Vol. 2, April 2003

The Professional

A Publication of the Minnetonka Teachers Association

http://www.minnetonkateachers.org

Editor, Mary Tingblad, mary.tingblad@minnetonka.k12.mn.us

MM-West, 6421 Hazeltine Blvd., Excelsior, MN 55331

~ 2002-2003 Minnetonka Teachers Association Governance Board ~

~ President Mark Chalupsky ~ Vice President Julie Anderson-Simonson ~

~ Secretary Mary Tingblad ~ Treasurer Joseph Ricke ~

~ DEC Gail O’Rourke ~ Deephaven Diane Jost ~ Groveland Pam Wertjes ~

~ Excelsior Mark Broten ~ Minnewashta Melanie Casiday ~

~ Clear Springs Debra Jensen ~ Scenic Heights Jan Sellman ~

~ MM-East Mark Brzezinski & Heidi Johnson ~

~ MM-West Mary Tingblad & Jeri Goodspeed-Gross ~

~ MHS Joseph Ricke, Jan Nelson, J. Beowulf Boswell, & Mike Cutshall ~

~~ President’s Ponderings ~~

MTA President, Mark Chalupsky, mark.chalupsky@minnetonka.k12.mn.us

It is a very busy and stressful time of the year for everyone. It is also very busy for the leadership of the MTA. Here are a number of things we are working on:

1. The district is looking at two student information systems that could replace Skyward.

2. A committee is discussing grading and trying to develop some possible policies.

3. Another committee is trying to improve the non-tenured teacher evaluation process.

4. The district is in the process of filling four principal vacancies.

5. The MTA negotiation team is attempting to negotiate a new contract.

6. Some of our members are preparing to retire, and some are hoping to transfer within the district.

7. The fight continues in the legislature to try to get our state leaders to fund our public schools.

8. One of our own members, Daryl Seifert from Deephaven, is still in the running for Minnesota Teacher of the Year!

I don’t believe any teacher in Minnetonka will lose his/her job for next year because of the budget cuts. This is really good news for some of our members. If you have concerns, please talk with you MTA Building Representatives or Teachers’ Rights Representatives.

I encourage all of you to attend your MTA building meetings to keep abreast of negotiations and other issues facing Minnetonka teachers. I hope to visit every building before the year is over, and I am looking forward to seeing all of you.

~~ Good Luck, Daryl Seifert! ~~

We are on pins and needles until May 4, 2003, when the Minnesota Teacher of the Year 2003 will be announced! Our own MTA member Daryl Seifert, Reading and Basic Skills teacher at Deephaven Elementary School, has been chosen as one of the twelve top finalists, known as Honor Roll Teachers. From this group, the 2003 Minnesota Teacher of the Year will be selected. The big announcement will take place at a special banquet at the Northland Inn, Brooklyn Park. Best of luck, Daryl!

~~ 2003-2004 MTA Governance Board ~~

The MTA Governance Board will have its Reorganization Meeting on Wednesday, May 7, 2002. This important meeting is to celebrate the hard work and dedication of the current Governance Board, and to welcome the incoming Governance Board.

Please take time to thank the current members whose terms end on May 7th: Gail O’Rourke (DEC), Diane Jost (Deephaven), Jan Sellman (Scenic Heights), and J. Beowulf Boswell (MHS).

Congratulations to the members whose terms will continue or begin on May 7th: Linda Morantez (DEC, new), Margaret Ruffino (Deephaven, new), Pam Wertjes (Groveland, continuing), Debra Jensen (Clear Springs, continuing), Katie Tuthill (Scenic Heights, new), Mark Broten (Excelsior, continuing), Melanie Casiday (Minnewashta, continuing), Mark Brzezinski (MM-East, continuing), Jeri Goodspeed-Gross (MM-West, continuing), Mary Tingblad (MM-West, continuing), Jan Nelson (MHS, continuing), Joe Ricke (MHS, continuing), Mike Cutshall (MHS, continuing).

~~ MTA Contract Administration Update ~~

julie.anderson-simonson@minnetonka.k12.mn.us

The Contract Administration meeting on April 16, 2003, included Mark Chalupsky, Joseph Ricke, Julie Anderson-Simonson, and Mike Lovett. Jan Bootsma also attended as a guest for one portion of the meeting. The agenda consisted of the following items:

· Update on work time and issues for part time teachers

· Traveling teachers set-up time in new building

· Update on teachers on special assignment

· Update on Extended Day Kindergarten prep time

· Music department staffing ’03-04

· Social Worker department staffing ’03-04

· Relicensure Chair committee election

· Homeland Security article on the district website

To be discussed in May:

· Independent Studies and extra duties, stipend, student load, etc.

· Extended Day Kindergarten prep time

· 2-hour leave for appointments

· Retiring health benefits

· Language regarding “tenured” teachers in the Career Transition Trust (403b plan)

Discussion for the ’03-05 contract:

· Non-emergency medical leave

· 2-hour leave for appointments

· Retiring health benefits

· Language regarding “tenured” teachers in the Career Transition Trust (403b plan)

~~ MTA Negotiations Update ~~

MTA Negotiator, Mike Cutshall, mike.cutshall@minnetonka.k12.mn.us

The MTA Negotiators, Mike Cutshall, Joseph Ricke, and Chuck Kehrber, along with MTA President Mark Chalupsky have met with the district administrators to present teachers’ issues and to hear the district’s issues. The teachers’ issues included many items, such as salary and health care increases, prep time issues, class size issues, ECFE seniority language.

The district's issues centered on a theme: doing "more with less". The district would like to explore changes to the current school calendar, the current school day, and in some cases, the manner in which we are paid. The MTA Negotiators feel confident that they know where teachers stand regarding the districts' issues, and we will negotiate accordingly.

There is good and bad news regarding the economics portion of our package. First the good news: It appears as though the district does not want to freeze salary, benefits, steps and lanes. The bad news is that the State has no plans of providing even cost of living increases to the district in the foreseeable future. Therefore, any increases to the salary/benefits schedule have to come from somewhere.

If member have any questions, please feel free to e-mail the MTA Negotiators, Mike Cutshall, mike.cutshall@minnetonka.k12.mn.us and Joe Ricke, joseph.ricke@minnetonka.k12.mn.us.

~~ Teachers’ Rights Review ~~

Make Sure to Keep Appropriate Boundaries

One area of employee conduct that can lead to discipline by an employer is when an employee has problems with appropriate “boundaries.” This is a very broad term, but it is important to understand what it means and why it can cause problems, notes the Education Minnesota legal department.

As educational professionals, we are expected to have a professional relationship with the students with whom we interact. A romantic or sexual relationship with a student is totally inappropriate and often also constitutes a crime. But there can also be boundaries problems when a student views an educator more as a friend or parent figure than as an educator. Take a few minutes and ask yourself: Is there a student who calls or writes you frequently, who stops by your classroom everyday to visit about personal problems, or who asks you for rides to or from school? These are examples of the kinds of relationships that could lead to boundaries problems.

One of the wonderful qualities that educators have is their caring nature. Most educators love working with students and want to help them. By reviewing your relationships with students, you can help make sure these relationships stay professional and positive. For more information on issues affecting your job, log on to www.educationminnesota.org, then visit “Your rights” section under “Member services.”

~~ Treasurer’s Turn ~~

MTA Treasurer Joseph Ricke joseph.ricke@minnetonka.k12.mn.us

Treasurer Joseph Ricke and Secretary Mary Tingblad are reviewing the current MTA budget and looking for feedback as they prepare next year’s budget. Factors to be considered: upgrading President’s computer, increasing President and Vice President stipends (haven’t been increased in last eight years), increasing Executive Board meetings budget, canceling Economic Services position. If you have any comments, please email Mary Tingblad, and Joseph Ricke. You can also contact your MTA Governance Board Building Representative.

~~ Study Looks at Traits Shared by Good Teachers ~~

Most researchers agree that high-quality teaching can help students excel. But what exactly makes a good teacher? That’s what a school district in Chattanooga, TN, and the non-profit Public Education Foundation, have teamed up to find out in an in-depth study of about 100 high-performing teachers.

The study is part of a campaign to improve the quality of teachers who serve the country’s poorest children. So far, the foundation has interviewed and videotaped more than 90 high-performing teachers. They learned that those teachers tend to have slightly more experience than the school district’s average; were attracted to teaching in their teens; most were classroom teachers by the age of 25; set high expectations for students; and avoids sitting in front of the classroom and delivering lectures. Instead, they move through the classroom while students work on activities in small groups. Visit: www.detnews.com/2002/schools/0212/30/a04-47848.htm.

~~ Is Your School A Learning Organization? ~~

A school culture that invites deep and sustained professional learning will have a powerful impact on student achievement. Leaders of schools, like leaders of businesses, want their organizations to be flexible and responsive, able to change with changing circumstances. Individuals learn best when the content is meaningful to them, they have opportunities for social interaction and the environment supports the learning. That idea applies to organizations as well. In this excerpt, Ron Brandt describes ten ways to tell whether your school is a true learning organization. For details, visit www.nsdc.org/library/jsd/brandt241.html.

~~ Power Nap Club ~~

Reprinted from: “Circle This,” Family Circle, 3/4/03

“You snooze, you lose” definitely doesn’t apply to members of the Greenwich (Connecticut) High School Power Nap Club. The kids in this unusual club live by the motto Veni, Vidi, Dormivi—“I came, I saw, I slept.” English teacher Anton Anderson started the club in 1998 to teach teens techniques to help them “manage the pressures and demands placed on them by their parents, school and college requirements.” During the club’s weekly 30-minute sleep and learn meetings, Anderson, who has studied transcendental meditation and yoga, guides the students in relaxation and visualization techniques. “The key to making a nap work is to limit the snooze time,” he says. “More than 20 minutes, and the body resists waking up.” Anderson hopes his methods will help the kids manage stress through out their lives. But not even a club devoted to reducing stress can keep commercialism at bay. The Power Nap Club Kit ($29.95) includes relaxing music and words of wisdom from the teens about managing stress. For more information, go to: www.atpeacemedia.com.

~~ What Kids Think We Do in the Teachers’ Lounge ~~

From: 1,003 Great Things About Teachers, Lisa Birnbach, Ann Hodgman, Patricia Marx

· Go to the bathroom, and sleep.

· Take off their shoes.

· Think of more rules.

· Chew the gum they have taken away from kids.

· Practice trashcan basketball.

~~ What’s New at Your School? ~~

News From Groveland

Colleen Gruel, media specialist, is on active duty at Scott Air Force Base. Her duties include taking care of wounded service people when they return to the states.

News From MM-West

Spanish teacher Jeanne Sammelson, and her husband, Peter Lund, welcomed baby Annika Anne Lund on Friday, April 18, 2003. Baby, Mom, and Dad are doing well!

So, What’s New at YOUR School?

There are “good news” things happening everyday in our schools. Send your school’s good news to mary.tingblad@minnetonka.k12.mn.us to be included in The Professional. I’ve been told that this is one of the favorite features of the newsletter. It’s the way that we can share all the good things going on with our teachers!

Be a Kid Again…

· Make cool screeching noises every time you turn a corner.

· Count the colors in a rainbow.

· Fuss a little, then take a nap.

· Take a running jump over a big puddle.

· Eat dinner at the coffee table.

· Giggle a lot for no real reason.

Editorial/Commentary/Opinion Page

Editorials, commentary, opinions, and letters to the editor are not necessarily the position of the MTA. All members are invited to share their unedited views, thoughts, concerns, etc., by submitting them to: mary.tingblad@minnetonka.k12.mn.us, Mary Tingblad, MM-West, 6421 Hazeltine Blvd, Excelsior, MN 55331

How Much Are You Worth?

I’m sure most of us have come across this little story or something similar, but sometimes a good thing is worth seeing again.

Teachers’ Salaries

I’m fed up with teachers and their hefty salaries! What we need here is a little perspective. If I had my way, I’d pay these teachers myself. I’d pay them babysitting wages. That’s right! Instead of paying these outrageous taxes, I’d give them $3.00 an hour out of my own pocket. And I’m only going to pay them for five hours, not coffee breaks! That would be $15.00 a day. Each parent should pay $15 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Even if they have more than one child, it’s still cheaper than private day care.

Now how many children do they teach in a day, maybe 20? (Editor’s note: Only 20 students? I think we need a reality check here!) That’s $15 x 20; that’s $300 a day. But remember they only work 180 days a year! I’m not going to pay them for all those vacations! $300 x 180; that’s $54,000. Just a minute, I think my calculator needs batteries.

I know you teachers will say, “What about those who have ten years of experience and a Master’s degree?” Well, maybe, just to be fair, they could make more than the beginning teacher, and instead of just babysitting, they could read the kids a story. At $5.00 an hour, times five hours, times 20 children, that’s $500 a day. $500 x 180, that’s $90,000! Huh? Wait a minute…let’s get a little perspective here! Babysitting wages are too good for those teachers.

Yikes! We all know that we are more than babysitters! We all know that we put in more than just 5 hours with 20 kids! But, doesn’t that math seem nice? It really is hard to put a price on the value of a teacher. Many would say that we are priceless! Do you think your time is valuable? We may need to help convince others that it is! But, in the end, it’s all about what the district and the teachers’ negotiators can settle on. Stay informed about negotiations! I encourage all members to attend their building-level MTA meetings.