Meeting of the NASE Executive Board
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Room 200, Ryan Road Elementary School
APPROVED 2/6/2024
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In Attendance: (14 participants)
Andrea Egitto, Karen Schiaffo, Vanessa Coates-Cooney, Sara Churchill-Winsor, Kim Bowler, Sharon Carlson, Tammy Cook, Cyndie Ouimette, Paula Rigano-Murray, Kate Fontaine, Erica Lamanna, Mike Parks, Brian Bagdon, Heather Brown
Andrea calls the meeting to order at 4:03 pm.
Item I: Call to Order and New Business
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- Clerical wants to address the memo from Superintendent that offices need to be staffed during the vacation week
- Crossing guards would like to join the union (work 20 hours). Could they be in Unit F, since similar student facing as bus drivers in this unit? Or could in Unit C?
- Talking to Jason about our next steps
- Everything seems calm at the high school. If things ramp up again as before break, what should be done? What does the union feel about SRO in the high school? The union stance will be to support student/faculty safety and will continue to push for this.
- Bylaws need to be done by next month to then be presented by March to have for a month to review and discuss
- Bylaws will be a primary focus of the February EB Meeting
Item II: Secretary’s Report
MOTION: to accept the Secretary’s Report
Entertained by: Andrea
Moved by: Sharon
Seconded by: Kate
Motion Approved: unanimously
Item III: Treasurer’s report
- Budget for FY24
- Debits = Dues collection, NPS scholarship, ADP fees, stipends cashed, mail chimp
MOTION: to accept the Treasurer’s Report
Entertained by: Andrea
Moved by: Kate
Seconded by: Paula
Motion Approved: unanimously
Item IV: Officer Reports
- How should we share and disseminate information from officers to the EB/EC?
- Option 1: Do what we have been doing
- Option 2: Do a quick share at the EB meetings and secretary types up and get automatically included for EC agenda
- Option 3: Do a quick share at the EC meeting
- Picked Option 2 → starting as of 1/2/2024
Item V: NPS Budget next steps
- Please continue to come out, speak out and represent for NASE/NPS at School Committee meetings
- One of the next steps could be the same drafted letter from previous years to send out to members
- Smith should be paying their fair share. This could be an area members get involved with
- We should talk with School Committee Members around school needs and pushing for Northampton Education is important to the community
Item VI: Adjourn
MOTION: to adjourn.
Entertained by: Andrea
Moved by: Heather
Seconded by: Kate
Motion Approved: unanimously
Upcoming meetings
January 3, NASE meeting with NPS superintendent
January 9, Executive Committee meeting 4:00- JFK Community Room – BSS will provide snacks
February 6, Executive Board meeting – 4:00, Ryan Road School
February 7, NASE meeting with NPS superintendent
February 13, Executive Committee meeting 4:00 – Smith Voc. Cafeteria – SVAHS will provide snacks
Save the Date – NASE Annual Meeting – Wednesday, April 24, 3:30 refreshments
Officer Reports
Teachers (Unit A)
Dealing with health and safety issues at NHS as well as the lack of management at JSS. Both have multiple grievances. We are organizing around upcoming budget cuts and encourage members to speak out at the next School Committee meeting.
Admin (Unit B)
Overwhelmed with NHS students behaviors and managing consequences. A grievance has been filed.
ESPs (Unit C)
Working on navigating held unit a/c joint safety grievances and speaking out on we’ve been working on supporting members to navigate building/personnel issues. Recently held a Unit A and C meeting at NHS which subsequently led to a joint safety grievance at NHS. We are organizing around upcoming budget cuts and encourage members to speak out at the next School Committee meeting.
SVAHS (Unit D)
Little to report. There was a past bullying investigation by administration (SVAHS Principal) which found the bullying to be unfounded and feels as though the investigation is valid.
Clerical: (Unit E)
The grievance at NHS went to level 3. Looking to discuss the office staffing memo that was sent out from the superintendent last week.
Custodian (Unit F)
The buildings are short staffed so feeling very bare bones in this unit. Still looking for clarification on the snow day grievance – nothing has gotten paid for this.
Cafeteria (Unit G)
Nothing to report
SVHS (Unit H)
Nothing to report
PR&R
- Clerical – now moved up to a level 3, (2) JSS – lack of management and (3) NHS – health and safety issues
Membership Coordinator
6 new people in November and 1 one new member in December
Communications Coordinator
Nothing to report
President’s and Vice President’s Report
We have been working on several grievances including meetings with members, MTA representatives, and district administrators; meeting with members and others about the budget projections, checking into membership for crossing guards, and are planning to attend the Western Mass All Presidents meeting in January.