September 23, 2009
Dear Colleague:
In a letter to you dated September 20, 2009, from Assistant Superintendant of Curriculum and Instruction Dennis Winn, you received information pertaining to an initiative to move the district towards becoming a standards-based instructional system. In this letter he stated, “Toward that end, we will be initiating a series of mandatory grade level after-school Assistant Superintendent Meetings as a means of carving out time for us to work as a team toward the implementation of district initiatives. Attached, you will find a schedule of these meetings for the coming year.”
This implementation constitutes a violation of several Articles of our contract and I want you to be fully aware that we are actively engaged in this matter.
On July 27th, I discovered Dennis Winn was intending on implementing hour-long “Professional Development Meetings” outside of the workday.
On August 4th, I contacted him and informed him that this was a violation of our contract because Professional Development is a subject that we bargain, and the issue of monthly Professional Development has not been bargained. During our conversation he stated that he was carrying out a directive from Superintendent Portia Bonner, that teachers would be given PDP’s for attending, and that the Directors would be conducting these meetings. I asked that he cease and desist the implementation of these Professional Development meetings.
On August 14th, Mr. Winn sent an e-mail to the Principals entitled, “Additional PD for the Coming School Year” informing them that “The District will be implementing hour-long professional development sessions on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. These meetings will be designated Assistant Superintendent Meetings in keeping with the Unit A contract and will cover a variety of topics included in the strategic plan.”
The Association then filed a grievance and as a result of the grievance the meetings were postponed.
Now the Administration is calling these mandatory after-school sessions, “Assistant Superintendent Grade Level Meetings.” Again, these meeting were not bargained for and additional grievances have been filed.
While we fully concur that these meetings are in violation of the Unit A Contract between the New Bedford Educators Association, Inc. and the New Bedford School Committee July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2011 it is imperative that members attend these meetings while we proceed through the grievance process until the issues have been resolved.
I will keep you further informed on matters as they transpire.
Yours Truly,
Lou St. John
14 comments:
Is DW calling the shots? We are hearing that the SOS has told downtown folks do whatever you want. God help us if the man from "out of town" starts making decisions, I would rarher deal with the SOS!!!!!
Rudeness, bad behavior, arrogance and dirty tricks seem to come natural for that woman.
She'll bite her nose to spite her face but in the end who will want her?
He who laughs last, laughs best. A cliche but true.
It is apparent to me that the only one downtown with any degree of respect for the contracts negotiated and signed is Dr. Sousa. And even he has to sometimes be reminded of what was negotiated and what the intent of the negotiation was. I have a bad feeling about the next round of negotiations given the degree of disrespect currently manifested by the powers that be. What really bothers me is when our leaders aren't clever enough to disquise their attempts at violating the contracts or just don't give a D about trying to disquise their attempts at the violations.
This writing is a little off topic but the issue needs to be brought to light. The high school is becoming an increasingly unsafe place to work. I saw on the news the recent problem on the NBHS schoolbus where anywhere from one to four students were arrested and charged as adults. I have neither read about nor seen on the news any information about the recent fight at the high school in which one of the participants went after the other with a razor. I know there were arrests but is this event being kept quiet and covered up? I don't remember the last school day this year that there has not been some incident at the high school involving fights and possibly gang activity.Friday afternoon at dismissal there was another event/disturbance requiring SRO's and administrators to respond. At any given time something may be going on at lunch as a result of someone looking at someone else wrong, wearing the wrong colors, flashing gang signs, "talking junk" on the internet, on AIM, etc. What is not finished in the neighborhood is brought to school and continued. Coverage is insufficient to prevent students from roaming the building when they should be in the lunchroom or even in their respective classrooms. I have spoken to some teachers and even some of the newer administrators who are completely frustrated and feel they are beating their heads against the wall. I don't know if it is any better anywhere else but if my concerns for safety continue I will be looking to do what several of my colleagues have done already-look to teach elsewhere. Is this safety issue one our union should address??? Rather than blantly violating our contract, shouldn't our leaders be concerned with the safety of our staff and students? When teachers and administrators are concerned for their own safety, students are bringing weapons to school for their own protection and the SRO's are wearing bullet proof vests what does that tell you????
Again the superintendent refuses to respect the contract, professional development meetings were negotiated. She continues to purposely not work with the union or anybody for that matter. Why is she being allowed to get away with this, if we as teachers did this we would be fired.
if these meetings are direct contract violations, why should we attend? what are the consequences for not attending?
I agree with Big W. Dr. Bonner doesn't even try to hide the fact she's violating our contract.
Being a Superintendent means more then just having the title or driving a BMW.
Dr. Bonner fired another Unit A Member on Friday. Why? Because she can.
Be careful. Even though the meetings are an obvious attempt to circumvent the language in the contract, non compliance opens you up to insubordination. You don't need that and Lou would have a difficult time defending you since he essentially gave you the same advice I'm giving you. The union will win this one. Let it play out.
AGAIN and AGAIN the superintendent violates the contract and refuses to work with the association. How are things suppose to improve?
keep contacting school committee members and the mayor... this is Dr. Bonner's evaluation year...
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