Paraprofessionals - The school committee has received formal notification from the LEA indicating our desire to begin the negotiation process. As expected, their response indicated that Unit C discussions would begin as soon as Unit A negotiations are complete. That being said, it is time to begin the organizational work, self reflection, and goal setting which should be completed prior to the start of formal negotiations. I will be meeting with the Unit C negotiation team soon and will be calling for a meeting of all Unit C members shortly after. Please check back to this site to stay on top of this process.
Teachers - The negotiations team will be meeting with the school committee again in the first week of March. Prior to that meeting, we will need to make a decision regarding each school's proposed resolutions to the workload/pay issues arising in Article V. I would like to meet with each group sometime this week to hear your decisions on this issue. Please respond to this email: leeedassoc@gmail.com with any preferences for meeting times. I will pick a time which works best for the majority.
Health Insurance - The town has been notified of the increase for health insurance and will be meeting with the health insurance advisory committee in the next few weeks to discuss various options for absorbing the impact of the increase while continuing to provide a quality product that employees can afford. Your representatives on this committee are myself and Nancy Cummings. Collectively, since this is a bargaining year for all town units, we are hoping to finalize an option which does not take such a big chunk out of our paychecks that we actually have less take home pay. I will be reaching out to those of you who have business/finance expertise to help me analyze the impact of any proposed changes. If you are willing to help out, please let me know. I would expect that we will also be meeting together as a union to discuss our options. I will keep you in the loop on this.
Finally, a few reminders from the superintendent's office - please let the central office know of any retirements as soon as you have set your plans. Also, please remember that each member of Unit A is responsible for his/her certification renewals. Please contact the superintendent if there are any issues concerning your certification. Finally, if you are enrolled in this round of SEI, please make sure that the central office is aware by submitting the PD/Graduate course paperwork.
Take care,
Amy
