Executive Board

Sidney Kardon
   President
Marcia Rauschendorfer
   Executive Vice-President     
Christine Baer
   Program Vice-President
Jennifer Jump
   Secretary
Nicole Murawski
   Interim Treasurer
Barbara Pollis
   Middle School Director
Pat Hein
   Elementary Director
Vince Caruso
   High School Director
Betty Ong
   NEA Third World Delegate,
Tracy Crawley
   MEA Delegate
Kara Daunt
   MEA Delegate
Stuart Asch
   NEA Delegate
Nila Wilson
   NEA Third World Delegate
Betty Ann Garlak
   PAC Chairperson

Uniserv Director
   Laurie Moore

Royal Oak Education Association

26111 Evergreen, Suite 225Southfield, MI 48076

Phone: 248-358-4770
Fax: 248-358-4758
www.ROEAonline.org

Negotiations Have Begun!
(But Administration Doesn’t Proceed in Earnest)

After sending a letter to Administration in February declaring our readiness to bargain, our first bargaining session was held on May 4^th. Our ROEA representatives are Stuart Asch, Vince Caruso, Susan Cox, Betty Ann Garlak, Barbara Pollis, Marcia Rauschendorfer, and Tom Steeby. I am our team’s chairperson and Uniserv Director Laurie Moore is our MEA representative. The administration’s team members are Barbara Evoe, Cheryl Goodgine, Carol Hansen, and John Schwartz. Their main negotiator is Attorney Gary King.

To date, we have met twice. We have submitted our opening proposals as agreed by both parties. Administration has not submitted anything.

In my opinion we are looking at a long struggle. King has said that he will not work collaboratively with teachers and he has been disrespectful to the point of abruptly leaving the table while Laurie was in mid-sentence during our second session. School boards hire attorneys for the specific purpose of harming teachers.  I believe this is our situation.

Additionally, the MEA has filed an Unfair Labor Practice on our behalf as the board has unilaterally changed the high school start time. In Michigan, working conditions are a mandatory subject of bargaining. My speculation is that King advised the board that they could change the high school start time without negotiations, thus depriving you of your right to union representation

The commitment of our team is to enhance our pay, benefits, and conditions of employment. With your commitment and support, that is an eminently achievable goal. Our team will fight at the bargaining table with King, but in the coming year we may have to fight collectively afterward.

I hope you spend your summer reflecting upon our inestimable value to this community. Next, rid yourself of the myth that “times are tough.” Royal Oak has millions stashed away in an equity fund, a financial device that allows them to artificially reduce their operating budget. You will hopefully conclude as I have that there is ample funding to give us a fair pay raise and full benefits.

A Fond Farewell

Congratulations to our newly retired members. Pat Allegrina, Debra Burr, Jane Fuller, Rick Hartsoe, Denise Nett, Sue Sandtveit, Eileen Steadman and Jacquie Williams were feted and honored by their friends and colleagues. On behalf of our Executive Board, thank you for your contributions to the ROEA.

NEW FACES

Two members, Nicole Murawski and Todd Noonan, have been newly elected to our Executive Board. And although MEA Uniserve Director Laurie Moore has been with us since December, we would like to formally welcome Laurie to the ROEA. By way of introduction, here is a little bit of information about their interesting and busy lives.

Nicole joined the Executive Board this past February as our interim treasurer. Administering our local’s budget is acomplex task, but Nicole made the transition a seamless one for the Executive Board. Nicole teaches physics and physical science at Kimball. She previously taught math. She has been with Royal Oak for eight years after two years of teaching math at the Detroit School of Industrial Arts. With the exception of grading papers, she finds every teaching day a rewarding one.  Since she teaches the physical sciences, Nicole also teaches a lot of math.  Her number one reason for running for treasurer was to become more involved in the union and to get a “behind the scenes” view of a different facet of education. Nicole’s budgetary talents as well as her contributions to other Executive Board decisions have made us a stronger union.

Nicole has been married for three years to John. Nicole reports that her Quaker Parrot and John’s two cats get along “swimmingly.”

Todd has been elected to the Executive Board as an MEA delegate.  Since this position requires two yearly trips to Lansing for MEA business and since Todd previously taught in Lansing, this is obviously a good fit.  Todd has also taught in Oakland, California. He has been teaching social studies at Kimball for four years. Todd especially enjoys teaching ninth graders and watching them grow and develop during their high school years.  Todd has been an active member of Kimball’s Building Faculty Committee. He ran for MEA delegate because of his interest in representing newer teachers and increasing their participation in the union.

Todd is married to Ashley who is a teacher in Northville. (Coincidentally, the Northville teachers are also represented by Laurie.)  They have a one and a half year old son, Emmett, and enjoy hiking, camping, and traveling.

Laurie’s previous job was with the city of Detroit in the human resources department working in management. She was involved in contract negotiations, grievance processing and arbitrations. She became interested in joining “the other side” due partly to encouragement from her best friend who has been a Uniserv Director for a few years.

Laurie has a Bachelor’s degree from Eastern Michigan University in Business Administration with a major in financial analysis. She’s working on her Masters in Human Resources Administration from Central Michigan University. She is in the process of completing her thesis for her Master’s program and expects to complete her degree in August. Laurie serves as the Uniserv Director for all of the MEA groups in Royal Oak and for the teachers in Northville.

She is extremely busy, but is enjoying the challenges involved in working for the union. Working for the city of Detroit provided Laurie a good opportunity to work in a union environment, and she is learning about how things work in the education culture which is different from city government. Laurie would like to emphasize working with the union to ensure that the Association remains strong while building a relationship with the administration in the district.

Contract Feature

Lay-offs, Transfers, Displacements and Postings

Article IX of the Contract, “Teacher Placement, Transfer and Retirement” (pg.26), covers lay-offs, transfers and postings. The language is complex in its implementation as teachers are uniquely certified and qualified and cannot always displace each other in a clear, straight forward manner. At the same time the staffing needs of the district are always in a state of flux, sometimes creating a need for a teacher who has a different certification or qualification than the teacher being displaced.

The best way to understand the contract language is to first understand what our ROEA Executive Board has been attempting to achieve for our members.

Two overarching principles have guided the development of the language. The first one is that we have a right to remain in our current positions unless there is a compelling reason to remove us from our positions. Examples of compelling reasons might include an administrative decision to no longer have a particular program, a reduction in the number of teachers in a school, and seniority based bumping due to lay-offs.

The second principle is that we have a right to bid on any position for which we are qualified and a commensurate right to obtain the position on a seniority basis if qualifications of competing teachers are equal. In essence these two principles constitute a reasonable guarantee that we will not be force transferred and that we can voluntarily move to new positions based on our qualifications. Prior to our current contract teachers were arbitrarily involuntarily transferred and frequently denied access to open positions for which they were qualified.  It has taken years of negotiations to secure these rights.  Our contract is now a very strong one in these areas.

Properly implementing the seniority system is sometimes difficult. Working in conjunction with Executive Director Barbara Evoe, we created a list of displaced teachers this year which served to lessen the number of layoffs. Displaced teachers were high seniority teachers whose positions were eliminated by the administration. Since their seniority would guarantee them another position, it didn’t make sense to lay them off and then recall them. After the administration determined the number of teachers that would be retained for next year, the lowest seniority teachers were laid off. Under the contract, layoffs do not create positions that are posted. Last year the administration posted positions created by lay-offs.  This resulted in unnecessary transfers when laid-off teachers were recalled but were unable to return to their original positions as those positions had been filled by a different teacher. The procedure this year was for displaced teachers to first fill the positions made available by lay-offs on a seniority basis. To the maximum extent possible this was done within the teacher’s seniority district; that is, either the high school, middle school, or elementary seniority district. An out of seniority district transfer occurs when there are no available jobs for the teacher within the original seniority district. Displaced teachers are not able to bump into a lower seniority position of their choosing – they can only bump out the lowest senior teacher in their certification area. The idea that higher seniority teachers can displace any lower seniority teacher of their choosing is a myth that has largely been perpetrated by school administrators to create the false impression that a teacher seniority system creates chaos and doesn’t meet the educational needs of students.

When teachers resign, retire, or transfer to a different seniority district a job posting is created. Any qualified teacher regardless of their seniority can apply for the position.

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