Meet & Confer

Meet and Confer:  Now that we have a couple months under our belt, it is a good time to alert school board members about new changes in our district and their effect on our work. The earlier they hear our perspective, the better their decisions will be as board members.

On Wednesday, November 30th, 5:30-7:30 pm join us at the Staff Development Center (Erling Johnson rooms) to meet with members of the school board to discuss:

• Changes to Conferences: What worked and what can improved about this year’s conference structure is the focus as we are beginning the calendar setting process for next year.
• Staff Development: Using our experiences during workshop week and staff development days so far this year, we’ll share our ideas on district training.
• Restraint Policy: Share your experiences with Minnesota’s interpretation of new special education requirements around student restraint and how they are impacting your daily work.
• Substitute Policies: After working with the 80 substitute per day limit for about a year, we’ll describe how that is working in our schools and our ideas for prioritizing the sub allocation.
• Open Forum: We will set aside time for other topics that members would like share, including opportunities to share both positive developments and concerns not on this list.

If you are interested in speaking, email us at ahem@anoka.k12.mn.us and we’ll put you on the agenda and give any help you’d like. Whether you would like to prepare a statement, share comments as they come to you during the discussion, or just listen – we hope to see you Wednesday!

Levy Wrap-Up

Congratulations to everyone on winning two out of three levy questions on Tuesday! In this economic environment, passing a levy renewal, and even tax increase, is a strong community endorsement of all of our work across the district. As we talked with local residents, we heard accolades for educators over and over. "I support our teachers" was a common comment, even from those who said they were voting no.  It was also clear that our residents have increased understanding of the inadequacy of state school funding. We can be happy that our future looks more stable and we will be able to improve technology for our students. We can also be happy that our community has a better feel for what is happening in our classrooms and appreciates our work with students.

398 Votes: When an election is close, like the 398 vote margin on question 2, the importance of campaigning is crystal clear. Every little bit counted so huge thanks to all of you who helped get the word out. Together, we sent out over 2000 personalized postcards, called about 10,000 residents, ran almost 100 phone bank shifts, and sent out over 12,000 fliers. Other groups stepped up to help us as well, particularly the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, Working America, Education Minnesota's Political Action Fund, America Votes, and TakeAction Minnesota.  Efforts at the district (particularly the Communications Department),  and building level were very effective.  Even though they weren't aimed at saying "yes", those efforts built the strong base of understanding essential to any campaign. Special thanks on our end go out to AHEM Governmental Relations chairs Val Holthus and Lindsay DenBleyker and Education Minnesota staffers Emily Peterson and Janie Hemmelgarn for pulling this whole plan together.

Good Question: When does the technology levy start? These taxes will start to be collected during the 2012 calendar year, and available to the district for the 2012-2013 school year.

Levy Survey Results and Opportunities

What People Are Saying About the Levy:  Based on recent surveys, levy support is strong and growing.  Question 1 (Renewal) has the most support, Question 2 (Technology) follows, and Question 3 (Protection Against Funding Shortfalls) is even in play for passage.  Question 3 in particular seems to benefit from discussion – the more people hear about it, the more likely they are to support it.  The support is there, but the key factor will be who shows up to vote.  That’s where we come in…

AHEM Levy Efforts:  You are invited to tell our community about the levy in a few different ways. We’ve been successful over the years with a lot of small efforts spread out over our membership – we hope you’ll be part of those efforts this year:

Phonebanks:  We are using the latest technology to make short, informational calls to undecided voters and supporters who need a personal ask to get to the polls.  We call from 5-8 pm (partial shifts are an option), Sunday through Thursday (not Halloween) until the election on November 8^th.  We call out of our office in Coon Rapids, provide training, snacks and support.  Phoners who’ve already tried it report it’s easier than expected and they felt the calls made a difference.  Email us at ahem@anoka.k12.mn.us and tell us when you’d like to call.

Postcards: We are sending personalized postcards to residents who have a direct interest in education.  We send you labeled, stamped postcards and you write a sentence or two to personalize them based on our suggestions and pop them in the mail.  It’s as quick and easy as it is effective.  Let us know how many you’d like by emailing us at ahem@anoka.k12.mn.us.

Social: If you are on Facebook, consider liking and sharing our page about the levy at http://tinyurl.com/628y7up.  Simple social acts like this and one-on-one discussions with neighbors are so powerful.  And given our community’s level of support this year, these efforts have been easier and more positive than ever.

Tentative Agreement and Contract Vote

Negotiations: The AHEM and District negotiations teams came to a tentative agreement on a new contract the afternoon of Tuesday, September 27.  Given the current state of district finances and the economy, our negotiations team feels we have an acceptable offer.

From here, we follow a process outlined in our organization’s bylaws and rules to conduct a vote.  Here are the steps:

Organizational Meetings: The next step is for the AHEM Executive Board to decide to send the tentative agreement to the membership for a vote. Our Board will meet on Monday, October 3rd at 4:30 pm to consider this. A Representative Assembly will follow at 6:00 pm to hear the specifics of the proposal and approve election rules.

Member Meetings and Information: Members will receive written details in their buildings by mid week.  AHEM Negotiators will hold informational meetings on

• Thursday, October 6, Champlin Park High School (North Lecture Hall), meetings at 3:45 pm and 4:45 pm
• Monday, October 10, Coon Rapids High School (Auditorium), meetings at 3:45 pm and 4:45 pm

Voting: If approved by the Executive Board, a vote will be held on October 12 and 13 at central locations.  After the Representative Assembly approves election rules on Monday, we will send out the details of the voting procedures, including where and when to vote, how to vote absentee, and when the vote will be tallied.

Good Question:  Why won’t you answer my question about the specifics of the tentative agreement?  According to our bylaws, our Executive Board needs to decide whether to send the agreement to the membership for a vote before we discuss details of the settlement.  This helps us get the information out more consistently and accurately by ensuring the agreement has been checked over by a number of people before it is made public. 

Negotiations, Taskforces, Levy Videos, Online Contract

Negotiations: For details on Thursday’s bargaining session, check the hotline (651-695-2029), the blog (ahemnegotiationsnews.blogspot.com), Facebook or Twitter for our progress.

Opportunities:  In the coming year, AHEM and district administration will be putting together a couple of taskforces.  One will come up with plans regarding the new annual teacher evaluation law that goes into effect in 2014 and another will develop recommendations around corrective actions required by the federal NCLB law.  We aren’t asking for specific volunteers yet, but start thinking about if you’d like to be part of these processes.

Levy Videos:  If you would like to share videos explaining the impact of the upcoming levy, here are their YouTube links:

• Levy Overview: http://youtu.be/RYiCiNLPaKQ
• Technology Issues: http://youtu.be/Tbr8MRFIGZ8
• Class Sizes of over 50: http://youtu.be/AplIpZ-q7WQ

Consider putting them on your Facebook page, Twitter feed, or emailing them to friends from your home email account.

Good Question: I can’t find my contract – can you send me another one?  Our goal is to be able to throw away those purple books in favor of a new contract, so rather than send you one of those, you can find our contract online at http://ahem.locals.educationminnesota.org/Contract%20Rights.aspx (we do have some extra though if you want a hard copy – send us an email at ahem@anoka.k12.mn.us).

Negotiations, Levy Rumor, Candidate Forum, Traveling Teachers and Duties

Negotiations: Our next bargaining session will be this Thursday, September 22 in the afternoon.  We will update the hotline (651-695-2029), the blog (ahemnegotiationsnews.blogspot.org), Facebook and Twitter that evening with our progress.

Levy Rumor Alert:  Some legislators are circulating an inaccurate piece that makes it look like our district got significantly more money this year than it did.  The numbers include Q-Comp money and levies that we voted down and says nothing about the funding shifts.  This article goes into greater detail: www.minnpost.com/learningcurve/2011/09/08/31425/accounting_trick_explains_minnesota_schools_so-called_windfall

Meet the Candidates Forum:  The League of Women Voters ABC, a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, will host a forum for candidates running for the Anoka Hennepin School Board on Wednesday, September 21, 7:00 p.m., at the ESC.  There are six candidates on the Tuesday, November 8th ballot:

• Tom Heidemann, Anoka (District 1)
• Darin Rorman, Ramsey (District 1)
• Marci D. Anderson, Blaine (District 2)
• Randy Kolb, Blaine (District 2)
• Mary Nelson, Blaine (District 2)
• Scott D. Wenzel, Brooklyn Park (District 5)

Good Question:  Do traveling teachers (those who go between buildings) do hall duty before or after school?  The answer is no – traveling teachers are not required to do before or after school duties, as is laid out in our contract in Article X, Section 11, Subdivision 2 (page 16 in the purple contract book).  As always, if you are being asked to do something that goes against our agreement, give us a call at 763-421-9110.