Rep Council Meeting Minutes
Sept. 20, 2016 – 3:30-5:00 @ Jepson library
Members present: Moira McSweeney, Alyson Brauning, Brenda Hensley, Corey Penrose, Sylvia Aquino, Todd Blanset, Jenny Brown, Tracy Begley, Sofia Calderon, Megan Morris, Mike Ensley, Tammy Parker, Sharon Riehl, Annmarie Woehler, Yvonne DiMichele, Russ Tucker, Julie McGee, Leslie Losberger, Mark Richardson, Carolyn Thomas, Cyndi Marshall, Jose Bermudez, Sylvia Shepard, Janel Curtis, Becky Wylie, Lisa Cusi, Marcus York, Glenn Branaman, Andrew Bower, Jouli Jara, Chris Fickes, Cindy Bray, Erin Gordon, Lindsay Richardson, Nancy Anderson-Louie, Helen Blood
Members absent: Samantha Dubs, Navjot Kaur, Allen May, Rebecca Pinto, Greg Gmahling, Miranda Merino, Chris Wagner, Liz Meagor
1)- Approval of the minutes– the minutes were approved.
2) – Approval of the agenda – the agenda was approved.
3) – President’s report – After Alyson reviewed the August “Site Rep To Do” list and took some feedback on the items for the August list, we developed a new list for September.
Once that was done, Moira reported on the following:
Jerry Eaton – our board member, stopped by for a visit! Be sure to follow his website here.
Mark Fraizer follow-up – updates on block scheduling, academic achievement at the K-1 level, LCAP, school start time, procedures to be followed for classroom coaching, homework policy and extensive prep for K-5 science instruction.
Cordelia Leadership Conference – is on October 8th. See here for more information.
Sierra Vista reopening – is featured in The California Educator, head over here to check it out!
Prop 55 – be sure to vote yes. For more information, please the Campagin 2016 section of www.vacateachers.org.
CTA Well-Baby Program – is being discontinued.
4) – Treasurer’s report – after reviewing the treasurer’s report and discussing the financials, the following motions were made:
Motion – approve last year’s financial report – seconded and approved.
Motion – approve the treasurer’s report – seconded and approved.
5) – Committee/Chair reports:
Action/PAC/Labor Council – Corey reported on the following:
- Yuba City Teachers – settled after an eight day strike. CTA practices for striking affiliates were discussed and some questions were taken.
- The Teacher Mixer – was a great success and pictures can be found here.
- K-8 classroom teacher energy grant – information can be found here.
- Cordelia Leadership conference – information can be found here.
- CTA’s 403b vendor and site visit schedule – can be found here.
- Campaign 2016 – our endorsements, and some campaign dos and don’ts, can be found here.
- AB 709 – and the campaign to support it, can be found here.
The report finished with the distribution of the endorsement letters for our members and reminders about best practices to follow when distributing political information at school sites. For more specific information, please visit here.
Bargaining – Brenda reported that the next bargaining sessions have been scheduled for 9/23 and 9/29. The report finished with a general discussion of what we might expect for this bargaining cycle and a few general questions about what to expect this fall.
Grievance – Sylvia reported that, if you’re being evaluated this year, your site administrator needs to meet with you by Wednesday, September 28th and determine mutually-agreed upon goals. Reps are urged to remind their members to be sure to contact administrators if they’re failed to meet the deadline. The report finished with a general discussion of contract language regarding teacher evaluations.
Equity Team – Alyson reported that the equity team meets tomorrow and discussed some of the issues facing GLBT students in our district.
Health Care – Moira reported that the health care estimates for 2017 can be found here and thank Sylvia Shepard for serving in the district Health Care Committee. Open Enrollment ends on October 7th and members are urged to be sure to be sure to take advantage of the tax benefits from their out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Member Engagement – Alyson reported that the next mixer is scheduled September 27th at 4 pm at El Patron and distributed new teacher letters. The report finished with a general discussion of the member mixers planned for this fall and some feedback on how to make mixers even more awesome!
Special Ed – Tammy reported on ongoing special education issues in Vacaville USD and reminded reps that, if there are any special education issues, to be sure to let her know prior to the next meeting.
Leave Bank and Julie Davis Scholarship – none.
Membership – none.
6)- Business:
Vote on proposed By Law Change presented at the August 23rd Rep Council meeting and election timeline:
OFFICERS
A vacancy shall be deemed to exist in the case of death, resignation, or inability to serve in any of the offices of the Association. If there is a vacancy occurring in then office of the President, the Vice-President shall assume the office, unless the Representative Council decides by a majority vote to hold a special election to fill the unexpired term of the President. In the event a vacancy occurs in the other offices, a special election shall be held to elect successors to fill the unexpired terms.
Motion – approve the bylaw amendment – seconded and approved
Motion – hold a special election to fill the term of Moira McSweeney and fill the NEA three-year delegate seat – seconded and approved
The report finished with a discussion of the logistics of the election. Mike Ensley, Tracy Begley, and Sylvia Aquino were nominated for the presidency by rep council. Sylvia Aquino declined the nomination and Mike and Tracy will be on the ballot, pending filing of the election paperwork.
Motion – VTA allocates 300 dollars towards the Cordelia Instructional Leadership Council – seconded and approved.
7) – Conference reports – Lisa Cusi and Megan Morris reported out from the Labor Mediation Conference and took some questions about the logistics of managing labor grievances.
8) – Others –
Delivering instruction during study hall – was discussed.
Motion – VTA donate a dollar per member to the Yuba City Education Association Strike Recovery Fund – seconded and approved. To donate to the strike fund, please go here!
9) – Raffle – A ten dollar gift card to Amazon and a five dollar chocolate bar were won by Tammy Parker and
10) – Adjournment – the meeting was adjourned at 5:30.
Respectfully submitted, Corey Penrose
