Putnam Federation of Teachers/United
March 12, 2019
Call to Order:
Mark Motl called the meeting to order at 5:30PM on March 12, 2019.
Minutes & Treasurer Report:
The treasurer's report was presented. We have $78,077.12 checking, $43.43 in savings and $10,225.83 in CD. Kathy
made a motion to accept this report and Liz seconded the motion. Motion carried. The minutes of the previous meeting were presented. Kathy made a motion to accept this report and Lindsey seconded this motion. Motion carried.
President
The Bargaining team made a compensation proposal including an across the board increase and incorporating the additional insurance contribution into contract language rather than an MOU. The management team had an executive session with the School Board on May 5th. We will hear a response at our next session tomorrow: Wednesday, May 13th, 2:00-4:30 PM in the School Board meeting room. We proposed a percentage raise across the board. We wanted them to find a way to give us a raise and additional funds for health insurance to become language in our contract. There is some money in the insurance reserve, but any money would have to come from the general fund. Our enrollment is down, so the funds will be down. Secondary may have some electives cut back because of this drop. Kathy and Michael gave reports from Winter Leadership. Kathy said that “How I could lose my Job” by Andrew Spar took up too much time. Michael really liked The History of Union session. Tammy & Rich Grady did a great job, Tammy & Rich got the best evaluation/scores and the highest number of attendees. Mark gave an update on the student discipline problem. There is a new committee to look into this problem and to come up with some possible solutions. The following are on this committee: Mark was appointed to be in chair of this committee, Dianna Latta, Tracy Cherry, Andy Burnett, Joe Theobold, JT Stout, N. Washington, Kathy White, Travis Weaver and Randy Hedstrom. On Mar. 4th we wore Red for Education! This was started to let the state legislators know we want them to fund our public schools. We will continue to wear red on Wednesdays to make a statement. We also have buttons to wear all of the time. Michael introduced Chris Gallagher new rep at Price, he is going to Summer Academy and Winter Leadership. Mark spoke about the renovations that we are doing to the kitchen. Because of a major problem with the plumbing, we had to remove a lot of pipe and had to remove the plumbing behind the sink in the kitchen. Paul has renovated the kitchen and the plumbing problem has been fixed. Mark appointed a kitchen committee: Kathy W, Paul S. and Michael G. The membership drive information for incentives went out in the newsletter. Recruiter earns $10 for each new member. Each new recruit entered into drawing for $100 gift card. Member that recruits the most instructional gets $100 gift card. Member that recruits the most classified gets $100 gift card. We will have the payouts in our May Rep Council. Mark stressed which handouts that we can post at our work sites. It was mentioned that we have several empty positions in Putnam county that are still open. The teacher shortage is a real thing!
Vice President:
Mike told us to write down 850 487 5008 and call this number once a week to Keith Perry about education, say who you are, where you are from. He stated that PCSD is the largest employer in Putnam. Tammy mentioned that we have a
lot of good talking points on the handouts.
Area Vice-Presidents:
Kathy said that on Apr. 9th at 6PM they will be making a presentation about the Teacher Leader Program to the board.
Liz motion made a motion with Michael G. seconding it to meet at the school board meeting instead of Building Rep meeting at 6PM. Motion carried. Please dress in red. We can take care of the DA rep at our next meeting. She also shared information about meeting with administration. They are not meeting time for planning and duty-free lunch for ESE teachers & aides. The administrators have adjusted their schedules to accommodate their planning. We didn’t have to file a grievance. Liz asked whether Rick Surrency is the chair of the Superintendent Association. Randy Hedstrom is head of the Student Services now. Paul cautioned us to remember to do the biometric screen test. Tracy said that they just received their solution center. They just lost 3 aides after losing teachers
DISCUSSION/GUESTS:
Tammy Whitaker spoke about retaining and recruiting teachers. They spoke to the district about this and an increase contribution to health insurance along with starting salaries increased. We had 40% across the county represented in red.
Joe Theobold’s school had 60% was wearing red. We are wearing red every Wednesday. Please send your pictures to Mark so that we can post on social media and spread the word. Please continue to send post cards to the legislators.
Tammy will be out for medical leave for knee replacement from March 27th, Tracy Butler will help out during this time.
Mike Dale will be at IES tomorrow, he will speak about the membership drive.