Back in the Saddle Again!

Hello Fellow NEA Members!

Summer is nearly over, School is getting ready to start – and your Española-NEA executive board has been working already – This is going to be a long letter – so hunker down and get comfortable – or close it and forget about it – but that was fair warning!

In not any particular order except how it occurs to me here is the summer’s news.

1. There were at least 4 teacher that were given letters of termination who asked for our help – everyone of them was offered their job back –
2. There was some question about the application of the Sick Leave Policy as bargained – we had an Agreement Oversight Committee meeting to clarify and attempt to resolve the issue – I am glad to say that after discussion with the new superintendent and the administrative team we reached the consensus that administration would fully support the sick leave policy as written for all Bargaining Unit Employees (BUE’s) which is most members. Essentially all cooks (except some head cooks) all custodians (except some head custodians) all secretaries (except office managers) all maintenance workers, all teachers and all teacher aides. If I missed some category, I apologize. Regardless, what this means is that no doctors excuses are needed for any medical absence for BUE’s. But a word of caution here – abuse of the sick leave policy will result in disciplinary action and will give admin grounds to argue and fight to reinstate some restrictions on sick leave. Please – act responsibly.
3. While we have not yet settled on a calendar we have come to a temporary agreement on how the calendar will look while we continue to negotiate or wait for arbitration – here is the scoop – we will follow last years calendar, day for day, with the adjustment for the dates falling on different days of the week, i.e. last year we started school on Monday August 11, this year, the same date is Monday August 10. The rest of the year, until resolution of the agreement, we will follow last years calendar. The only exceptions are the first week of school. The first week of school we will start on Monday the 10^th, have a classroom work day on Tuesday, a day off on Wednesday, and students start on Thursday the 13^th. After that – see last years calendar.
4. There have been camera’s installed in assorted places, including looking at the time clock – the reason for the camera’s looking at the time clock is that someone at three different locations vandalized the fingerprint sensor on the clocks. While I understand the urge to engage in this kind of behavior as I too have been tempted to act on similar impulses, it really only hurts all of us to do so – the district reasonably and rightly had to spend money putting in security camera’s to protect the time clocks – spending money that could go for raises, hiring new employees, paying more of our insurance premiums, or more supplies for the classroom. Because the school board has decided to not spend more on security this year, to provide enough security for all places that need it, there are plans to put in even more camera’s, and to have someone monitoring the camera’s. I don’t at this time know where all the camera’s are going, but be forewarned there will be more camera’s going in, and this is the reason why. We have been assured that they are not being installed to monitor employees work habits in anyway – and will not be used to monitor employees for any reason – however, as has already been the case – video records have been used to verify employees being where they were supposed to be, or not being where they were supposed to be in the past. This is likely to occur in the future as well. Some administrators have told employees that they can not use the video records to prove their innocence – the committee meeting cleared this up – video records can be used by both employees and administration to ascertain the facts in any situation – after there is sufficient cause to want to check the video records in the first place. Video records are not to be used for fishing expeditions or routine employee monitoring but rather for security purposes only.
5. This is all I can think of at this time however we have a few events coming up for those of you who would like to get more involved – please email or call me if you can help with any of these events – dates are solid, times and places are still subject to confirmation – so please call or email for the latest info.
1. New Employee Orientation – August 7, EVHS, about 11 a.m. to talk to new employees about what NEA is, what it does, and why they should join - And to eat lunch with them and make them feel welcome – help them fill out applications.
2. All Employee Orientation – August 10, EVHS, about 9 a.m. (or earlier) to set up NEA table, greet employees, give out goodies, sign up members, present the wonderful smiling face of Española-NEA to the non-members, and do the same after the all employee meeting.
3. First AR & general membership meeting August 18. Time and place to be announced.
4. First ER (Employee Rights) meeting August 25, time and place to be announced.
5. We need volunteers for the ER team, and for the bargaining team – if you are interested, please contact me.

The CBA’s are posted on both our website and our blog – we have had some help with the blog – there are posts being made more frequently now than they were for a while, so please check it out – not all blog entries are sent via email. Also I am going to update the website, so you might check it out at some time, there is a lot of good information there.

Welcome back to school Española-NEA – I am excited about this new school year – I think you will find life quite different this year and I do hope you enjoy this year.

Brian