Thursday, February 12, 2015 3:15-5:15
Starting Time: 3:23 Adjournment Time: 4:37
Agenda:
- Welcome
- Presentation of Agenda
- President’s Remarks
- Officer Reports
- Old Business
- New Business
- Building Rep Training and Support
Thanked Belcher for hosting and for delicious snacks
Introductions abound
Agenda accepted
President’s Remarks
Chuck passed out Franklin’s Join or Die, political cartoon
Putting all the schools together
What can we do to increase member participation
Child care volunteer for meetings and events
Need better method for reminders for events (phone chain, in person)
Building reps hold a building meeting between now and March 19. Keep it brief (15 mins) and stick to that time. Return with stories for next meeting.
Hopefully Contract Ratification soon.
Encourage participation in forums, retirement party, softball game, general meeting, etc.
Hope to create new situations for different buildings to meet.
MTA VP Janet Anderson will be attending next meeting.
Kos would like to spend at least 1 day in each school starting in February. Shadowing a student, eating lunch with teachers, etc. He wants to get a first hand view.
Contract is now just hammering out the precise language. This process does take time.
Recording Secretary Report
RETELL language clarified for SEI Category 1, 2, and 4
Motion accepted and passed
Corresponding Secretary Report
Motion accepted and passed
Email jsurprise@chicopeeeducators.org when we know something happens. More info is better than less.
Grievance Chair Report
Update with regards to Class Action at Level 2
Motion accepted and passed
Treasurer Report
Christmas Party earned $2,613. ~$8000 was spent for it. Also provides opportunity for us to come together.
Motion accepted and passed
Political Action Leader
Attended bargaining summit in Waltham. There is a write-up on MTA website.
Passed out Lessons from Chicago as reading material.
There is a lot of buzz at the MTA about how CEA is setting a very positive tone.
Chicago has an “Evil evil bastard” 90% required for strike. Strike was an end result of community building.
Old Business
By-Law Committee –Hulseberg is chair of By-Law Revision Committee. By-Laws are out of date, haven’t been updated online. It’s been cleaned up and will be read at the next meeting.
Timeline:
- Read
- Read, discuss, and vote
- If passed, vote at the General Meeting for Approval
Elementary Report Cards and Standards – Meetings were held during prep times, which held some grudges. They appreciated having their voices heard.
Major concern was only allowed to discuss highlighted and noted.
There was concern over the importance of certain Standards and why some are changed.
The new report card is no longer overwhelming, but current Standards seem random.
Some schools had reprisal at one school was required attendance to 2 additional meetings per month.
Some schools did not have reprisals and used prep in exchange for release from an after school meeting.
We still hope that our feedback will lead to a fair and equitable report card.
It is a slippery slope exchanging preps for after school meetings.
New Business
WMELC – Western Massachusetts Education Leaders Coalition met last July to push back against unfunded DESE mandates. Rege plans to join this coalition assuming School Committee (2/18/2015) approves. They will continue to push back against Common Core, PAARC test, and new evaluation system.
May have chosen to do this due to main issue during contract negotiations, worry over Holyoke, and/or recruited by founding members.
Chicopee Forum – Goal to collect data to hear the voice of the people. November 10th meeting originally cancelled. Rescheduling of it is forthcoming.
Jason Mathas spread good word of how our Union has grown. Don’t want to lose momentum after contact is resolved. We have more fights we can win! This forum will help us to figure out what and how.
We want at least 1% of the people there. The PAL report came from these types of forums.
Time would be ~2 hours starting at 4. Dinner provided with potential for bar open.
Building Reps should get numbers from school.
Holyoke Issues – Reclaiming our Schools group is looking to push back against privatizing and state take-over of Holyoke. They provide information about getting the word out to the communities. They’re on Facebook.
They are getting student testimonials with a theme towards upset that teachers aren’t smiling in school.
Bi-Lingual Ed – Jean Sherlock looking to help restore bi-lingual classes. See her for more information.
Annual Meeting – We can send a certain amount of delegates to attend the annual meeting. They will represent Chicopee and vote. Board will be paid for and lasts 2-3 days.
ESP Conference – Fliers available with potential funding. Early Bird deadline February 22.
Uniting Districts – Establish ties with other districts nearby to prevent state from dividing us. Opportunity during the Chicopee forum.
Walking Tours – Helping to make community aware of our presence and role in the community. They are asking for their participation as well.
Next meeting at Litwin