Happy holidays to you all! Feels a little bit like it did when I lived in North Carolina - a balmy December made it tough to totally enjoy hanging ornaments and stringing lights, but it is so much better than the alternative!
A couple of updates - some good, some not so bad. To begin, thank you to all who attended the recent retirement workshops. We had a total of over 50 participants. What a great turnout! People I have asked seemed to enjoy the speakers. When I called to thank Sheila and Ward, they both wanted me to let you know how much they appreciated your attention and great questions.
So, what should we do for next semester? I have had a couple of people mention an interest in becoming first aid/CPR certified. Any takers? If enough folks are interested in pursuing this idea I will find out the details. If there are any additional ideas out there, feel free to share - I'm happy to arrange programming that is of interest to you all.
Last Wednesday, the 9th, was our second negotiation session with the school committee. At the meeting both sides exchanged their preliminary list of talking points to be addressed in the sessions. The school committee's list primarily involved corrections of grammatical errors in the current contract. Also on the list were the following:
- Adding a section to Article VI, Section C which would extend the sick leave rights associated with childbearing to those who adopted children.
- Rewording the place marker in the teacher evaluation concerning the use of student evaluations.
- Correcting the official time for release of students at LMHS on half-days.
- A request to close the gap of time LMHS teachers have to record grades in MMS.
On our side, we presented the LEA Unit A platform which was endorsed by the Executive Board on December 7, 2015. I have attached the platform to the LEA website. The link is on the right hand sidebar.
At the next negotiations meeting on January 6th, we will be discussing Section V, Teacher Hours and Workload. This is a big area, folks, and it is imperative that we know your concerns and potential solutions regarding these issues. Therefore, although I know it is last minute, we have a request:
The LEA will be holding UNIT A meetings at both schools this Thursday, December 17th.
LES will meet at 7:30am in the library.
LMHS will meet at 2:35 in a yet to be determined room at LMHS.
These meetings are critical -
We need to make some important decisions and we want you to be involved in the discussions.
Finally, I attended the Health Insurance Advisory Committee on Tuesday, December 8th at Town Hall. As you could predict, the news was depressing. There really was not much hard information available, just projections. The committee asked to reconvene when there were some real numbers and costs available. I will keep you posted as this is a very important issue for us all.
So even though I am feeling a bit like the Grinch after typing this out, let's hope that 2016 finds the negotiation team riding the sled down into Wildcatville to hand out a solid contract to one and all!
May you all have a wonderful holiday break and a fantastic start to 2016!
