Dear Colleagues,
Cleveland.com Article
Elementary music teacher, Daniel Hershman Rossi, is quoted several times in this Cleveland.com article. The article focuses on some causes of teacher burnout. I am sure we can all relate! OFT President Melissa Cropper is also quoted in the article. This article comes as a result of the survey put out by OFT to members across the state, in which many of our members participated..
Additional Retirement
We have one additional retirement: Roberta Warren, security officer, at Canterbury Elementary. We wish you good health and happiness in your retirement years.
Class Grievances
We recently filed 3 class grievances. A class grievance is filed when a violation of the contract, or past practice, occurs that involves a group or a designated class of members or that impacts the entire bargaining unit.
Extra Assignment Pay: We have a teacher who has been on a leave for the majority of the school year. The students were split into multiple classrooms because the district failed to find a qualified long term substitute. The district is now trying to retrieve the money the teachers earned by covering for the duties of an absent teacher.
Public School Works: Our contract states that professional development during the normal workday can be delivered in 1/2 day or full day increments. The district administration may require no more than 4 hours per year of less than half-day professional development during the workday. Public Works takes up much of that time. The most recent Public Works training was announced after the district had depleted its PD days. We contend that PD should be completed on PD days.
HQIM (High Quality Instructional Materials): The rollout of the new ELA program is accompanied by a huge quantity of PD. At our most recent Summit,our Union Leadership stated that the district is not ready to implement a major program with copious amounts of materials, including an in-depth online piece. There is a new elementary schedule that the district planned on rolling out next year to include 40 minutes of PD per week for teachers while their students are taught/supervised by the media ancillary and school counselor. Among the many other trainwrecks in the schedule, this 40 minute PD is, once again, a violation of our contract. Again, we believe PD should be conducted on PD days.
In Solidarity,
Karen Rego
CHTU President