[Editor’s Note: The President of the Teachers Union dispatched the following double-tiered message to his members.]
Friends –
The Tentative Agreement on our new contract was ratified: Yes, 187 – No, 9.
Thanks for your support. Thanks also to bargaining team members Natalie Gualtieri, Casey Chabola and CFT Field Rep Kevin Cronin. Thanks again to Natalie for organizing the ratification vote and to the site reps for their work at the polls and for their work throughout the year.
We'll rest for a minute and then we'll get the “Principal Evaluation” survey out to you. Be sure to complete it, pronto. Some of our administrators over the years have expressed appreciation for the constructive criticism our evaluation provides as they work to improve their performance. I'm sure our incoming superintendent will find the data and comments helpful as well as he or she starts to get a sense of what's going on throughout our District.
Speaking of the new superintendent, we have still not been invited to participate in the selection process. I wrote again to the School Board members today, asking again that the unions be invited to play a part in this important decision for the future of our District. As hard as it is to believe, it seems that the Board wants to make this decision without any input from us, from the Classifed Union or from the Management association.
Even our previous Board, which set new lows for its treatment of employee organizations, invited us to interview the finalists and make recommendations. I have to believe our feedback helped them as they worked their way to the decision to hire Patti Jaffe.
I'm hoping I'm wrong, but this new Board appears to want to go it alone. As I've mentioned before, you can communicate to the board members at Boardmembers@ccusd.org. They don't appear to be listening to me on this one; maybe they'll listen to you.
Thanks again for your support this year.
Thoughts from the Day Before the Vote
Friends –
it's Sunday night, and I'm writing to remind you that Monday is the day teachers are voting to ratify the tentative agreement we reached with CCUSD.
Site reps are coordinating the voting at each school site. So check with them about procedures. Be sure to vote before school, at lunch, or after school. Site reps: When the polls close get the ballots back to Natalie Gualtieri at Lin Howe.
CCFT is proud of this agreement and recommends a “yes” vote. In a very tough year we achieved real gains.
The highlights of the settlement are:
• No furlough days next year.
• Two more years of the eight “meeting-free” Wednesdays for elementary teachers' prep time.
• Five new release days for Elementary Special Day Class teachers for IEP prep.
• New procedures for Specialists and Special Education teachers which require CCUSD to stay within state caseload maximums.
• A $200,000 block grant for high school athletics.
• A new $5,000 grant for each elementary site for extra-duty stipends.
• Nurses:
1. Annual $3,000 bonus for National Board Certification.
2. Creation of a sub pool for nurse absences.
3. Compensation for nurses if sub nurses are not available.
• Sick leave balances posted on Subfinder.
• Creation of a labor/management task force to review and propose changes to the teacher evaluation process.
• A onetime bonus, equal to one day's pay, if tax initiatives pass in November.
Thanks for your support.
Mr. Mielke may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org
