Hackensack Education Association
Faculty Council Meeting
Monday, May 20, 2002
The monthly meeting of the HEA Faculty Council was
held on Monday, May 20, 2002 at the Hackensack Middle School. The meeting was called to order by President
Robert Kern Curtis at 3:30 p.m.
A motion to accept the minutes of the April 15,
2002 meeting was made by Vida Story.
The motion passed.
Officers'
Report.
Treasurer's
Report. Bethany Giuliani.
The budget report was distributed. A motion to accept the report was made by
Vida Story. The motion passed.
Corresponding
Secretary's Report.
Betty Meeks Manning. No report.
Recording
Secretary's Report. Valerie Gancarz. Absent.
No report.
BCEA Report. Elaine Williamson.
Eighty six percent (86%) of the school budgets passed
in Bergen County.
BCEA will increase dues next year. There will be a
four dollar ($4) increase for the professional staff and a two dollar ($2)
increase for the support staff.
UMDNJ will give money to Locals to conduct
workshops on how to deal with crisis.
NJEA no longer supports AIG auto insurance
carrier.
Vice
President's Report.
Nikki VanEss. No report.
President's
Report. Dr.
Robert Kern Curtis.
·
Teacher evaluations. Presented Curtis discussed some problems concerning teacher
evaluations.
·
Access to personnel files. It is a member's right to have access to
personnel files. If there is any
inappropriate material in the file, the teacher has the right to ask, in writing,
for its removal.
·
Grievances.
Two grievances have been filed.
Some high school teachers have grieved the increased amount of work
involved in writing IEPs for special education students. No additional relief was offered at the
first grievance level. It is now at the
superintendent's level.
·
Grievances.
A HEA grievance was filed concerning the Title I After School Program.
The Program has been terminated prior to the June 7, 2002 closing date. Since this is an Association grievance,
there was no opportunity to report to members prior to filing the
grievance. A letter was sent to
teachers, who expressed concern, to explain the misunderstanding concerning the
stages involved in the grievance process.
One
faculty representative expressed concern and surprise that there was no
mention in the newspaper about the early closing of the Title I Program.
She
expressed disbelief that a Hackensack administrator would end a Title
I
Program six weeks early in order to use the money for something else.
"This is
not an
Abbott District where such things might be allowed", she said.
Parents were informed that the Title I Program was closed due to a lack
of
funds.
·
Snow days.
There is no contractual provision for
'snow days' off. Days off should
be negotiated during contract negotiations.
·
State Buyout Plan. There is no additional information available concerning the State
Buyout Plan.
School
Reports.
There was a discussion regarding the new proposed
grading policy. There are three Board
policies concerning the subject. The Board Policy can be found in the High
School Library. According to Board
Policy, only the Board can make policy changes
The money that has been allocated to improve the
appearance of teachers’ rooms was discussed.
Dr. Curtis will speak to Dr. Montesano, again, about the date that the
money will be made available to each building.
Mike Miello is the interim principal for the
remainder of the school year.
5ive6ix.
The second T.A.L.C meeting has been held.
The faculty was pleased about their participation
in next year’s scheduling process.
Parker.
There is concern about the money allocated for
teachers’ rooms.
There is no additional information concerning the
State Buyout Plan.
Jackson
Avenue.
There was a discussion concerning the new
principal nominee.
Hillers.
The main problem of concern is the parking
issue. The Board sent a letter to the
staff stating that parking stickers will be made available.
The continuing lack of substitutes for teacher
assistants was discussed.
Fairmount.
The second T.A.L.C. meeting has been held.
Committee
Reports.
Membership
Committee. Susan Young.
Membership applications have been sent to new teachers.
The problem of incomplete membership lists still
exists.
Chris Ryan, Beverly Nelson, and Suzette Febres
were nominated and elected building representatives for the High School. Kristin Terzano was nominated and elected
building representative for Hillers.
Final plans have been made for the Honors’
Dinner. Two hundred seventy-six (276)
people are expected to attend.
Negotiations
Committee. Lynn
Berhalter.
There was a discussion in reference to negotiation
of changes in working conditions.
Legislative
Committee. Vida Story.
Bill A1714 (subcontracting) was supported by NJEA.
Both the Senate and the House passed Bill S11.
This report was included in the President’s
report.
Teacher
Education. Nikki
VanEss.
The Chairperson would like to have course outlines
submitted, now, from anyone interested in teaching a course in the fall.
T.A.L.C.
Nikki VanEss.
All T.A.L.C. reports must be forwarded to the
Chairperson as soon as possible.
Old
Business. No
report.
New
Business. No
report.
With no further business, the meeting was
adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Betty Meeks-Manning
Corresponding Secretary