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Governance Board Meeting, September 15, 2004 |
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In Attendance: |
Joseph Ricke, Jan Nelson, Mary Tingblad, Melanie Casiday, Linda Morantez, Margaret Ruffino, Pam Wertjes, Sara Macke, Katie Tuthill, Heidi Bunde, Sandy Gosen, Jeri Goodspeed-Gross, Doug Kennedy, Miles Mortensen. |
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Absent: |
Sonja Saunders, Mike Cutshall. There is still a vacancy on the Governance Board for a representative from Clear Springs. |
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Guests: |
Mary Benson and Anita Otten, Teachers' Rights Co-Chairs; Anita Britton, Scenic Heights. |
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Call to Order: |
4:34 p.m., by President Ricke. |
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Approval of Minutes: |
Motion by Casiday, seconded by Ruffino, to approve the minutes of September 1, 2004. Motion carried. |
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Teachers' Rights Report: |
A 0.5 FTE Special Education Assessor has been hired to assist teachers with Special Education assessments. The grievance is at level 3. Many are asking about the form the district is asking us to sign regarding the new policies. This will be address through Meet and Confer. |
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Treasurer's Report: |
Treasurer Casiday distributed the MTA Monthly Budget Report dated September 15, 2004; and the MTA Checking Account Statement, showing the payments made on September 12, 2004. |
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Update on Readiness: |
Building
Representatives reported their schools experiencing problems with clocks,
copiers, phones, computers and printers. Not all teachers are trained and
ready to use Blackboard, but students and parents are expecting access to
this new technology already. Some concerns from construction done a year ago
still have not been addressed. Elementary
specialists schedules have been changed numerous time, changing classroom teachers’
schedules, and administration has been slow to give notice of this. The
Extended Day Kindergarten program’s budget was not available in the spring,
but the teachers were told to work with last year’s budget numbers. Now they
were told that they would not get paid for their summer curriculum writing
hours and para hours. The
staff at DEC is concerned because the ECFE Coordinator has been out since the
start of school and no one has been assigned in his place. Interviewing and
hiring for DEC positions has not gone forward. |
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New Business: |
Thank you’s: President Ricke shared thank you notes received from Julie Anderson-Simonson, Margit Ahmann, and Matt Shireman. Negotiations: President Ricke has included information on this in the President’s article of the September newsletter. Members are encouraged to e-mail him with recommendations for Negotiations Team parameters. School Board Reporter: Motion by Casiday, seconded by Goodspeed-Gross, to discontinue the School Board Reporter and cut that stipend from the MTA Budget. Motion carried. President Ricke and Vice President Nelson will attend all School Board meetings and study sessions and report back to the Governance Board. Blackboard Training: Teachers who attended training in the spring had reserves, and teachers who attended training during the summer received compensation. Everyone must be trained, however, teachers have been asked to do it on their own time, without compensation. This will be addressed at Meet and Confer. Teachers are also concerned because the district is not giving the same message to families, as was given to staff. We are expected to have a “presence by June 2005,” but parents are looking for things now. Traveling Teacher: Traveling teachers are expected to attend only one Curriculum Night, and are not expected to do committee work in both/several buildings. Signs Outside of Classrooms: We have been directed to do this, but we do not have to give out personal information. Again, this is something that is not being handled the same way in all buildings. PTO Meetings: Some principals demand that teachers sign up to attend PTO meetings. Others say it is not required, but highly suggested. We should be careful how the district tries to use our time outside the duty-day. Again, this is something that is not being handled the same way in all buildings. |
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Old Business: |
2004-05 Calendar Issue: The 8 hours of prep issue will go back to Meet and Confer. MTA Planning Committee: Governance Board members interested in working on the Constitution, Bylaws, and Policies should e-mail President Ricke. Sue Vento will also work with this committee. The work will begin with Governance Board members and add other MTA members later. Relicensure Chair Update: Superintendent Peterson and Mike Lovett will be meeting and communicating a decision about the Relicensure Co-Chairs positions. Flowers/Cards For Governance Board Members: This policy can be set through the MTA Planning Committee. Packing/Unpacking Time Sheets: President Ricke has asked MTA members to submit their actual hours on their time sheets. This issue will be address through Meet and Confer. Fairshare Information Packets: These packets are not complete, so Building
Representatives are instructed to hold these for later distribution. If the
packets have already been given out, the Building Representatives are to ask
for them back or inform the people that the information is incomplete. |
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President’s Report: |
Grievance
at Level 3: A meeting is
scheduled with a School Board member following this Governance Board meeting.
If the grievance goes to arbitration, the cost of the arbitrator is split
between the district and the Local. We would have to pay up to $5 per MTA
member. The Education Minnesota attorney comes to us at no cost. President’s
Schedule: President Ricke has e-mailed
his schedule to the Governance Board. An error was noted, so a corrected copy
will be sent out. MHS Building Representative Resigns: Sonja Saunders has resigned from the MTA Governance Board, effective September 20, 2004. MHS will need to elect a new Building Representative to fill her position. |
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Motion by Nelson, seconded
by Casiday, to adjourn. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:00
p.m. |
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Respectfully submitted, |
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