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| from The New Yorker |
To prepare for the negotiations, members of the LEA Executive Board, Grievance team, building reps as well as LEA officers have been interviewing all Unit A members. These brief interviews seek to identify areas of mutual concern throughout the membership and to generate possible ways to address the concerns through the collective bargaining process. Every member's ideas are important. If you have not been contacted by this Thursday, please email me and I will make sure you are interviewed. Once everybody has been interviewed, the negotiation team will establish a negotiating platform which will be shared and approved by the Executive Board. It will then be made available to the entire membership. A similar process will also occur later in the year when the Unit C (Paraprofessional) contract is up for negotiation.
Each fall, the central office submits to the LEA a list of all Unit A members which includes their years of service and certifications. Known as the "seniority list", this important document needs to be reviewed by all Unit A members yearly. I have attached a copy of the seniority list under the "links" section of this website. Please take a minute and check that the information listed for you is correct. If there are any issues, please email me with the corrections. I will send all corrections to the central office for revision. Please remind your co-workers and help out any new teachers unfamiliar with this process. I will send the corrections next Monday, giving us all a solid week to review the list.
In terms of training, there are two opportunities to report. First, there is an offer to present an informational session on retirement. The trainer is offering to hold the training session on the LPS campus. We would invite other districts to participate. I plan on contacting the MTRS representative, Ward Johnson, this week and will update you on the date and time shortly. The second training opportunity, sponsored by the MTA, is aimed at the paraprofessional staff. On Thursday, December 3rd at the Crowne Plaza in Pittsfield there will be an Introduction to iPads workshop. Ipads will be provided to use at the workshop, dinner will be provided, and the event is free to MTA members. Promotional emails will be sent out soon so watch your emails for registration instructions.
Finally, at the last school committee meeting on October 13, it was announced that the district had posted a job opening for a district superintendent. The opening is for a shared superintendent for a one year trial period. The district will accept applications until mid-November. At this point, the district has a few options to explore. Possibilities include: the current search locates a strong candidate to share for one year, Mr. Skrocki could stay on as interim superintendent for another year, or the school committee could decide to begin a search for a full time superintendent. Hopefully whichever avenue is chosen will lead us towards positive resolution of this issue and true movement on our continued quest to share resources throughout the region.
For many, this is a challenging stretch of time. The days grow shorter and it seems that the calendar will never reach those much need days off at Thanksgiving. Personally, the snowflakes today sent a shiver up my spine at the thought of the warm days of summer and early fall ending. Those of you who live for the snow need to cheer us up (and maybe bring us hot chocolate! And slippers!). Fortunately, we are able to work in beautiful buildings, with fantastic colleagues and teach really great kids. May these good thoughts and the support of your association carry you successfully through these next few busy and most likely chillier weeks.
