Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Mediation Day 2
Mediation went from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. with a lunch break. Members will receive additional information through e-mail.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Open Enrollment
The Open Enrollment period for health insurance and flexible spending ends on Friday. Be sure to turn your forms into the District Office at Jordan Landing. If you are a new teacher and would like BasicMed coverage for the 60-day waiting period on the District insurance, you need to complete those forms along with a JEA membership form and return them to the JEA Office. You can send them through District Mail. Ask your building JEA Rep if you need help with this.
Mediation Day 1
Mediation lasted from 9:30 to 4:45 with a lunch break. Our mediator has many years of labor management experience and is straight forward with us. She went back and forth between the JEA Negotiations Team and the District Team. We will be back at it again tomorrow morning.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Negotiations
The Negotiations Team, including Melissa Brown, Janeen McMillan, Jeff Bossard, and Robin Frodge, met today to discuss strategy for mediation tomorrow. These teachers are volunteering three days of their summer break to work through this process on your behalf. Please thank them when you have a chance. I'll give you as much information as I can tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Roy Harward
This morning I met with Roy Harward, a candidate for the School Board in Precinct 3 currently held by Dr. Christensen. He wanted to meet with me to share some of his findings in his study of the budget. He has a finance background and has worked with companies like IBM to find places where there could be cost savings. He has done a lot of work comparing the 2008-2009 pre-split budget to the 2009-2010 budget to the proposed budget for 2010-2011.
It appears that in some categories the Final Amended budget numbers are much greater than the Approved budget numbers, and yet the Actual budget numbers are closer to the Approved budget than the Amended budget. He believes there should not be as much fluctuation within the budgets. He based his analysis on the assumption that we lost 40% of the students at the split, and so all budget categories should have been reduced by about 40%. Many areas were for the 2009-2010 year, and many more areas are since the lay-offs/non-hiring after employees retired for the 2010-2011 year.
There are a few areas which remain at or above pre-split levels. I will be doing more study of these areas to see if I can understand why the cuts have not been implemented there.
PAC will be meeting to decide which candidate to endorse in each of the three School Board races. JEA will make those endorsements public.
It appears that in some categories the Final Amended budget numbers are much greater than the Approved budget numbers, and yet the Actual budget numbers are closer to the Approved budget than the Amended budget. He believes there should not be as much fluctuation within the budgets. He based his analysis on the assumption that we lost 40% of the students at the split, and so all budget categories should have been reduced by about 40%. Many areas were for the 2009-2010 year, and many more areas are since the lay-offs/non-hiring after employees retired for the 2010-2011 year.
There are a few areas which remain at or above pre-split levels. I will be doing more study of these areas to see if I can understand why the cuts have not been implemented there.
PAC will be meeting to decide which candidate to endorse in each of the three School Board races. JEA will make those endorsements public.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Meeting with Superintendent Newbold
In June, Superintendent Newbold asked if I would be willing to meet with him. That meeting happened today, and we had a good conversation. We started by discussing how we had each arrived at our current positions.
Mr. Newbold started as a 5th/6th grade teacher and also taught 4th grade. He was asked to be a district specialist over reading and math, which he did for a few years. He already had a master's degree in curriculum, but he went back to school for an administration certificate. He returned to the classroom teaching 6th grade. He applied for principal positions for several years without receiving one. He eventually became a principal and was principal of South Jordan Elementary when it became the second year round school in the District. From there he became a district specialist over assessment and evaluation. That position changed to a director through District restructuring. All of this lasted 20 years. He is now starting his 15th year as Superintendent.
We also discussed the problems facing the district. We both acknowledged that there is a deep chasm of distrust and no confidence between employees and the Board/administration. We would both like to bridge that chasm, but we understand it may become worse before it becomes better. We also recognize that the groups we represent may not be as eager to trust each other. He thinks the Board needs to work on re-establishing relationships and trust with all the stakeholders. He also believes that the first thing the Board needs to do once there is more money is to compensate employees.
He stated he is not anti-JEA, and he believes JEA plays a good and necessary role within the District. He also believes we have more in common than not, but that we have different perspectives on how to achieve the same objectives.
I left the meeting better understanding Superintendent Newbold as a person and in his role as the superintendent. I hope this is the beginning of civilized, respectful dialogue between the District and JEA.
Mr. Newbold started as a 5th/6th grade teacher and also taught 4th grade. He was asked to be a district specialist over reading and math, which he did for a few years. He already had a master's degree in curriculum, but he went back to school for an administration certificate. He returned to the classroom teaching 6th grade. He applied for principal positions for several years without receiving one. He eventually became a principal and was principal of South Jordan Elementary when it became the second year round school in the District. From there he became a district specialist over assessment and evaluation. That position changed to a director through District restructuring. All of this lasted 20 years. He is now starting his 15th year as Superintendent.
We also discussed the problems facing the district. We both acknowledged that there is a deep chasm of distrust and no confidence between employees and the Board/administration. We would both like to bridge that chasm, but we understand it may become worse before it becomes better. We also recognize that the groups we represent may not be as eager to trust each other. He thinks the Board needs to work on re-establishing relationships and trust with all the stakeholders. He also believes that the first thing the Board needs to do once there is more money is to compensate employees.
He stated he is not anti-JEA, and he believes JEA plays a good and necessary role within the District. He also believes we have more in common than not, but that we have different perspectives on how to achieve the same objectives.
I left the meeting better understanding Superintendent Newbold as a person and in his role as the superintendent. I hope this is the beginning of civilized, respectful dialogue between the District and JEA.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Not what I hoped
After the two days of Year Round New Teacher Induction, we didn't gain as many members as I had hoped. I ask all of you in year round schools to talk to the new teachers about the benefits and importance of joining JEA. They were given an application in the packet we provided. For new teachers, JEA/UEA offers BasicMed, a 60-day medical insurance program that will provide coverage until the district insurance starts. Also, anyone who joins JEA between now and the end of September will be entered into a drawing for an 8 GB iPod Nano! Remind the new teachers of these benefits.
The Jordan UniServ office has had one president's office. With the split of the district, there are now two association presidents, one for Jordan and one for Canyons. The large president's office is being reconfigured to have two work spaces. This change is being paid for through the UniServ budget. This is happening in the next two weeks, so I will not be in the office, but I will be checking e-mail and voice mail from home.
The Jordan UniServ office has had one president's office. With the split of the district, there are now two association presidents, one for Jordan and one for Canyons. The large president's office is being reconfigured to have two work spaces. This change is being paid for through the UniServ budget. This is happening in the next two weeks, so I will not be in the office, but I will be checking e-mail and voice mail from home.
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