“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.”
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
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,
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
On March 8th, HCEA officers and Board of Directors had an opportunity to meet with Harford County Executive David Craig and several members of his staff for a frank and open conversation. Your HCEA leaders brought many of your concerns to Craig's attention - and Craig was forthright about his own concerns and support for teachers.
During March, your HCEA negotiations team has met weekly in preparation for negotiations with the Board of Education. In addition to clarifying language in the contract, HCEA will be negotiating items of concern indicated by the surveys you completed in November. The budget submitted by the Board of Education is also being carefully examined, with assistance from MSEA Research staff so that your team is prepared to advocate for you. If you have any ideas of where cost savings could be made or waste eliminated, please let your bargaining team know. The next scheduled negotiation meetings between HCEA and the Board of Education are April 14, 21, and 28.
Greg Plotycia, Bargaining Team Liaison to the HCEA Board of Directors
What do teachers want? To do a good job. To have the resources they need to teach students. Salary and benefits that are commensurate with their knowledge, skills and responsibility. Fair treatment from those who supervise them. Respect. The first step to achieving these goals is to join your professional Association. Click on the links to the right and join now and pay no dues until November 2010.
