CNTA REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
September 15, 2009
Minutes prepared by Beverley Rouse, Secretary
[Minutes are not official until approved at the next Rep Council.]
I. CALL TO ORDER—Bill Fisher called the meeting to order at 4:05 P.M. after a brief Executive Board meeting.
II. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS
A. Norco City Council Endorsement—Bill Fisher introduced Daven Cheatum of the Norco Firefighters, who then introduced Frank Hall, the incumbent, and Harvey Sullivan, a former city council member. Both candidates are being endorsed by the firefighters and sheriff’s association, which are other members of the coalition which includes CNTA. Both candidates explained why they are running for the city council election and why CNTA should join the rest of the coalition in endorsing them.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES—Karen L. Jones moved to approve the minutes from August 18, 2009. Vince Flores seconded. The motion passed.
IV. REPORTS
A. Vice President—Toni Sandell said she was involved with the negotiations and is working with principals to defend teachers.
B. Treasurer—Anne Freeman referred members to the income statement in the packet. She reminded reps that CNTA has no income over the summer, since dues are paid tenthly. Because of the furloughs, and since dues are based on salaries, the dues will be reduced by about 33 cents a month. When a member asked about the balloon payment on the mortgage, Toni Sandell said that CNTA is saving the Uniserv money to buy down the mortgage when it can be refinanced.
C. Secretary—Beverley Rouse asked if members liked receiving the abbreviated minutes in a blast, which was done for the first time in an effort to improve communications with members.
D. Elementary Directors—Matt Alford said members can address issues, such as PTT, in the breakout.
E. State Council—Teri Basso said that CTA is asking reps to make parents aware of how the state budget cuts affect their children. She said certain schools were getting special funding to help students who need special help. She asked reps to contact the governor to ask him to reinstate this funding.
F. Intermediate Director—Ken Christner said issues deal with the PTT times. The banked minutes will be going to bargaining.
G. High School—Julie Cooley said high schools are currently having trouble with Zangle. Teachers who teach ninth-graders are facing much larger classes since class size reduction has been cut for ninth-graders. Members are concerned about budget issues for negotiations.
H. Support Services Director—JoAnn Ritchie said she is working to make sure the caseloads are equitable throughout the district.
V. OLD BUSINESS
A. Negotiations Update on Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
1. Calendar—Mike Testo said the Negotiations Team talked about the proposed S and P days for the calendars for the next two years.
2. Stipends—The Negotiations Team also discussed the suspension of the special programs such as Science Fair, History Day, etc.
3. MOU—This MOU extends the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for another year so that everything is still in effect. There is no benefit to members to open the contract, since there is no money available to bargain. Mike Testo moved on behalf of the Executive Board to accept the MOU to roll the contract over for another year. Vince Flores seconded. The motion passed. Tami Lincoln moved to send the MOU on to the entire membership. Monica Openshaw seconded. The motion passed. Renee Bryant moved to do the election electronically. Cheryl Wester seconded. The motion passed after the following discussion. Members suggested that the pros and cons should be included with the e-mail about the election. Mike Testo will write the pros and cons. Elections Chair Betsy Jara said that a sample ballot will be done to make certain the electronic system is working well. When a member asked about the costs for sending the vote to the membership, Anne Freeman said that postage is $1.19 for each postage-paid return envelope, which costs over $2,000, with printing costs of $1600, $460 for the scantron, and an unknown amount for bad addresses, for a total of about $5232 to do a paper ballot. It will cost approximately $2000 to do an electronic ballot for the MOU. A member asked if, in light of the cost, we could do a substitute motion to vote the MOU in Rep Council, and not send it on to the members, to save the money. Renee Bryant moved to reconsider the motion to send this to the members. Cathy Seachrist seconded. Members discussed ways to save money on the voting. One way would be to send the ballots to the schools for the teachers on track and only send ballots to the homes for the off-track teachers. Tami Lincoln called the question and the motion passed. Rick Radcliffe moved to accept the MOU here at Rep Council as representatives of the members and not send it on to the members. Paul Falsone seconded. Kristi Johnson called the question. The motion passed.
B. District Budget Committee—Bill Fisher said the district has a committee of all stakeholders, including parents, community members, administrators, teachers, CNTA, and others. They are discussing items that can be cut and the committee will try to rank those items. When a member asked how committee members are chosen, the answer was that Dr. Bechler chooses to put together a committee that includes all stakeholders so that the committee recommendations will hopefully result in better decisions. Bill chose CNTA’s reps on the committee to be Anne Freeman, Harold Stryker, Marty Yates, and himself because he feels they well represent CNTA members. The committee’s goal is to have the list of recommendations ready for the superintendent by mid-November.
C. District Boundary Committee—Toni Sandell said this committee rolls over into the budget committee because it affects transportation costs. She said that some schools are decreasing in size, so the committee is trying to find the most reasonable way to make decisions about boundaries. She said that with the state budget, we must try to limit the negative impacts of various budget decisions. Again, all stakeholders are supposed to be represented, with the CNTA members being there to represent the teachers. When a member asked about teachers who have children and how they will be impacted, Bill said that would be negotiated.
D. Other Old Business—None.
VI. NEW BUSINESS
A. Endorsement—Mike Testo moved that CNTA endorse Frank Hall and Harvey Sullivan for Norco City Council. Kristi Johnson seconded. Bill explained the Coalition and how effective it has been in working together to elect each others’ candidates. The motion passed.
B. Introductions of Jim Rogers, CTA’s District Director and Carole Bailey, NEA Rep
1. Jim Rogers, who teaches in Brea, has the most contact with the CNTA president and Executive Board. He serves as a resource. He said that members shouldn’t “band-aid” the state budget problems and should let parents know about what is going on in education due to budget cuts. He encouraged members to protect against swine flu with lots of handwashing.
2. Carole Bailey, our NEA director, is a full-time counselor. As one of 16 directors from California, she represents a large part of southern California. She goes to Washington D.C. four times a year to lobby California’s congress members about issues that relate to teachers and education. The Social Security offset is always an issue, but since Congress is looking at reforming Social Security, the offset will be included in those discussions. She said it will be very expensive, but it’s a NEA priority. ESEA is up for reauthorization. They are trying to get rid of the bad parts of No Child Left Behind. She tells congressional representatives how their laws affect teachers in the classroom. Race to the Top is the federal Department of Education’s attempt to distribute about $600 million, which is a small amount of the state budget. States must meet certain guidelines in order to get the money. One requirement is that test scores be tied to teacher evaluations, while requirements include raising standards and promoting charter schools. CTA says this is not acceptable. CTA and NEA have met with Arne Duncan.
C. State Budget Update—Rose Luna, CTA’s budgeting expert, explained how the state’s budget cuts affect Corona-Norco. She examines the district’s budget regularly. She said that districts can reduce the student days by five days if they wish. It’s possible that there will be further cuts for the rest of this year, so it is important to maintain what we have. She said teachers need to stop covering up the budget shortfalls and let parents know how the budget cuts really affect students.
D. Standard Disability Insurance Campaign—Toni Sandell said that if enough people sign up for the disability insurance, there will be no medical questions. She encouraged reps to put the advertising tents in the teacher workrooms. The exact number of teachers needed isn’t yet known. Members were encouraged to go to the advertised meeting. There will be open enrollment soon.
E. New Committee Chairs and Members
1. Grievance Committee—The new chair, nominated by the president and approved by the Executive Board, is Keith Barmann.
2. Negotiations Committee—The incumbent chair, Mike Testo, and new member Angela Genet, were nominated by the president and approved by the Executive Board.
F. PTT Day Concerns Update—Bill briefly stated some problems that need to be resolved. He encouraged members to call him if there are issues, such as too much administrative top-down control, as opposed to more teacher-directed days. He said they often are able to work through district administrators to get things improved. He and other CNTA board members will be visiting schools on Wednesdays. He and district administrators will be working with principals on how to be collaborative and not do top-down directives.
G. CNTA 2009-2010 Goals—CNTA President Bill Fisher referred members to the list of goals on the green paper. These things are designed to help CNTA maintain parity with the district administrators.
H. Election Challenge—The recent election of the vice-president, treasurer, and State Council Rep has been challenged. The Elections Committee produced a report that specified each violation claimed by the challengers, along with the relevant paragraphs from the CTA Manual Requirements and/or CNTA Standing Rules. The challenges were made because of an e-mail then president-elect Bill Fisher sent from his home computer to home e-mail addresses recommending certain candidates for CNTA board positions. Bill Fisher said he sent out the e-mail, but said the report contained inaccuracies and that it was not a fair and impartial investigation by the Elections Committee because he hadn’t been interviewed by the committee. At issue was how the personal e-mails were gathered and whether CNTA resources were used, whether the e-mail was a CNTA publication that couldn’t indicate a preference for a candidate, whether members had adequate notification of the run-off election, and whether the board followed appropriate procedures in directing the election. Elections Committee Chair Betsy Jara said that the committee recommends that a new election be held for vice-president, treasurer, and State Council Rep. This recommendation would go to the Executive Board for a vote. After reps asked many questions, Rick Radcliff moved that the Rep Council accept the findings and recommendations of the CNTA Elections Committee. Tami Lincoln seconded. After much discussion, Joni George moved a substitute motion to not accept the written recommendations from the CNTA Elections Committee and to deny the challenge. Renee Bryant seconded. After much more discussion, Tami Lincoln moved to call for the question. The substitute motion failed. After more discussion, John Davis moved a substitute motion that the Rep Council set aside the findings and recommendations of the Elections Committee and recommend to the CNTA Executive Board that it call an election for the vice-president, treasurer, and State Council positions. Julie Cooley seconded. After more discussion, Rick Radcliff moved to close debate. The motion to close debate passed. Then the substitute motion by John Davis passed with 35 yes votes, 12 no votes, and 11 abstentions.
I. Other New Business—None because of time constraints.
VII. BREAKOUTS—No breakouts were held because of the time.
VIII. ADJOURNMENT—The meeting adjourned at 7:00 P.M.