ROYAL OAK EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
November 27, 2001
President Kardon called the meeting to order at 4:12 p.m. in the Dondero High School Media Center. Buildings not represented were: Board Office, Franklin Elementary School, and Twain Elementary School.
Reports
Secretary’s Report
Minutes for the October 23, 2001 Representative Assembly meeting were presented. Tom Steeby moved to accept the minutes as corrected. Cherie Drukas seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Facilities Committee Report
At this point in time, the ROEA does not have an official representative on this committee. Currently Eileen Steadman and George Guzzio have been serving on the committee as teachers. The proposed renovations will have an effect on the day-to-day activities of the members of the ROEA.
Eileen Steadman and George Guzzio presented information on how the committee reached recommendations for the Administration. The committee was not allowed to recommend a building for closure; they were only allowed to recommend if each building should be rebuilt or renovated. Questions regarding how decisions were made and what decisions the committee made were discussed. This committee will have an open forum tonight.
Executive Vice President’s Report
The Joint Committee met on October 30,2001. Issues discussed at this meeting were the following:
 | SSN on the SEMS system. Next time anyone needs to register for these classes talk to Danielle Goodman, Helen Burz’s secretary, and you can have a new pin number assigned in lieu of the SSN. |
| Attendance issues were raised. Administration wants to know what incentives would help encourage teachers to not use their sick days. The possibilities of showing teachers more appreciation for their work and recognizing that many teachers have not used their sick days was proposed. The possibility of having monetary incentives was also brought up. Allowing the new teachers to attend conferences during the school day was another suggestion. |
| Use of personal emergency days will not be lost if they are not used. The days will be rolled into the teacher’s sick bank. |
| Feedback on the Kenneth O’Conner in-service will be forthcoming. |
| FMLA letters are being sent to teachers immediately after they are calling in absent and stating that the FMLA is in effect starting on the first day they are absent. |
| SEMS call-in system. The policy is still unclear if teachers need to let the school know besides calling into the system. |
| Beverly Pears did not notify the ROEA or get approval for a 5th Tuesday meeting for special education teachers. |
| A 5th Tuesday meeting was added in January and listed as being the make-up date for the September 11, 2001 meeting. A meeting is scheduled for the 4th Tuesday in April. This still needs to be addressed. |
| Concerns with the curriculum guides and which assessments are required and which are optional need to be sent to Kay Cornell, Danielle Goodman and Helen Burz. It was agreed by the ROEA association representatives to have Kay Cornell attend the ROEA Representative Assembly to discuss the assessments that are required in the curriculum guides. |
| The NCA meeting that Keller had for the second day of the professional development days was approved by the BFC, according to Kay Cornell. |
The Joint Committee will meet on December 4, 2001. Issues to bring up at this meeting are the following.
| It was requested that the minutes of the Joint Committee be e-mailed to the teachers so everyone can know what has occurred at the meetings. This will be addressed during the Executive Board meeting tonight. |
| There is a need for members to have clarification of the FMLA law and how to handle these situations. |
| FMLA letters are not being sent to all people equally when they are using sick days for taking care of family emergencies. Some more information regarding FMLA will be available for the membership. |
| Teachers are being required to do research for NCA on their own time. Time should be provided during work time. |
Program Vice President’s Report
Public Relations
| The tote bags for teachers were distributed by the ARs for national education week. |
The Curriculum Subcommittee has not met since the last ROEA meeting. Issues to bring up at the next Curriculum Subcommittee meeting are the following:
| The issues concerning the two days of professional development will be discussed. |
| A concern at Kimball regarding the math program will be addressed. The proposed plan is to have 75% of eighth grade students enrolled in algebra, and then have these students take geometry in the ninth grade. Teachers at Kimball were also told that if a student fails a math class in the first semester and no spot is available for that student in a lower level class second semester, that teacher will have to teach the student who failed their course the curriculum for the lower level course while concurrently teaching the other students the curriculum for the course that is being offered that hour. |
| Now that major printing jobs are being sent to Lamphere, teachers are being given codes to use the building copy machines. Questions have arisen as to whether teachers are being monitored as to the amount of paper used and copies that they make. |
| Teachers can bring a text or library book into classroom without approval. The question was raised as to why does software need to be approved. |
| Questions were raised concerning what maximum temperatures are acceptable/allowed for teaching in classrooms. |
| 4th and 5th grade teachers received letters that state that the maturation unit in the Health and Me curriculum is required. Kay Cornell was supposed to go through the curriculum and see what assessments are required and how to implement them all in the school year. |
| Some of the benchmarks in the 4th grade are being duplicated in the 5th grade. Some of the benchmarks are not being covered at all. This needs to be addressed. A curriculum director needs to work on this on a full-time basis instead of having teachers do this after school at one-hour meetings. |
| Courses and curricula are being added and dropped at the high school without input from the department impacted. |
Political Action Committee Chair’s Report
| Some schools have participated 100% to PAC. Some schools have not. Please send any additional PAC contributions as soon as possible if they are not sent by November 30, 2001. |
President’s Report
| December 7, 2001 will be the election to vote on the new calendar for the third year of the contract. |
| Betty Ong was appointed to a MDE committee on technology. |
| A stipend has been instituted for this year for association representatives for their attendance. The stipend will be $10 /meeting. The rationale for the stipend is that if the representative attends all of the meetings, then the stipend will pay for the representative’s ROEA dues. |
| If teachers are going to be required to make up professional development days due to illness, then the teacher should not be docked for the day from their sick bank. The districts in the state must provide professional development days, but there is no penalty if teachers do not attend. The ROEA needs to find out what happens in other districts when teachers do not attend professional development days. |
| School closings and seniority issues were discussed. When school closings occur, the person with the most seniority will fill the available position first. |
Grievances
| The status of the each of the current grievances was discussed. |
Unfinished Business
| The $100/$200 deductible for MESSA will be started in September 1, but the $50/$100 deductible will be instated for half of the 2002 year. |
| Sid Kardon still has not had the time to write a letter about the ESL concerns that the ROEA has. |
Bertha Vela-Arribas moved to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 6:20 p.m.
Marcia Rauschendorfer, Secretary
