January 2009 Meeting Minutes

CTA Rep Meeting Jan 20, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 4;15 by Holly Urbancic.

Budget:  AZ continues to be near the bottom in funding education.  Now with our state in a $1.6 billion hole this year and a projected shortfall of $3 billion for 2009-2010, education is on the chopping block.  As you are aware they are looking at salaries, full-day kindergarten and Career Ladders.  Feel free to contact Bob Burns and Russell Pearce, both of whom are working on education cuts on the budget committee.  They can be reached at:
 Bob Burns: rburns@azleg.gov
 Russell Pearce: rpearce@azleg.gov

PLEASE CONTACT THEM ABOUT YOUR CONCERNS!

Conservation is working.  Peoria school district will save just over half a million dollars by conserving lights and air conditioning and water this year. 

Another area we are looking at to generate income is adding to our Magnet schools.  We have the IB program at Ironwood, an arts program at Foothills, Spanish immersion at Santa Fe and the gifted at Copperwood.  The district is looking at adding more schools with things like a science and technology academy.

Another way we will see the budget affecting teachers is equity in staffing.  The district office is trying to figure out a way to keep the work load even for all schools.  For example, PE teachers see far more students at large schools than at smaller schools and custodians must clean more rooms at some schools than at others.  This may affect teachers in requiring more travel next year.  Please note, jobs will not be cut, but may go unfilled as teachers in these areas retire or move out of district.

We have all heard about E-mail and H-drive memory.  The district simply cannot keep buying backup memory and so some people have been notified that they have too much e-mail saved.  This will also happen to those who have too much on their H drive.  One way to conserve is to burn a disc of your H drive.  Note that this currently does not include your I drive in your total memory count.

The district office is also looking at the Discretionary days policy.  As may be aware, personal days usage has shot up and this has cost the district.  The feedback we got from our CTA reps is that teachers would like to retain the 10 days we have, though perhaps have it monitored more closely at each site by administration so groups of teachers aren’t all out together and that costs might be contained to some degree.

Contracts will be out by March 15.  You have 30 days before you have to sign it.  If you don’t sign after 30 days, you can be released from it.  Involuntary transfers was brought up as a question.  The needs of the school are looked at first and then staff seniority.  Bumps are placed first, then Leave of Absence teachers and then new hires.

Early childhood certification:  it is now 2012 before it needs to be done.

Health Care Power of Attorney:  we have copies, if you need them.  This is free to us from our attorneys.  We are also working on getting a copy on our website, so you can get a copy if you need one.

SmartSchools was the subject of a board study session last Friday, Jan. 23rd.  CTA spoke in favor of keeping SmartSchools.  We deem this as valuable to our longest serving educators and important for our district’s children to have the advantage of the most experienced educators.

Our local Horace Mann representative is Christine Montgomery and she also spoke.  Here are some things from her:

Horace Mann’s Key Notes:
1. Please apply for the Abraham Lincoln Fellowship.  If you’re selected, you’ll spend one week studying the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, IL.  All expenses paid by Horace Mann.  Applications are due by 2/12/09.  Apply at www.horacemann.com
2. Educator’s Earn Scholarships!  Apply to receive scholarship money for higher education from Horace Mann.  We give away $30,000 each year.  Applications are due by 3/12/09.  Apply at www.horacemann.com.
3. We want to bring Auto Payroll Deduction to your school.  This will allow school employees to pay their auto insurance premiums directly from their paycheck.  You’ll only pay your auto insurance when you get paid.  In addition to convenience, other advantages are:  this is provided at no cost to the employees or the district, no down payment required, receive up to a 10% discount on the premium, and get a 12 month policy term.  We need teacher support.  If you’d like more information on this program or how you could help, please contact Christine Montgomery, your local representative at 623-882-1040 or christine.montgomery@horacemann.com.     

The meeting was dismissed at 5:15.