In light of the Race to the Top grant that the Galt Elementary District recently received, I want to take a moment to explain why the GFCCE and high school District did not apply for the same grant. 

Letter to Community Partners Highlights Quality Education, Safety Issues

LANGHORNE, PA (December 20, 2012) — In a message to members and a letter sent today to community partners, leaders of the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers announced plans for a Jan. 2 membership meeting to discuss the status of contract talks and all options moving forward.

With the release of the letter, NFT President Louise Boyd also reiterated previous public statements that the union’s negotiating team has no intention of putting the Neshaminy School Board’s latest offer to a vote of the members. She and other bargaining team members said that statements by Board President Ritchie Webb suggesting that such a vote is planned are “simply wrong.”

Bargaining teams for both sides worked hard during a lengthy session Tuesday night. “There remains unfinished work to complete on issues affecting professional practice and input into decisions related to how and where we work with students,” Boyd said.

The Board’s proposal definitely will be discussed at the Jan. 2 meeting, Boyd and other NFT leaders said. “We will continue to seek ways for teachers to continue to be partners in discussions affecting staff assignments, students’ grades and school safety,” Boyd said.

“We will make sure members understand the Board’s position, but we already have heard from members and know very well how strongly they feel about some of the absolutely critical issues that the Board’s offer fails to resolve,” Boyd said. “What is most unfortunate is that after weeks of more productive discussion at negotiations, the Board is trying to draw another hard line in the sand by calling this their ‘final offer’. They seem to be trying to back our membership into a corner.”

NFT members, Boyd said, will discuss the Board’s offer at the Jan. 2 meeting, and they also will consider a range of possible next steps, including whether to authorize another strike.

At the 2012 North Dakota Public Employees Association Delegate Assembly, a resolution was brought forward to raise membership dues slightly.

 
NDPEA wants your input on our proposed merger with the North Dakota Education Association to create North Dakota United, the state's largest public worker's union! All of NDPEA's members have been sent an e-mail with information about the merger, and a survey to fill out, to let us know about your interest in the merger, and being a delegate to a special Delegate Assembly in Bismarck on Feb. 2 to vote. If you haven't received this e-mail and survey, send an e-mail to comments@ndpea.org and we will send the survey directly to you. If you have received the e-mail, please fill out the survey as soon as you can. We want to get all our members' feedback on this monumental event in the history of public employment for the state of North Dakota.
Let's make history!

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We would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday. As you celebrate with your family and friends, please remember those who are unable to celebrate with their families especially the victims of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings.

We hope you use your time off to relax and reflect on this year and what we can do to improve next year!

As this year comes to an end, we wanted to update you on our contract negotiations with the School District. The remaining issues on the table—class size, school safety, counseling services, grading policies are issues that go right to the heart of the quality of our schools and the well-being of our children.

You may have heard that the Dec. 18 negotiating session ended with the School Board indicating that the proposal they had on the table was a “final offer.” There are no future negotiating sessions scheduled at this time. The current offer from teachers features significant economic concessions on key items the Board identified as essential for reaching a contract. Our offer includes giving up millions upon millions: in health care cost-sharing (including premium shares for teachers), elimination of all retirement incentives and reductions to current retirement benefits, and forgone past-due salary increases (after five school years with a pay freeze).

We’d hoped that these massive sacrifices by teachers and school staff would help us reach a contract. Unfortunately, the Board’s positions on the remaining contract issues raise serious concerns about the quality of education in Neshaminy and the safety of our schools.

  The Board wants to eliminate class size limits for all K-12 grades, including those for special education students.

Without class size limits in the contract, nothing prevents class sizes from ballooning. In fact, the Board has clearly stated that they see class size as a matter of dollars and cents—a place to save money. With the Board moving to close multiple schools, maintaining sensible class sizes in the remaining open schools is vital. Teachers are worried. It’s simple common sense: the larger the class size, the harder it is for us to give your children the individual attention they deserve.

 The Board wants to eliminate teachers’ ability to raise—and get action on—safety and health threats to students and staff in our schools.

The current contract gives teachers the right to raise issues such as mold, poor air quality, dangerous building conditions, and school security concerns. It also gives us the right to grieve those issues if they aren’t fixed in a reasonable amount of time. The Board wants to end teachers’ ability to take school safety and health issues to a higher level if needed. But teachers and school staff know we’re the first line of defense for kids during the school day, and we take that duty seriously. Right now, we’re looking at security issues such as classroom doors that don’t lock from the inside and school buildings that are sometimes left open at night. We want to maintain the ability to raise issues like these and get them fixed before there are negative consequences.

  The Board wants to give principals and administrators the power to change any grade a teacher gives.

Right now, if a principal changes a grade, the teacher has the right to challenge that change. The Board wants to take that right away. Taking away teachers’ central role in grading opens the door to favoritism and watered-down educational quality. Ironically, there is no district policy on grade changes. Our teachers’ contract is the only place where this important issue is addressed.

  The Board wants the right to assign guidance counselors non-counseling duties, such as lunchroom and playground duties.

Guidance counselors are highly trained professionals who serve students and their families in many ways, from helping children in crisis to providing family assistance to coordinating college applications or vocational training. The role of counselors is more important than ever. Counselors shouldn’t be pulled away from their jobs to perform non-counseling duties.

What happens next? NFT members will meet on January 2, to discuss these unresolved issues and decide on next steps. We hope that in the meantime, the Board will work with us to better understand these issues and the impact the Board’s positions will have on your children. Act now. Contact your Board members. Let them know that your children deserve better.

Superintendent’s office: 215-809-6500

Ritchie Webb - webbcaterers@msn.com, rwebb@neshaminy.k12.pa.us

Mark Shubin - phillymark@gmail.com

Mike Morris - mikemorrismotion@comcast.net

Scott Congdon - scott.congdon87@yahoo.com

Irene Boyle - tworld95@aol.com

Sue Cummings - suemcummings@aol.com

Bill Oettinger - billyo74@hotmail.com

Anthony Sposato - anthonyspo@comcast.net

Kim Koutsouradis - kimkouts@yahoo.com

We wish you and your family happy holidays, and the happiest of New Year’s. Thank you, more than we can say, for your support this year and in the coming year, as we keep trying to reach a contract that is good for kids and fair to teachers and school staff.

We welcome questions you have on these remaining issues or the status of negotiations. Please visit our community site for updates and information www.nftcommunity.com. Feel free to forward and questions or concerns to NFT1417@verizon.net and include "Community Outreach" in the subject line.

Sincerely,

Tara Huber and Josh Krieger

NFT Community Outreach Team Chairpersons

NFT1417@verizon.net

215-547-2001

www.nftcommunity.com

The Maryland Professional Employees Council (MPEC) and AFT Healthcare-Maryland discovered that several union members who worked during Hurricane Sandy as essential employees were not compensated according to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and COMAR (Code of Maryland Regulations). 

The Maryland Professional Employees Council (MPEC) and AFT Healthcare-Maryland discovered that several union members who worked during Hurricane Sandy as essential employees were not compensated according to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and COMAR (Code of Maryland Regulations). 

Several years after the Louisiana Federation of Teachers filed its first complaint about the exploitation of Filipino teachers hired to staff classrooms in our state, a California jury has fined the recruiting company that brought them to the United States $4.5 million.