RA Minutes 2-26-02

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ROYAL OAK EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF THE REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY

February 26, 2002

President Kardon called the meeting to order at 4:06 p.m. in the Dondero High School Media Center. Buildings not represented were: Board Office, Churchill Community Education Center, Judson Center, Lincoln Early Childhood Center, Oakland Elementary School, Starr Elementary School, Whittier Elementary School.

Reports

Secretary’s Report

Minutes for the January 22, 2002 Representative Assembly meeting were presented. Stuart Asch moved to accept the minutes as presented. Marilyn Droz seconded the motion. The motion carried.

Executive Vice President’s Report

The Joint Committee met twice Feb 14. Issues discussed at this meeting were the following.

	Sick bank days were granted.
	Need to clarify issue of ethics of employees going accessing their children’s grades in the Microsage system when the window for grades is not open on ParentWeb.
	Technology policy clarification will be forthcoming regarding emails, and going into systems when windows are shut.
	Personal business days were granted. Requests for personal business days for the purpose of travel will be denied by the Administration.
	The issue regarding make-up for missed professional development days has still not been resolved.

The Joint Committee will meet on March 7, 2002. Issues to bring up at this meeting are the following.

	The issue regarding making up missed professional development days.
	The question was raised as to whether co-sponsors of clubs are supposed to split the stipend. Questions were also raised whether sponsors of groups that meet more than 15 times per school year should be paid as club sponsors or as coaches.

Treasurer’s Report

The budget report for September 2001 through January 2002 was presented.

Presentation on Curriculum and Assessment by Kay Cornell

Kay Cornell ran this presentation as a question-and-answer session. The following are questions asked by ROEA members and Kay Cornell’s responses:

Concerns were raised about how some assessments are redundant and how some errors are in the assessments. Ms. Cornell was asked if teachers could choose the assessments to use.

Ms. Cornell said that the intent of the curriculum guide is to use it as a living document. It was printed as is so that teachers can start to use it now. A teacher cannot personally change any of the assessments. The curriculum committee can change the assessments only once a year.

Could a teacher replace an assessment that is redundant or has errors with one that he/she has developed?

Kay said that the assessments are the only way to ensure that the District can have the same things being assessed in all classes of the same grade and subject and those quality assessments are occurring throughout the District. The assessments in the books are summative and are to be used to assure that students have mastered these benchmarks. Teacher created assessments are formative assessments. “The required assessments are to ensure that quality assessments are used.”

Why is the District requiring more standardization when the MEAP and other tests are already given?

Ms. Cornell stated that that is the direction education is headed.

If common assessment is going to be used, the curriculum in many areas needs to be rewritten. When is this going to occur and by whom?

Ms. Cornell said that each individual curriculum committee would need to work on the changes in June. Anyone who is interested in working on these changes needs to let the committee know.

If common assessments keyed to the state benchmarks are to be used, how is the District going to keep track of the data of how students are doing on each benchmark?

Ms. Cornell said the District is looking at a data base program to use for record keeping of benchmarks.

Concerns were raised as to whether the District wants the curriculum to be driven and determined solely by the state benchmarks and the MEAP.

Ms. Cornell said yes.

What should a teacher do if an assessment cannot be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time, or if the material and time requirements are not reasonable?

Ms. Cornell said that if a teacher feels that the assessments are not reasonable, he/she needs to let her know, but the assessments are required and can only be changed by the committees in June.

Concerns were raised about the amount of documentation needed for common assessments that are keyed to the benchmarks and data recorded. The time requirements to create and perform these assessments are overwhelming.

Ms. Cornell said that this is education and what teachers have to do.

Can a pool of assessments be created for teachers to use to allow a little more flexibility in teaching?

Ms. Cornell said that she is not sure if she would be open to the idea of having a pool of assessments.

A request was made for a brief overview about the reading program in the elementary.

Ms. Cornell discussed this and said it needs to be clearly stated in writing.

Who will be trained in Orton/Gillingham at the secondary level?

Ms. Cornell said it will probably be for language arts teachers and limited room will be available.

To whom should concerns regarding curriculum be addressed

Ms. Cornell said to forward comments and concerns to the heads of the curriculum committees.

The point was brought up that at the elementary level where multiple subjects are taught, the curriculum is too broad and the assessments are too numerous to be covered in the school year. The assessments need to be narrowed to meet the needs of the students and a pool of assessments must be in place.

Ms. Cornell agreed that there were too many assessments and that a pool of assessments to choose from would be better.

Ms. Cornell said that she felt quite confident that if every teacher uses the assessments, the District MEAP scores would improve in the next year and a half.

Political Action Committee Chair’s Report

Thursday, February 28, 2002 is MEA Lobbying Day. Teachers from the district will be attending.

ROEA Scholarship Committee

The ROEA Scholarship fund is being started this spring. The goal this year it to give a minimum one of $500 scholarship to either the child of an ROEA member or a Royal Oak student. Checks and contributions are now being accepted to this fund. Checks should be made to the ROEA Scholarship fund.

President’s Report

	Elections for ROEA offices will occur in May. Many positions are up for election (President, Executive Vice President, Program Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and some MEA and NEA positions). Questions about what the duties of these positions entail can be addressed to Sid Kardon.
	There are some minor errors in the calendar for next year. Linda Carpani will be sending an update via email.
	Three people were disciplined for communicating building disciplinary issues via e-mail. The people involved asked the building principal if it was okay to copy the issues to everyone in the building. The principal Okayed this. After the e-mail was sent, the teachers involved were disciplined for sending the e-mail. Rick Wood will be distributing a technology policy clarification for the district regarding e-mail ethics.

Grievances

The settlement agreement for the President’s reduction in release time was not accepted. A condition was added to the agreement that required the president to sign a paper saying that he will be more cooperative and collaborative with the administration. The grievance will be going to arbitration next week with MERC.

New Business

The increase in deductibles that were taken for medical expenses for September through December will be reimbursed. MESSA did not let its own billing department know about the agreement the District had made concerning the deductibles. If anyone is still having this problem, let Sid Kardon know. Kay Robinson will be asked to come up with a district list of all people who have been charged the deductible.

Stuart Ashe moved to adjourn the meeting. Jacquie Williams seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 6:12 p.m

Marcia Rauschendorfer, Secretary

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