Minutes
A discussion regarding various practices for mitigating the spread of Covid-19.
students’ protest against racism
An appreciation for the job well-done by students’ presentation to the School Committee regarding concerns over racism and its effects on their education.
Approved.
Approved.
A motion to reschedule Delegates Committee meetings to begin at 4:00pm rather 3:45pm due to difficulties for NHS ESPs. Motion approved.
A discussion of memoranda of agreement and other matters pertaining to negotiations.
A brief discussion of long-term substitute teaching positions.
In Attendance
Andrea Egitto, Heather Brown, Sharon Carlson, Carl, Mead, Kate Fontaine, Paula Rigano-Murray, Erica Lamanna, Cyndie Ouimette, Maria Vega, Helen Woods, Ellen Brown, Daria Steward, Alex Peterson, Kristen Picard, Erica Caron, Mareatha Wallace, Michael Stavely-Hale, Laura St. Pierre, Vanessa Coates-Cooney, Kira Henninger, Dara Shackelford, Jessica Lavallee, Ryan Parent, Jeromie Whalen, Jonah Dratfield, Karen Schiaffo, Sara Simmons, Clara McCoy, Leslie Skantz-Hodgson, Eva Rocheleau, Sandra Bombard
Minutes
Note: Remarks attributed to meeting participants are approximations, not quotations.
Andrea calls the meeting to order at 3:49.
FIRST TOPIC: covid practices
Andrea:
We were going to do some letter writing in advocacy of an extension of the state’s mask mandates.
But then the mask mandate was extended, so we’ll see where we are next month.
Sara:
Another teacher mentioned to me that not every teacher is keeping their window open, and wanted to bring it to this meeting to see whose responsibility this is, to require people to have their windows open.
Andrea:
Don’t know if we can police that at this point, because that’s best practice, but not a requirement.
Karen:
How are people dealing with switching students’ masks in their schools?
Carl:
What are you referring to?
Karen:
If students come in with cloth masks, we’re supposed to replace them with surgical masks.
Heather:
There are masks available for students at NHS.
Mareatha:
We’re taking care of it at JFK. We have masks.
Updates from all other schools in the chat. It’s being handled.
Karen:
I know it’s best for safety, but I didn’t know it was mandatory.
I’ve been getting pushback from caregivers who buy surgical masks that look like cloth masks, and I’ve had to look into those new ones. People have been taking them away.
Andrea:
I have some sensory-sensitive students who struggle with the disposable masks. They’ve let me double mask the disposable masks over the cloth masks from home.
Maria:
A teacher asked me about changing the HEPA filters. It’s been about a year at this point.
Heather:
We’ll follow up on that.
NEXT TOPIC: students’ protest against racism
Mareatha:
I was pretty wow-ed by the eighth grade students who put together the video for the School Committee.
Andrea:
Yes, they did a good job. Thank you.
NEXT TOPIC: secretary’s report
Andrea:
Thank you for sending that out the other day. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to check that out.
MOTION
to accept the secretary’s report.
Entertained by Andrea.
Moved by Sara.
Seconded by Kira.
MOTION APPROVED, two abstentions.
NEXT TOPIC: treasurer’s report
Sharon:
We spent a lot of money this month, but we didn’t do too much.
Beginning balance was 122,575.11.
Dues was 37,082.63.
Reserves: 74,213.26. The rest was our budget.
Stipends: 22,890.61. plus another adp fees 138:49, adp tax 5774.99.
And MTA/NEA took out 28,804.09.
Heather:
We took in more dues than we paid – is that normal?
Sharon:
Yes, that includes the local fee, which becomes our budget, that we spend on things.
MOTION
to accept the treasurer’s report.
Entertained by Andrea.
Moved by Carl.
Seconded by Sara.
MOTION APPROVED.
NEXT TOPIC: start time for meetings
Andrea:
At last meeting, there was a request to discuss the meeting times and seeing if there was any possibility of changing the time.
Carl put some of the discussion into the minutes from last time.
Carl:
I know the person who brought this concern to me is not here this afternoon to speak on this. Unfortunately, I don’t know if that’s for the reason of timing or not.
Helen:
I know this might be a little bit off-topic, but is there any discussion with the contract negotiations about the start and end-times of the school day?
Andrea:
It’s not something that comes down to our contract, but it’s something that the School Committee will likely take up. We can make comments about policies, but it’s not a negotiation.
You’re right, our meeting times had to shift as a result of the times change.
Paula:
Part of the change is that in the old days, paras at the elementary schools got out at 3:15, and meetings started at 3:30. Now, meetings start at 3:45, and ESPs at the high school get out at 3:45.
Andrea:
That’s good context.
Kira:
I think it’s a good idea to have a window from the end of the day, but I wouldn’t want to shift things too much because this is the time we’ve set aside from the beginning of the year.
Heather:
I was thinking I might make a motion.
Karen:
Would it be possible to schedule our meetings from 4 to 5, so that
MOTION
to change the Delegates Committee meeting schedule, such that they begin at 4 and end at 5:15.
Moved by Heather.
Seconded by Kira.
Discussion.
Erica C.
I know I would appreciate that and not end up late every meeting that way.
Kira:
If people are not able to make the commitment to 5:15, they shouldn’t be penalized.
Andrea:
And I will try to move things along as quickly as possible.
MOTION PASSES.
NEXT TOPIC: negotiations updates
Andrea:
The School Committee approved the covid MoA at their December meeting and then never told us.
I got informed by my building principal.
The ratification vote is on-going. We need 25% of the membership to vote in order to get a quorum.
So, please check to see if members in your buildings are getting those emails so that we can get the five more votes we need for this MoA to get ratified.
This gets prep time for students dealing with covid so that if you are preparing work for those students you get paid.
The big thing in this MoA is that it covers people’s sick time if they need to quarantine. You will get reimbursed if you had to quarantine because of exposure at work.
That must be done by February 1st.
Mareatha:
Some ESPs cover for teachers and then the teachers aren’t providing sub plans.
Heather:
All that curriculum work in Atlas, can that not be cranked out when a teacher’s not there?
Erica C.
There’s a teacher out on maternity leave, and the LTS who was absent more than there seems to have blown through the curriculum that was left behind. The communication line seems to have broken down at some point.
Mareatha:
I’ve made that request and nothing has happened. It’s happened many many times.
Andrea:
And this is what happens all the time. We cover for one another because we’re professionals and then management gets off the hook.
Paula (in chat):
Sounds like a meeting is necessary.
Helen:
Technical question. I’m looking at the paragraph that says to prepare work for quarantine students, but it doesn’t say what the cause of the quarantine is.
Andrea:
This would cover any student who is a close contact or a positive case, whether it occurred in the school or not.
Maria:
I think I know the answer but I want to make sure. Is it just if it’s exposure from a student or is it also from a colleague.
Andrea:
It’s exposure at work, no matter who it is. It’s just not, “I got covid at a new year’s party.”
Maria:
There’s an ESP who’s been missing lunch when covering for a teacher. I do know she gets the additional stipend for the coverage, and the principal agrees she can get paid for the lunch.
Paula:
The ESP contacted me. If she wants to work through lunch, she can do that. She can’t work through lunch and not get paid, that’s wage theft.
Maria:
What if other ESPs want to get paid through lunch?
Andrea:
The principal has to approve it.
Paula:
She’s getting paid for additional work, not just getting paid for lunch.
Andrea:
We’re still negotiating the public-in-the-building stuff.
We don’t want the public coming into our offices to protect our clerical workers.
And we want it so that if someone’s not comfortable sitting in a meeting with a member of the public who may or may not be vaccinated, they can zoom in.
Kira:
Our principal said the nurses met and agreed that they recommend having meetings over Zoom.
When talking to the School Committee about the Zoom option, we have had some parents come in to the building with central offices people Zooming into those meetings.
Andrea:
You’re right, everybody should have that option.
Karen:
To clarify, you said the nursing staff met to discuss this?
Kira:
Sorry, yes, Lisa Saffron said the nursing staff recommended this for parent-teacher conferences.
Perhaps the principal added the “staff” part of it.
Kate:
Just want to put it on the radar that NHS has a second open house in February.
Andrea:
Thank you. The first one was over Zoom as well, right?
Kate:
Yes.
Andrea:
The NPS negotiation team will meet on January 13 in advance of the meeting with the School Committee on January 19.
Ellen:
Could you go over again the protocols around members attending the negotiation meetings? And do you have the image we’ll display during these times?
Andrea:
Thank you for reminding me about the image. I’ll send that out.
Members can come but won’t speak if they’re not on the negotiation team.
Members will have their cameras off so that the only people on display are the people talking, and then we display this wall of support through the NASE images.
Andrea confirms that SVAHS negotiations are still in preparation, waiting to set up a meeting with Jason.
NEXT TOPIC: new members update
Karen:
No update.
Andrea:
Just want to remind you that the face-to-face connection is the most powerful option we have, especially considering how much turnover there has been at this point.
Eva:
Temporary staff members like LTSs, what is the deal with them?
Andrea:
LTSs aren’t eligible to join NASE until they have worked for ninety calendar days.
Cyndie:
We moved that down to thirty days at SVAHS. We were having problems with them not getting called back after eighty-eight days.
Andrea:
In the next month, please look with your building team over the charts and come up with the Zombie Apocalypse Communication Plan. Who can you talk to as quickly as possible so that we can have the quickest way possible for us to disseminate information.
As we get into negotiations, we need to be able to get information out or feedback as quickly as possible.
NEXT TOPIC: adjourning
Andrea:
At the end of the agenda are our officers’ reports that you can read through.
If you need new better masks, you can get them through your nurses.
MOTION
to adjourn.
Entertained by Andrea.
Moved by Kira.
Seconded by Mareatha.
MOTION APPROVED.
Meeting adjourns 5:05 pm.