11-29-2018
In attendance were President Ted Kempinski, 1st and 2nd Vice President Anthony Parolisi, Treasurer Jill Perkins-Bouchard and ESP Unit Representative Lois Silva as were representatives from Bradford, Golden Hill, Greenleaf, Haverhill High, Hunking, Nettle, Silver Hill, Walnut Square and Whittier.
The November 29, 2018 meeting of the Faculty Representatives was called to order by President Ted Kempinski at 4:00 p.m.
- Acceptance of Minutes:
- Due to the resignation of HEA Secretary Jeff Blaustein there were no minutes available from the October 25, 2018 meeting.
President’s Report
- New Business:
- Discussion of communication about the length of time for Faculty Meetings, Time is needed for members’ concerns.
- December 3, 2018 Hearing on Wildflower Charter School.
- Members are asked to wear Heart of Haverhill shirts.
- Ted has asked permission from Superintendent Marotta to allow for early release to attend the Wildflower Charter hearing.
- Ted will be writing regular email reports in order to its members up to date with
HEA news. - HEA is in beginning stages of creating a Health and Safety Committee.
III. New Business.
- Wildflower Charter School
- Communications from MTA is helping to get out support.
- Virtual Phone Bank weekend of 12/1 and 12/2
- City Council
- Tax Levy vetoed by Mayor
- HEA actions led to City Council forcing the Mayor to tax more and spend more free cash than he has wanted.
- Photos and stories helped convince the public and politicians that schools have serious deficiencies.
- HEA is working to build coalitions with community. HEC and MEJA.
- St. James:
- Using outside contractors to staff the building.
- Encore Teachers
- ESP’s
- Using outside contractors to staff the building.
- Crowell
- Student issue has been addressed
- Staff now supported as a result of HEA interventions.
- Bartlett
- No custodians in building 5 days prior to Thanksgiving, Superintendent was contacted.
- HEA Organizer positions
- Delayed by emergency of Wildflower Charter.
- Will renew push to recruit and hire following DESE meeting.
- Special Election
- President Ted Kempinski made a motion to hire former secretary John Craven to assist in running the election. Dan Cerat seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
- President Ted Kempinski made a motion to have John Craven train the new HEA Secretary. Sara Emilio seconded and the motion unanimously passed.
- 1st Vice President Report
- Grievances
- High School Deans-$4,000 stipend promised and not received.
- BARR grievance denied by Superintendent- Level 3
- Bradford/Hunking-
- Encore teachers, travel time.
- Start time- should be the same for everyone. Homerooms are not teaching time. Bradford-9:00 is marked tardy. Hunking-8:30 marked tardy.
- PLC’s
- More push back and fewer Principals fighting PLC’s
- PLC’s are not in the contract and haven’t been bargained.
- Meetings during preps should not be happening. Members should remind Principals through email that their preps should be returned.
- Walkthroughs and Observations:
- Walkthroughs are intended to be less than 10 minutes, no feedback can be given for a walkthrough. Walkthroughs can occur as often as possible.
- Envisions math program and teachers are being watched on evaluations.
- It was mentioned by the Math supervisor that teachers could use other resources in addition to Envisions, however lead teachers have been told to use only Envisions materials
- Golden Hill principal and Math supervisor were notified about walkthroughs with follow-up feedback. Grievance may be filed if this practice continues.
- 2nd Vice President
- Newsletter, next issue will be available in January
- Scholarship Drive has begun, Anthony will not take part in the Scholarship Drive this year.
- Bargaining Update- Nov. 15th
- Mostly spoke about substitutes, It was a positive meeting with a good mix of members participated.
- Subs: lack of qualifications and not following plans left
- Negotiations team is asking for people to attend the next meeting on December 18th. Team planning session to held on December 17th at 4:00 at the HEA Office
- Treasurer’s Report
- This is an audit year, taxes being done by Michael Riley Associates.
- 932 Members: 652-Teachers, 243 ESP’s, and 37 Secretary
- Checking- $382,995 Money Market $38,299
- Question about how many members have left- lost 1 Secretary.
VII. Secretary’s Report
- No Report
VIII. ESP Representative Report
- ESP’s are still looking for clarification about ESP toileting protocol.
- Stipends for toileting are due in January.
- ESP at Haverhill High states that this may be an issue to due to a 1:1 aide who is out sick may result in another ESP having to take over toileting for student.
- A student’s needs have changed midway through an IEP, now requiring toileting, but it is not written in the IEP. In order to be given the stipend it has to be written in the IEP. This is a new issue and problems are expected to come up, Ted will reach out to the Superintendent.
- Problems and Concerns
- Question was raised regarding training for Building Reps. There are still plans for training.
- Rep. from Golden Hill reports a SLP Lead Teacher now on maternity leave, had a replacement for her position, the SLP had even interviewed her own replacement. The new hire has been transferred to another building as a result Golden Hill and Crowell do not have an SLP and students are not receiving services.
- Report Cards
- Not much time to input grades, Grades close on 11/30/18 and due 12/3/18. j