Minnetonka Teachers Association

Governance Board Meeting, December 17, 2003

 

In Attendance:            Mark Chalupsky, Julie Anderson-Simonson, Joseph Ricke, Linda Morantez, Margaret Ruffino, Pam Wertjes, Mark Broten, Melanie Casiday, Katie Tuthill, Mark Brzezinski, Sandy Gosen, Jeri Goodspeed-Gross, Miles Mortenson, and Jan Nelson.

 

Absent:                       Mike Cutshall, Debra Jensen, and Mary Tingblad.

Guests:                       Mary Benson, Anita Otten, Sue Vento, and Susan Brewer.

 

Call to Order:             4:43 p.m. by President Chalupsky

 

Approval of                The minutes from the previous meeting were not

minutes:                      available for approval.

 

Teachers Rights:       -Anita and Mary may need to go back and visit with an elementary principal regarding Responsive Classroom issues. 

-The Co-chairs met with principals today and a couple of weeks ago.  These were both positive meetings.  A monthly meeting with Building Reps and Teachers Rights Reps and principals was encouraged.  Building Reps are reminded to visit with the teacher to get his/her side of the situation prior to meeting with the principal.

-Strategic Planning/Building Committees:  every teacher will be a part of this; the meetings will be held during the day.  The District can insist you participate; you cannot be assigned to do work outside the committee.

 

New Business:          Elections during the Education Minnesota Representative Convention.  The teachers representing Minnetonka at the Education Minnesota Representative Convention on March 19-20 will be electing a new President, Vice President, and Secretary Treasurer.  Two candidates are running for President:  Judy Schaubach (incumbent) and Frank Warner (Duluth).  Four candidates are running for Vice President:  Sandra Peterson (incumbent), Mark Doepner-Hove (Mound), Fred, and Mark Steffen (NEA Director).  Two candidates are running for Secretary Treasurer:  Carmen Peters (incumbent) and Susan Brewer.  President Chalupsky is encouraging the MTA Governance Board to recommend candidates at a future meeting.

 

                                    Susan Brewer, an Arts Specialist from Redwood Falls, spoke to the Governance Board.  She is campaigning for the position of Education Minnesota Secretary Treasurer.  The election will take place March 19-20, 2003 during the Education Minnesota Representative Assembly in St. Paul.

 

                                    Feeling unsafe:  We have a teacher in our district who is not feeling safe in the building because a parent is hounding the teacher.

 

Old Business:            Paying Teachers’ Rights Reps:  Motion by Nelson, second by Goodspeed-Gross to pay Governance Board Reps and Teachers Rights’ Reps a stipend, retro to 2003-04 fiscal year, in place of being paid meeting by meeting.  Motion carried.

                                    There was discussion about paying GB Reps for emergency meetings.  No action taken.

 

                                    Election of delegates to national convention:  If an MTA member wants to run for the NEA or the AFT conventions (or both), they need to respond to the email that will be sent out by the Election Committee Chair on December 18.  It was determined that the President would individually determine which election s/he wanted to attend prior to the information going out to members.  There would one more position open to attend the convention with the president, and two positions open for the second convention. On January 20-21 there will be two elections.  One election will be for the national conventions in July and the second election will be for the Education Minnesota Representative Convention in March.  The ECFE election will take place on Jan 15-16, since they have no school on January 20-21. 

 

President’s                Dinner with district negotiators:  Joe Ricke, Mike Cutshall,

Remarks:                   and President Chalupsky met with Tom Berge, Mike Lovett, and Dennis Peterson for a follow-up negotiation dinner.  There are 62 out of 342 locals settled.  There will be a couple million dollars cut from next year’s district budget.  The MTA is strongly encouraging the School Board to stay away from classrooms with budget cuts.

                                    Technology issues:  President Chalupsky met with Sue Hine and Craig Hintz.  Items discussed were:  network needs to be up and running; some of the same people who created the problem are still here trying to fix the problem; reorganization of tech team over Winter Break; concern with teachers sharing computers.

                                    Grading committee:  The original focus group from one year ago now has 20 additional members.  President Chalupsky outlined the four areas he believes the committee needs to (re)focus on during their meetings.

 

Budget:                       Discussion on paying an MTA member for attending a GB meeting for a high school rep earlier in the fall.

 

                                    Motion by Ricke, second by Nelson to pay the bill submitted by Melanie Casiday for treats this evening.  Motion carried.

 

School Board:           No one will be attending the School Board meeting on Thursday, December 18.

 

Other Business:         Sue Vento will be on sabbatical January 10-February 21.  Chuck Kehrberg will be the Field Staff for the MTA.

 

                                    Motion by Goodspeed-Gross, seconded by Nelson, to adjourn.  Motion carried.  Meting adjourned at 6:12 p.m.

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Julie Anderson-Simonson, MTA Vice President

1/4/04, Approved 1/21/04