The COVID CORNER:
CHTU and the Board of Education have an agreement around the closure of schools through April 9, 2020. (LOU)
COMMITTEE REPORTS
ARC (Appraisal Review Committee): Several meetings have been cancelled for lack of new information from the state concerning OTES 2.0. Next scheduled meeting was March 3, but got delayed. No meeting date planned.
CCES (Cuyahoga County Educators Summit) –nothing much going on.
DISCIPLINE (SCOC): Next meeting April 1, 2020. CANCELLED
ER&D: Summer registration is starting: June 1-5 English Language Learners. June 1-5 Common Core Thinking Math 3. June 8-12 Home School Connections. June 15-19 Foundations of Effective Teaching. June 22-26 Reading Comprehension.
INSURANCE: Next meeting April 15, 2020. Hopefully.
MASTER TEACHER: 12 teachers submitted letters of intent to participate in the Master Teacher Program this year. Next meeting April 23, 2020. We’ll see.
MOBILIZATION: 86 members took part in the levy lit drop March 6-9. Bravo for this great effort. YES on 26 sheets were distributed for cars. No idea of next steps with the election delay. Members of the community who have not yet voted need to be convinced to vote by mail.
OFT (Ohio Federation of Teachers): We had around 70 members planning on attending the March 18 rally in Columbus. The “virtual rally” is an ongoing effort to get the state legislature to act on SB 89 before April 1 stopping the exponential expansion of EdChoice labelled schools.
POLICY TASK FORCE: Next meeting March 19, 2020. CANCELLED
PTA: Next PTA Council meeting is March 19, 2020. CANCELLED
RETIREMENT: nothing new. 8 members have submitted their intent to retire at the end of the school year.
SOCIAL: The Spring Social WILL NOT happen on April 24 as Nighttown is closed down for 8 weeks. We will want to have some kind of event in all likelihood a virtual one, especially so we can raise money for our Glen Altschuld Scholarship.
SUMMIT: We met February 21. Discussed upcoming school diagnostic reviews, DLT meeting attendance, Equity Training, secondary schedules, elementary conferences, community learning centers, supplemental contracts committee, and SCOC concerns. Supt Kirby would like to meet with the SCOC committee first to review the results of the union survey of 180 members, then meet with teachers. Next meeting March 20. CANCELLED
1. Grievances and Unfair Labor Practices
a) Assault Leave – Administration is trying to apply the new assault leave language limit of 2 years to a member who has been on partial assault leave. A grievance was filed on October 29, 2019. A step 2 hearing was held on November 12 and was denied on November 19, 2019. A step 3 Grievance mediation was held January 6, 2020 and was not successful. The CHTU Grievance Committee has voted to recommend to the Executive Board to approve taking this grievance to arbitration. We are currently trying to resolve this issue unofficially before arbitration is scheduled.
b) Administration Union Concern – Oxford – an AU concern was filed October 29, 2019. There are a myriad of issues that brought the Oxford Union leadership and the whole TAP team to file. A meeting took place on December 9 where the TAP team presented the issues in a professional, non-confrontational manner. We received a response, but were concerned it did not address many of the issues brought up at the meeting. The Superintendent is going to review all notes and amend her response. Still waiting.
c) Right to representation grievance – A teacher filed a grievance November 15, 2019 based on requesting union representation at a meeting with the supervisor, having the meeting delayed a month, then while meeting over another matter without representation having the supervisor bring up the content of the original meeting. There was no opportunity to get union representation at that point. A step 2 hearing was held December 4. The grievance was denied on December 13. CHTU gave administration a suggestion on how to resolve the grievance by replacing the Step 2 response letter – that overture was rejected. We withdrew the grievance and are preparing to filed an Unfair Labor Practice with the State Employees Relations Board on January 16, 2020. Awaiting SERB.
d) Incorrect Duty Assignment – a teacher filed a grievance February 14, 2020 based on being assigned a duty even though she does not meet the requirements for the assignment. Shortly after the grievance was filed the matter was settled by the principal.
e) Excessive discipline that is not progressive – a member was given a 5-day suspension for a first-time offense even though the ECOC rubric used for determining discipline recommended an official reprimand. A grievance was filed on March 6, 2020. The offense involved lack of supervision. Interestingly, during the first two days of the suspension HR failed to let the building staff know that a substitute was needed, so students did not have a sub – lack of supervision seems to be running rampant. The hearing needs to be rescheduled.
2. Fact-Findings/Discipline
a) A member was on paid administrative leave from August 29, 2019 to January 10, 2020. An investigation was conducted over concerns that we thought had been resolved last year. President Klein represented our member at the Department of Children and Family Services on September 25. All charges were found to be “unsubstantiated” on October 9. A private investigator, hired by the district, met with our members on a voluntary basis. The private company interviewed our member on October 30. A report was submitted to the Superintendent mid-December. The superintendent issued a letter to our member on the last day of school before winter recess stating that the investigator found insufficient evidence to support the charges. The investigator had two concerns that were not violations of board policy. The member has returned to work and has been required to attend training in two areas. The member was called in for a fact-finding, with charges based on the investigator’s report, on January 29, 2020. A meeting was held February 6 to allow for comments on the investigator’s report. We are still awaiting a disposition.
b) A member was called to a fact-finding November 26, 2019 over concerns around alleged misconduct regarding supervision of students. While awaiting a disposition we were informed the district wanted to collect more information, and scheduled a second fact-finding on February 11. The teacher was given a 5-day suspension on February 26 to be served starting March 4. See Grievance e above.
c) A member was put on paid administrative leave starting January 30, 2020 for allegations that the member pushed a student. A fact-finding was scheduled for February 6 with an additional charge of comments being made that were offensive during a lesson. Awaiting a response.
d) A member was subbing on January 22, 2020 when a student injured herself. The member will be called into a fact-finding when she returns from sick leave.
3. Heights Coalition For Public Education – endorsers were being organized to attend the March 18 rally in Columbus that was shifted to the virtual rally. Consider liking the Heights Coalition Fb page. https://www.facebook.com/pg/
NEXT EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING: March 19, 2020 – Canterbury – CANCELLED. Will be in communication with Executive Board as needed through Google Hangout.