|
Governance Board Meeting, March 17, 2004 | |
| In Attendance: | Mark Chalupsky, Julie
Anderson-Simonson, Mary Tingblad, Joseph Ricke, Linda Morantez, Margaret
Ruffino, Mark Broten, Debra Jensen, Katie Tuthill, Mark Brzezinski,
Sandy
Gosen, Jeri Goodspeed-Gross, Jan
Nelson, Mike Cutshall. |
| Absent: | Pam Wertjes, Melanie Casiday, Miles Mortensen. |
| Guests: | Mary Benson, Teachers' Rights Co-Chair; Susan Vento, Education Minnesota Field Representative; Adam Jorgenson (Casiday), Paul Rosen (Mortensen). |
| Call to Order: | 4:37 p.m., by President Chalupsky. |
| Approval of Minutes: | Motion by Jensen, seconded by Brzezinski, to approve the minutes of March 3, 2004. Motion carried. |
| Teachers' Rights Report: | The Teachers' Rights Co-Chairs will meet with Dennis Peterson on March 24, 2004. They plan to discuss budget cuts, principal evaluations, custodial concerns, and Teachers on Special Assignment concerns. If there are any other issues, Governance Board members should contact Mary Benson and Anita Otten. |
| Treasurer's Report: | Treasurer Ricke distributed the MTA Monthly Budget Report dated March 16, 2004. |
| New Business: | Can an MTA member run for President/Vice-President and Building Representative at the same time? This is not addressed in the MTA Constitution and Bylaws nor the MTA Election Policy, so the Governance Board must decide this. Motion by Broten, seconded by Goodspeed-Gross, that the MTA President and Vice-President cannot also be Building Representatives at the same time. Motion carried. Motion by Broten, seconded by Jensen, that candidates for the MTA President/Vice-President cannot also run for Building Representative at the same time. Motion did not carry. Motion by Brzezinski, seconded by Goodspeed-Gross, that candidates for MTA President/Vice-President can also run for Building Representative at the same time. If the candidate wins both positions, the candidate would be President/Vice-President and would resign as Building Representative. Motion carried. After the elections, a committee will work on language changes in the MTA Constitution and Bylaws and the MTA Election Policy. Blackboard Trainers: Mike Lovett proposed a stipend of $1,500 for the Blackboard trainers. This was supposed to go the MTA Governance Board for approval before the posting was sent out. The posting was sent out on March 12, 2004, without input from the Governance Board. The district is expecting that all teachers will have a webpage and grades online next year. The Blackboard trainers will be expected to train and support all teachers in this endeavor. Many have expressed concern regarding the fairness of the stipend for the expected workload. Motion by Tuthill, seconded by Ruffino, to recommend increasing the Blackboard trainer stipend to $3,000. Motion carried. Health Insurance
Committee: We are looking at a 0% increase in insurance fees next
year, and we have $3.9 million in reserves. Tom Berge has proposed that
the office staff used for health insurance work, be paid ($45,00-50,000)
from the Health Insurance Fund instead of the General Fund. The Governance
Board will support this option for one year, and request that we revisit
this next year. |
| Old Business: |
Election Committee: The Election Committee requested that more people be added to the committee to help out with the elections. Katie Tuthill, Margaret Ruffino, and Linda Morantez volunteered to do this. MTA Website: Building Representatives reported that there is little interest in an MTA photo contest. Motion by Tuthill, seconded by Ruffino, that the newsletter be sent out as an attachment to an e-mail. Motion carried. |
| Open Forum: |
Field Representative Vento asks that we remind members that if there
are concerns, they should get help as soon as possible, rather than
waiting--contact the Teachers' Rights Representatives and/or Co-Chairs.
Members should be encouraged to bring in their Teachers' Rights
Representatives when talking about concerns with principals.
"Teachers Night at the Musical" will be on May 6, 2004. Metro Negotiators are opposed to the State Health Plan. |
| President's Remarks: |
Technology and CEU Issue: With the switch to Mylearningplan.com, the district told teachers that we need to get everything in this year or risk losing it, and this will continue on for each year. The state requires that we get our CEUs in within the five years before the license expires. Bev Ginther will be checking into this. UniServ Report: An attorney talked about the Landrum-Griffin Act and Education Minnesota investigation report. |
| School Board Report: | Mary Tingblad reported on the March 4, 2004, School Board Meeting. She distributed copies of the Report of Principals' Progress-To-Date on Mutual Commitments and Expectations. The School Board also heard a report on the development of evaluation systems for clerical, para, administrative, and information systems employee groups. They approved the License Status Policy and heard an update on the International Baccalaureate Planning. |
| Motion by Jensen, seconded by Nelson, to adjourn. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m. | |
|
Respectfully submitted, | |