed them as 200 day employees with the corresponding salaries. Three weeks into the school year administration called the members to tell them of the clerical error – they are really 192 day contract employees and will be making 10% less than promised. A Step 2 hearing was held on October 4. On October 11 the grievance was denied because the administration believes that it is allowed to make clerical errors – even if people have left their previous employment based on erroneous information. The November 28 Grievance Mediation did not resolve the issue so we will be asking Executive Board approval to move it to step 4 – arbitration.
e) Waiver of Coverage – The union filed a grievance on September 21 based on the denial of payment for waiving medical coverage because administration falsely believes that dental/vision/prescription/skilled nursing must be waived as well. The step 2 hearing was held on October 4 where the union showed how the 2013 renumbering of the contract mistakenly added the additional benefits into the waiver language when it was never negotiated. The district denied the grievance on October 19. The November 28 Grievance Mediation did not resolve the issue. We will discuss next steps at our Executive Board meeting.
f) Administration Union Concern over Payroll – On Wednesday, October 24 we filed a formal concern over the problems many people have experienced from payroll this year, including; pay stubs not documenting work, personal balances not being updated teachers not being paid the correct amounts, and more. The meeting took place November 7 for almost 2 hours. The administration shares many of our concerns and has already started to address some issues. They gave us a written response to addressing each issue.
g) Long-term Substitutes – The union will file a grievance Friday, October 26 over a dispute over the reading of the long-term substitute language. We believe that long-term is not necessarily a minimum of 60 days if the substitute is properly licensed and doing all the work of the teacher. The Step 2 hearing was held November 13. We were given a draft for an LOU to resolve the matter, but have not yet responded.
h) Administration Union Concern - Related Service Providers: We will be compiling a letter to initiate an Administration Union Concern on behalf of our Speech Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists and may include our Adaptive PE based on the way caseload is determined in isolation of other duties these members are assigned making it impossible to serve our students’ needs.
2. Fact-Findings:
a) A member was called to a fact finding on October 1 over concerns that deadlines were not being met. Awaiting disposition.
b) A member was called to a fact-finding on October 16 over concerns of untimely response to parent communications. Awaiting disposition.
c) A member was called to a fact-finding on October 15 over concerns of “patterns of absences” even though the member has a known condition that indicates intermittent FMLA is needed. Awaiting disposition.
d) A member was called to a fact-finding October 26 over a confrontation in front of students that an administrator provoked. The member received an official reprimand on November 30, 2018
e) A member was called to a fact-finding on December 7 because smoke from a microwave that caused a building evacuation. Awaiting a disposition.
f) A member was called to a fact-finding on December 7 because the member was reported to own and to have moved the offending microwave in e) above. Awaiting a disposition. (And no, you can’t make this stuff up)
g) A member is being called to a fact-finding December 11 for concerns over statements supposedly made about a student.
h) A member is being called to a fact-finding on December 18 for issues related to a video made of a student. Awaiting details.
3. Heights Coalition for Public Education
Save the Dates: February 6 and 13 for a community book discussion on “The Testing Charade: Pretending to Make Schools Better” by Daniel Koretz.
4. Fairfax Air Quality – after several members showed concerns over air quality issues at Fairfax the union leadership requested air quality testing from the district. Administration asked for more specific information, so we surveyed the membership and forwarded the results to administration. Administration is setting up to start testing December 17. We await results.
5. Negotiations – As our contract expires June 30, 2019 President Klein and VP Rego have been holding Union Lunches in buildings in December to gather information for a bargaining poll.
6. Grade 1,2,3 Testing Survey – as a result of discussions at the November 20 Board of Education we are surveying teachers who test students in grades 1, 2, and 3 to determine who much time district and state assessments take from instructional time and to what level they inform instruction. Results will be compiled jointly between our union leadership and Allison Byrd for presentation to the Board.
7. CHTU Polo Shirts – please order an embroidered CHTU 50/50 polo shirt for $20 through our office. Call Monica 216.321.002 or send a check in interoffice mail letting us know what size you want. Medium – 3XL.