“Harford County Education Association commits itself to advocate for educational professionals and to promote a high quality public education that prepares students to succeed in a diverse and global society.”
Urgent All Member Meeting 9/2/10
Please
be in attendance at an important all member meeting,
Thursday September 2, 4:30-6:00 at C. Milton Wright High School
auditorium. More information will be forthcoming.
8.31.10
There aren’t
many topics that get members as riled up as political
endorsements. Below is the procedure HCEA follows to recommend a
candidate.
8.31.10
BIG WIN. As
many of you are aware, in May HCEA filed a grievance when HCPS
unilaterally changed the design of your healthcare plans without
negotiating that change.
Text of Judge
Baldwin's Decision
8.25.2010
Building Rep Update
This update contains information on the Health Care Grievance,
Congressional Jobs Bill, and Impasse.
Click here
to read more
Special All Member Meeting
9.2.2010
Sick
Leave Bank History
8.12.2010
Health Care
Grievance
This Monday Judge
Baldwin heard arguments from HCEA’s and the BOE’s attorneys
regarding the Board’s request for an injunction to stay
arbitration on the health care grievance filed by HCEA.
07.19.2010
Read about the business of the 2010 RA, watch a video of Diane
Ravitch defending public education, hear an inspirational speech
from the 2010 Teacher of the Year and Governor O’Malley
received the Greatest Education Governor award.
07.19.2010
As out of pocket health care costs climb.
Plan
design changes to health care coverage for Harford County Public
Schools employees have been a point of contention between
employees and the board of education for the last two months.
07.16.2010
HCEA is continuing to work through the
negotiations/impasse process. Our goal is to negotiate a salary
and benefits package that enables Harford County Public Schools
the ability to attract and retain the most highly qualified and
effective teachers for the children of our county.
As was mentioned it the most recent Mini Impact, 6/15/10,
Monday BOE Meeting
If you weren't able to attend the meeting you missed a wonderful
display of unity. More than 300 participants wore stickers, waved
signs, chanting slogans late into the evening, supporting the
speakers as they addressed BOE members regarding health care changes
imposed by the Harford County School System.
OUR FIGHT IS NOT OVER. An agent of the superintendent will hear
our grievance on the health care changes on Friday May 28th 3 pm.
They will have 10 days business to respond to the grievance, which
would take us to June 14th, the next BOE meeting. You may want to
hold that date open.
HCEA will keep you informed.
Click here for a special
message from your president
THE WINNING TICKETS
Health Care Information
5-14-2010
Prior to negotiations HCEA made it clear to the BOE that design
changes (co-pays) are a mandatory subject of bargaining (a
negotiable item). The BOE has made changes without bringing the
changes to the negotiating table.
HCEA has not agreed to any changes in the design of the health care
plan even though the BOE has included these changes in open
enrollment.
This week HCEA filed paperwork accusing the BOE of bad faith
bargaining and a grievance regarding several articles of the
contract that we believe the BOE has violated regarding this issue.
HCEA and HCESC (the Harford County support personnel union) are
coordinating efforts.
Please tentatively save the date Monday May 24, 6:30 p.m. for
attendance at the BOE meeting.
As an employee you may express your concerns about the major changes
to the health care plan to Mr. Mark Wolkow, BOE President; Mr.
Robert Tomback, Superintendent; Mr. Jonathan O'Neal, Asst. Supt. Of
Human Resources; Mr. Jeffrey Fradel, Senior Manager of Staff
Relations, or any other individual you feel should know about your
concerns.
Health Care Letter to BOE
HCEA Votes not to sign the local Race to
the Top MOU
Last week HCEA building representatives met for their regular
monthly business meeting. One of the topics that was discussed was
the request of the BOE for the signature of HCEA leadership on the
Race to the Top (RTTT) Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU).
A motion was presented to the assembly and the implications of
signing or not signing the 259 page MOU were evaluated in light of
the recent Education Reform Bill (ERB) that had just passed the
state legislature.
At the time of the meeting,
the MOU, which is still a draft document, was not in
compliance with the ERB (now state law). The changes that would be
required by the MOU,
should MD
actually receive the RTTT grant,
are significant and come with very little potential funding for Harford
County. The total dollars that would come to HCPS during the
entire four year period of the grant would be $1.9 million or about
$500,000 a year.
The recently passed ERB, proposed by the governor and amended by the
legislature with significant input
from MSEA, differed significantly with the draft MOU that Dr.
Grasmick
is asking everyone to sign. Those areas are:
· Grasmick
MOU-
mentoring for an unsuccessful teacher will be assigned within 90
days
ERB
- mentoring will be assigned promptly. Promptly
is a much stronger legal term.
· Grasmick
MOU-The
new evaluation process for teachers, at the local level, would be
decided at a “meet and confer session.” Legally this means the local
BOE has to meet with HCEA, tell HCEA how the process will change,
listen to what HCEA thinks about it and then can do whatever they
want once we leave the meeting. We have no say in the changes.
ERB
- the BOE and HCEA will be required to negotiate the new process. If
a consensus cannot be reached at the local level
MSDE will institute the process as they see fit.
· Grasmick
MOU-
calls for 50% of the teacher’s evaluation to be tied to student
growth.
ERB
- a “significant portion” of the evaluation is tied to student
growth. A single assessment
area could not be more that 35% of that criteria.
A signature on the MOU in draft form with changes pending is
paramount to signing a blank check. Legally
HCEA could be bound by the document even though it is contrary to
recently enacted changes in state law.
The HCEA Rep Assembly passed a motion to direct the President not to
sign the MOU in its current form. The body would reconsider its
position once the MOU is in
compliance with ERB.
2010
Legislative Wrap-up
In the past three days, we saw significant
movement on a number of bills.
C
SB 590/HB 243: Our Labor Bill passed, creating an
independent labor board to resolve bargaining impasses.
C
SB 385/HB 946: The BOAST Tuition Tax Credit proposal morphed
into a $10 million private school grant program and never made to
the House floor. Late at night on the last day of session the Ways
and Means Committee gave the bill an unfavorable report.
C
SB 899/HB
1263: Differences between chambers on Governor's Education
Reform Act were worked out in conference and released in final
two hours of the session. The conference report passed 138-1 in the
House and 44-3 in the Senate. MSEA worked very hard
during the session to make sure the provisions of the law had as
little negative impact as possible on educators' ability to teach
students effectively and that teachers have the support they need to
do their jobs well.
The
new law
increases tenure qualification period from two to three years.
Additional supports are added for teachers not on track to receive
tenure.
Teacher
evaluations will include “student growth” as “significant component”
with no single criterion being weighted more than 35 percent. This
is going to be problematic in implementation and the MSEA fought to
make sure that implementation would not be able to be imposed on
teachers.
Under the new
law the evaluation instrument must be mutually
agreed to at the local level. The original version called
for a “meet and confer” process (sometimes called “meet and deny”).
This language was dropped from the final bill. The State Board of
Education will final determination if parties can't reach agreement
within six months.
There are many
champions in Annapolis. In the next few weeks, we will be
celebrating these victories as we gear up for our next challenges.
Pension
Changes at Top of List for 2011.
A week or two ago we were able to help block a
shift of employer pension costs from the state to the counties. We
protected our benefits and did not increase our contributions. These
were all real possibilities.
A study
committee will be making recommendations in December 2010 for
changes to pension plan benefits, how much employees pay, and who
pays the employer’s share. These recommendations will go to the
Governor and the General Assembly; any changes will require
authorizing legislation. In order to have a good outcome we first
need a very successful 2010 election!
We also need a
successful state AND LOCAL elections, improved collaborative
relationships, and successful public schools if we are going to
maintain public support for adequate school funding at the state and
local levels.
Annapolis Trip Focuses on School Funding Issues
On February 22nd, a busload of HCEA and HCESC members representing teachers and support professionals from all educational levels in Harford County met with Delegates Dan Riley and Wayne Norman, Senator Barry Glassman and a representative from Delegate Mary Dulaney-James’ office to express their concerns about legislation before the General Assembly. HSESC/HCEA UniServ Director Susan Lesser and interim HCEA UniServ Director Marilyn Hunter also attended.
Prior to the meeting with elected representatives, MSEA GR staffperson Amy Maloney, MSEA Manager of Government Relations Diana Saquella and MSEA Executive Director David Helfman briefed those in attendance about MSEA’s efforts to advance Fairness in Negotiations legislation and to make sure that the needs of public schools and public school employees were considered as other legislation made its way through the General Assembly.
One issue of great concern was the BOAST Bill, which proposed to give direct tax credit (up to $.75 on the dollar) to corporations that donate money to private schools. The State of Maryland provides funding for textbooks and other support to private schools, but these efforts go through the state’s budgeting process. Since the meeting in February, MSEA has worked to continue to educate members of the legislature of the funding and policy concerns with the BOAST bill and ensure it does not pass the House of Delegates.
It’s easy to support the Association’s advocacy for your future and the future of our schools.