HACKENSACK EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Faculty Council Meeting

April 30, 2007

The April 30, 2007 HEA Faculty Council meeting in the High School Media Center was called to order at 3:35 p.m. by President Fran Borg.

A motion to accept the minutes from the previous month's Faculty Council Meeting was made by Vida Story and approved.

OFFICER’S REPORTS

Treasurer. Copies of the March 31, 2007 Trial Balance were distributed to members. A motion to accept the Treasurer's report was made by Vida Story and approved.

Corresponding Secretary. There was no report.

Recording Secretary. There was no report.

BCEA Representative. There was no report

Vice President. Amy Fink reported that a T.A.L.C. report was received from Hillers School.

President. Fran Borg clarified the position of reading coaches and stated that it against the contract for them to write evaluations of fellow colleagues. In order to write evaluations after observations, one must have supervisory accreditation.

A motion was put forth by Vida Story to have a brief staff meeting for HEA members at individual schools to take place one week after each general Faculty Council meeting. By unanimous vote, the motion carried. The purpose of the monthly school meetings would be to disseminate information from the general Faculty Council meetings. Each building leader, or designee, would schedule the individual meetings at the respective schools.

The upcoming expiration of the two terms of the Professional Development Committee members was addressed, noting that nominations will be accepted and voted upon at the next Faculty Council meeting. Fran appointed Jennifer Monico to take the place of Lisa Bernardo.

Attempts are being made to have all schools in the district designated as Title l, as some are and others not at the present time. This would require Para educators to meet additional criteria for Title 1 standards.

Vida Story commented that support for PAC is becoming increasingly more important for this Committee that deals with political pressure on legislators. A request was made for the members to supporting the Political Action Committee (PAC) with donations. Fran will distribute PAC information forms to each school. Members may have money (an amount even as small as $1.00) automatically taken out of their paychecks or given as a one-time contribution.

Fran clarified the purpose of the T.A.L.C. reports. They deal with contractual issues only, such as working conditions.

The River Edge school district, experiencing contract impasse,

scheduled a May 1 rally at Cherry Hill School on Bogert Road. They requested attendance support from our association.

Congratulations to Tanisha Williams who recently received an Earth Watch Institute Fellowship. Tanisha will be spending some time with research scientists over the summer in Brazil.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Membership. There was no report.

Election. Fran reiterated that ballots would be coming shortly for elections for Professional Development committee members.

Social. Maria Matera reported that everything regarding the upcoming Honors Dinner is proceeding nicely. At it stands now, approximately 200 people will be in attendance. Maria also requested to be notified if there are misspellings of names on any list.

Negotiations. There was no report.

Legislative. Vida Story will attend a Legislative meeting on May 2. Vida again stressed the importance for members to continue being vigilant of what is happening with the state

Legislature, particularly over the summer months.

Professional Rights and Responsibilities. Fran sent Chris Ryan two issues that were on the table.

Teacher Education. There was no report.

T.A.L.C. Amy Fink requested that the T.A.L.C. reports keep coming.

School Reports. Individual school reports were discussed.

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION. There was no report.

OLD BUSINESS. The lack of substitutes continues to be a problem.

NEW BUSINESS. There was no new business.

ANNOUNCEMENTS. There were no announcements.

ADJOURNMENT. On motion by Vida Story, with no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Melanie Stagg

Recording Secretary