Christopher Hodnicki, President
Jason Schreiner, Vice President
James Terry, Vice President
Rhea Young, Treasurer
Wendy McCall, Secretary
Melissa Fitzgerald, Secretary
50 years of TAWLS 1963-2013 “Working together for our kids”
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING LOCATION: CAMPUS CAFE
DATE: March 13, 2013 Dinner: 3:30 Meeting Begins: 3:45
I. CALL TO ORDER: 4:00p.m.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Gina Kasper motioned to accept the February minutes. Jason Schreiner seconded. Motion passed.
III. OLD BUSINESS:
IV. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. ACTIVITIES – Jen Gent & Megan Tuttle, Chairs:
1. March 15th: TAWLS TGIF at OB’s.
2. April 13th (Saturday): TAWLS Mud Hens Game $22.50 Roost & Game Ticket, $10.00 Ticket Only. Roost Buffet includes pulled pork sandwiches, fried chicken, mac and cheese, baked beans, chocolate chip cookies along with soda pop. Buffet is available from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Cash bar available from 5:30 - 8:30. Game time is 6:00 p.m. This is open to all Washington Local staff and their families.
3. April 28th: Bowling Outing @ Forestview Lanes (3:00-5:00) $7.00 per person = shoes, unlimited bowling for 2 hours and pop. They are looking to raffle off a few items to benefit the Employee Memorial Scholarship Fund.
4. May 18th: 1st Annual Candy Budd Crowley Road Rally
B. AUDIT & BUDGET (Treasurer’s Report) – Rhea Young, Chair: Melissa Fitzgerald motioned to accept the report. Ann Augustin seconded. Motion passed.
C. BANQUET – Bernadette Terry, Chair:
1. The Banquet committee met on March 6th to begin planning for the event which will be on: Thursday, May 23, 2013. TAWLS members in attendance were: Bernie and Jim Terry, Sue Kreioch, Mickie Hetzel, Wendy McCall, Mary Ann Nowacki, Rhea Young and Jennifer Ferguson. Jane Patrzalek, our caterer, was in attendance and showed us the invitations, programs, and a menu all to celebrate TAWLS 50th anniversary. There will be a saxophone quartet for out entertainment. The colors will be gold and navy blue. There will be the same appetizers with a chicken and beef choice. There will be vegetables and rolls and butter along with the dessert station from last year. There will also be a cake to celebrate our 50th anniversary. New teachers will receive a $20 gift certificate for the TAWLS store. If you know someone is retiring in your building, please contact Bernie if there is someone in your building who would be willing to talk about the retiree at the banquet. . Social time will begin at 5:00 with dinner at 6pm. We will be inviting all of the past presidents. They will be asked to give a one line comment.
2. Paul Kruthaup is donating his time for us to be able to use Conn Wiesenberger. We will have to set up the day
of the banquet this year.
D. AWARDS, Micki Hetzel & Rebecca Strand, Chairs: Remember to keep a watchful eye for members that you would like to nominate for a TAWLS award. Sue Wagner will have a report from Micki Hetzel. Nominations should be out the week before Spring Break. Please don’t wait until the last minute. Remember that you need three letters for each nominee. There are 4 Teacher of the Year and 4 Educator of the Year awards available.
E. CALENDAR – Paula Giovanoli, Chair:
F. COMMITTEE TO ELECT - Alice Lemle, Chair:
G. EDI – Jeremy Elliott, Chair: EDI committee will meet on March 25th to finalize allocations for EDI stipends based on the money delegated from main negotiations. They met on 21st and really worked hard to finish. They just have a few things to clean up.
H. ELECTIONS - Lisa Raczakowski, Chair: There were only two people interested in attending the NEA in Atlanta this summer, Jen Gent and Tracy Hovest, so there won’t be an election.
I. GREIVANCE - James Terry, Chair: Currently no active grievances. Remember if you have concerns or issues in your building, please discuss it with a building rep or contact an officer, especially Grievance VP, Jim Terry.
J. HCCC – Linda Markowiak, Chair: Health Care Cost Containment met on March 5, 2013 at 4pm in Cherie Mourlam’s office with a rep from Savage and Associates. The committee members which included TAWLS, OAPSE, and administration reviewed concerns for health care cost proposals. By main negotiations TAWLS hopes to have with administration a report from Savage and Associates all proposals for health care costs. They are waiting for the bids.
K. HISTORIAN – Mary Ann Nowaki, Chair: If anyone else has fun pictures of "TAWLS in Action" send them to Mary Ann Nowacki! Please send pictures of the things you have done with your students, too! If you are a Whitmer graduate, please send in your name and year of graduation. MaryAnn would like to use this information for the banquet.
* If you are interested in taking over this position, MaryAnn would be willing to help you. She would not be doing this forever.J
L. HUMAN RELATIONS/PUBLICITY – Melissa Fitzgerald & Wendy McCall, Chairs: Look in the TAWLS Fridays to find the directions on how to sign up for the Rhino alerts. We are up to 90 participants.
M. LEGISLATIVE (FCPE) – Julie Hogan, Chair:
1. There will be a presentation at the Spring Rep Assembly to elect people friendly to our issues.
N. LPDC – Lori Bosch, John Mohn, Mari Tate, Representatives: Send all course work needing approval of LPDC to Nancy Brenton. If your license is up in 2013 you can now send it in for renewal. Using the WLS Teamwork page you can schedule fingerprinting in the CTC with Don Palmer which counts toward the license renewal. Contact Nancy Brenton directly if you are wondering if you need to be fingerprinted. Even if you have a permanent certificate, you still have to be fingerprinted every 5 years.
O. MEMBERSHIP – Judy Thomaswick, Chair:
P. NEGOTIATIONS – Jason Schreiner, Chair: The team has met several times. The team consists of Jason Schreiner, Chris Hodnicki, Jeremy Elliott, Jim Terry, MaryAnn Nowacki, Jen Gent, Tracy Hovest and Wendy McCall. We exchanged proposals today. Hopefully we will have a tentative agreement by March 22nd. You will be able to review this until April 17th when there will be a discussion at the General Assembly.
Q. NEW TEACHER – Sherri Cole-Whitacre & Sue Krecioch, Chairs:
R. POLICY – Karon O’Sullivan, Chair:
S. SCHOLARSHIP – Dana Edmonds & Heidi Hartman, Chairs: Please purchase an item from the TAWLS store. Recent items on the 50th anniversary sale will be over at the end of March. This money helps the scholarship fund for graduating seniors.
T. SPECIAL/AD HOC: The OTES Committee. The OTES Committee of TAWLS members conducted a final meeting with central office administration on March 8th, 2013 from 11:00am to 2:30pm. This meeting finished drafting language that will reaffirm that the district will committee will be vested with selecting student growth data, in which we will all use shared attribution for next year, unless you are 4-8, ELA or Math, then your student growth score will be the value added piece. We also discussed and reaffirmed that we will respect the evaluation piece in the contract by honoring seniority when it comes to RIFs, all members are comparable for three years with their evaluations, and current administrators to do evaluations. The report has been passed to the main negotiations committee. We are thankful to have our pro-teacher, pro-kid, administration at this time.
U. NWOEA – Rhea Young, Representative. There are OEA lobby days coming up.
V. OEA – Matt Durham, Representative:
1. OEA is trying to encourage people to take the TELL survey that was sent out. If at least 50% of your building takes the survey, you will get the results back. This is a chance to vent or share your thoughts. You have from March 18th- April.
2. Kaisch wants to give more to voutures for K-12 and 60% of education will not get any more money.
3. There have been proposals in Columbus to do away with salary schedules and contracts.
4. Current legislation passed the Senate that shortens the amount of time people can collect signatures to be able to use the referendum process.
5. Strongsville is past their first week of the strike. Go on their Facebook page and give support. They believe that they are fighting for everyone in Ohio. OEA is giving their support.
6. Right to Work states do not have contracts. Everything is based on Board policy. Some places won’t let them use payroll deduction for their union dues. They have to pay extreme amounts for Health Care.
7. Kaisch is running for governor in 2014 and aspires to run for president in 2016. Consider his view on education when voting.
V.NEW BUSINESS:
1. Professional Development Day- People were upset that they didn’t find out earlier about being able to have conferences on the Professional Development Day. Elementary schools were divided with some people in the building with conferences and others attending the professional development. If was also frustrating to have to schedule conferences in the morning, when most people were at work, because they had to attend the bullying seminar at Whitmer in the afternoon. People were told that they had to make up the bullying seminar if they did not attend. Even though the state says there can only be a maximum of two conference days by the state, maybe there could be a way for elementary to have a conference day in the winter.
2. Come together as a united team- There seems to be division between the elementary, junior high and high school teachers. Different levels think that things are easier or there is more planning time at a different grade level. We need to stop being divisive and support each other. There are TAWLS positions being moved out of the junior high. One team at Washington this year and one team at Jefferson next year will be eliminated. The years of experience in teaching range from one year up to 12 years. The class loads may change from 93 up to 130 students.
VI. PRESIDENT’S COMMUNICATIONS:
1. TAWLS HISTORY:
As it is the 50th anniversary of TAWLS, we couldn’t let an Executive Committee pass without mentioning the changes over the years. As we approach current negotiations a moment of respect and tribute must be paid to hose teachers, officers, and members that were a part of the 1984 negotiations and strike. However, the story begins in 1983 with a RIF list that impacted 20 teachers. In August 1984, authorization was given to provide communication to the community. On October 3rd, the fact finders report was rejected, the board proposal was also rejected on the 17th , with the strike beginning on the 18th . By the 21st, 95% of teachers remained out. Finally on November 11th TAWLS voted and accepted the contract, ending the strike. So as we look back on events of nearly 30 years, let us remember their struggles that have paved the way for the benefits and working conditions we have today. Let us keep in mind the sacrifices of the past, remain united for the future, and in the present, support the work of the team, for if we do this we can and always be successful.
2. Please wear TAWLS T-shirt Friday, March 22nd.
VII. ADJOURNMENT: 5:21pm
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