White Plains Teachers Association

WHITE PLAINS TEACHERS ASSOCIATION White Plains, New York

MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETING January 15, 2013

PRESENT: K. Broderick, President C. Levant, Mamaroneck Avenue G. Setterstrom, Vice President D. Cherico, Ridgeway A. Russo, Secretary M. Dorchak, Ridgeway A. Williams, Treasurer L. Antonion, Highlands L. Tuck, Parliamentarian/Board Liaison E. Baker, Eastivew C. Tito, Grievance-Secondary J. Shaw, High School L. Mollo, Outreach/PTA Liaison/Post Road J. Florida, High School M. Cheesman, George Washington E. Lugo, Alternative Programs S. Cade, George Washington R. Baddeley, Alternative Programs K. Raneri, George Washington E. Rutherford, George Washington

I. Acceptance of Minutes December minutes accepted as is.

II. Officers’ Report 1. Treasurer – Angela Williams a) Financial report. b) Union Dues for Tax Information: Calendar year 2012: $751.43 School year 2012-13: $769.20

2. Secretary – Anthony Russo Please send “staff” information to me at Post Road.

III. President’s Report

1. Building Liaison a. The purpose of building liaison is to build a collaborative labor-management decision-making process. The minutes of those meetings need to be recorded and sent to the building colleagues and the WPTA. b. It will be important as we move forward that these building liaison meetings occur monthly. Shabnam Tapia is available for the elementary schools and Carol Tito is available for the secondary schools if help is needed at the table. c. These minutes can be written and sent by a rep (not necessarily the Sr. Rep) prior to the monthly council meeting. d. These are the minutes used to develop the District liaison agenda

2. Retirements a. As per Article XXVIII, E., teachers shall give notice to the School District of their intent to retire by February 1 or 5 months prior to the effective dat. b. Please distribute attached flyers to members considering retirement. This lists ALL pertinent information that must be considered INCLUDING a sample letter. c. This information is posted on our website!! 3. WPTA Co-Sponsored Class. Studying Skillful Teaching: Using Data Day to Day a. Course sponsored by WPTA. Members will need to pay tuition. b. 3 graduate (through Manhattanville) OR 2 inservice credits can be applied toward lane movement if applicable. District will accept the course on MLP. The course is a total of 37 ½ hours. 5 spaces available for MA60. c.Please review attached flyer. This will go out via email by the end of the week. Hard copies will need to go into mailboxes as well.

4. APPR Committee a. Attached is a quick review of the APPR. b. The Local 20% was rolled out to staff on Wednesday, December 12th ERD. If your building has not finished the local 20% due to meetings, illness, etc, administration CANNOT mandate completion on personal time! c. APPR training is needed for our colleagues. Possible options include: i. coming to each building to do lunch meetings during the month of February. Dates will be emailed by the end of the week if that is an option you want for your building. ii. We are currently looking to provide a class in the Danielson rubric. This class would not occur until June. We will keep you posted.

5. NYSUT/AFT Health and Safety Committee

a. Caren Levant, chair of the WPTA Health and Safety Committee and Kerry Broderick met with Wendy Hord (NYSUT Health and Safety) and Amy Bahruth (AFT Health and Safety) on Friday 1/11/2013. The purpose of the meeting was to create a timeline for training and formally agree to the AFT grant. b. With a grant from AFT we will be working to build a district-wide AND building Health and Safety Team. This will be a labor-management team. c. It is important to get membership input. An online survey will be published later this week and we ask that all members complete the 5 minute survey. Please encourage the completion of the survey when you see it published. d. Each building needs to have 1 representative (not the Sr. Rep), this can be a building rep or another interested member. At this time, we have the following buildings represented. 1. Ridgeway: Angela Vega and Nicole King 2. MAS: Brian Bond 3. Highlands: Steve Fugarino and Carleen Gilot 4. Post Road: Lisa Cordone 5. HS: Alberto Minotta 6. Eastview: Laura Maziotti Representatives are still needed from GW, Rochambeau and Church St.

e. Meeting dates: 1. February 13: initial training from 12:00-3:00. This will be for union members only. 2. March 1 and 2: The Health and Safety Conference is in Saratoga. Committee members will be encouraged to attend. 3. March 14: joint committee training from 12:00-3:00 4. May 1: 12:00-3:00 joint committee training - Hazard awareness and construction meeting 5. June 5: 12:00-3:00 final joint committee training f. Updates will continue monthly.

6. 2013-2014 Budget and the District Finance Committee a. The following members have attended a district budget committee meeting: Michael Meyers, Paul Hendrickson, Joan Conca and Marie Rigaud. 2 b. Our presence is to monitor, we are not part of the committee but may attend these open meetings. c. The first meeting of the 13-14 budget cycle was December 18th at 5:30 in the Board room at Ed House. d. The next meeting is Tuesday, January 22nd at 5:30 pm. e. There is a community meeting on January 16th, 7:30 at HS, B-1 all-purpose room.

7. Middle School Redesign a. The WPTA executive board has met with the teacher members of this committee on January 8th. A draft of the minutes of that meeting are attached. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from the teachers what has been discussed. Based on the conversation, only the advisory proposals fall are mandatory subjects of bargaining. Since that meeting, the Superintendent has stated that advisory will not occur at the 7 & 8th grades. It will occur in grade 6. b. The WPTA is now monitoring “electives” taught to ensure that every member’s certification, tenure and seniority remain intact. Also, to ensure that every teacher is “highly qualified” as per NCLB.

8. Motions:

13-1 1) The White Plains Teachers’ Association appoints the following members to the Health and Safety Team: MAS: Caren Levant, Chair MAS: Brian Bond Ridgeway: Angela Vega and Nicole King Highlands: Steve Fugarino and Carleen Gilot Post Road: Lisa Cordone HS: Alberto Minotta Eastview: Laura Mazziotti

13-2 2) The White Plains Teachers’ Association will pay for the NYSUT Health & Safety Conference on March 1 & 2 in Saratoga Springs for those Health & Safety Committee members attending at a cost of $205.00 per person.

IV. Round Robin

Elementary • Teachers request administration to be more aware of teacher training during student testing window. • Teachers report insufficient time to plan when dealing with multiple groups due to specialists not being covered and last minute cancellations and schedule changes. • Units on Atlas, mostly grades 1, 3 & 5, are not ready at time of instruction and awareness of changes/updates are not received in a timely manner. Specific materials referred to are not available or limited. • Teachers would like to know how the “optional” Parent/Teacher Conference Day in March will be communicated to parents.

High School: • Regarding mid-term and SLO exams, teachers are requesting more collaboration from coordinators. Teachers request representation for scheduling of tests for a more manageable system for teachers and students. Teachers would like to be proactive for the May/June schedule. Teachers report an overwhelming increase in workload due to preparation and grading of exams. 3 • Teachers request consistent communication in all subject areas. Coordinators need to relay the same message to all departments. • Have been revisiting safety.

Alternative Programs: Need more clarity and uniformity with testing. Need better articulation among the departments. A special ed class is without a consistent teaching assistant at times.

Highlands: Concern over SLO testing. Since the June testing will be intensified due to more classes involved, teachers request an April time frame for the schedule to be in place. Teachers want to be set up for success. Need to know who is taking the test and who is not. There needs to be appropriate room assignments in place and materials available.

Eastview: • Concern over SLO testing. Teachers need to be consulted with regard to scheduling of tests and would like to be proactive for the June testing. Seventh graders are always pulled from the same period impacting teacher planning. • Regarding building safety, teachers are concerned about being assigned duty at the front desk. Teachers are not comfortable in this situation without proper training incase of an emergency. • Head Start uses the same entrance and holds the door open for others. Requesting a separate entrance for Head Start.

Respectfully submittted, Anthony Russo, Secretary