Welcome to the first Weekly Update of
the year. We'll be sending these out regularly to keep you apprised of
the latest news in our union.
Bargaining and Tailgating: Our
next bargaining session is Wednesday, September 18th, at the ESC in
room 118. You are invited to meet us in the parking lot that is along
Ferry Street for a little tailgating beforehand. We'll bring root beer
floats at 4:00 pm to touch base before the 4:45 pm bargaining session.
Stop by if you can for a little camaraderie or meet us inside for the
bargaining session.
Comparison of AHEM and District Proposals: To see a side by side comparison of what the district and AHEM have proposed so far in bargaining, visit http://ahemnegotiationsnews.blogspot.com . It's a good way to get up to speed on where we are so far and be ready for our next session Wednesday, September 18th.
Wear Red for Ed:
We are tapping into this national movement to show support for public
education and educators during bargaining. As a show of unity as we
negotiate and support for public schools, please wear red on Wednesdays.
Not only is it our local union's color, it's one that those who are
standing up for our schools all across the U.S. are sharing.
Mini-Grants for Your Classroom: The
Kappa chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa, a national honor society for women
educators, is again offering a mini grant of $300 for this school year.
These funds are available to a teacher in the district who would use
them for enriching curriculum, providing specialized learning
opportunities, or improving classroom materials. To apply, simply
write a short paragraph explaining how this grant would be used to
improve student learning or increase teacher effectiveness and send to:
Marcia Johnson via email at johnson.marcia@gmail.com. Applications
must be recieved by September 27th and the grant will be presented at
their October meeting. The recipient will be asked to write a short
paragraph at the end of the year to state how these funds made a
difference.
Good Question: Did the district provide all
the funds for Q-Comp? In our superintendent's back to school message,
when he mentioned the funds for Q-Comp, some people understood that he
was saying they came from our district's regular budget. He didn't
intend his comments to come across that way. Q-Comp funds come in part
from a separate grant from the state and in part from a separate local
levy that school boards can assess without a referendum. Just as the
funding is separate, we also consider Q-Comp separate from bargaining.
We do not include Q-Comp in our financial offer or the costing of our
compensation package.
