Jacqui Greadington, EOEA President
MAY 2019
Thanks for submitting issues of concern for us to address at the monthly EOEA/EOSD meeting. The following is a synopsis of the responses to items discussed at the April 17th meeting.
CURRICULUM: Teachers feel that they are blamed for everything in the district. They believe that the curriculum is not working and want to know the plan to provide students with the materials and curriculum they need. Some of this is a result of the SGO meetings that are being conducted at each school. We expressed concern about writing SGO’s that can’t be achieved.
RESPONSE: Administration is looking to improve the curriculum each year. ELA curriculum was slated to be revised, but will be postponed in lieu of rifting 100 staff members. The district has sought emergency relief. If this is approved, they will move forward with the new adoption. Textbooks will be replaced. The district is looking into the cost of on-line textbooks.
More rigorous, high quality SGO’s need to be produced. The responsibility is not all on the teachers, but on the entire educational community. There remains the opportunity to modify your SGO’s in February.
EXCESSIVE TESTING: Ms. Green will be working with the state department to develop high quality, meaningful assessments. Some tests will be streamlined. We suggested, and Dr. West agreed that we should have a forum in which teachers provide input on our testing schedule.
TECHNOLOGY: The goal is to have a 1:1 ratio for students to computers. A survey has been conducted on the number of computers in each building both working or not working.
COMMON PLANNING TIME: As this issue has come up repeatedly, issues with scheduling along with proof of teachers actually having common planning time in all buildings. This would be a way to address some of our achievement issues.
PD EXPRESS: Credits are STILL not being updated. Some teachers have up to 7 items waiting for approval. This needs to be addressed immediately. Dr. West will address this with Dr. Walker.
OBSERVATIONS: Pre and post conferences are not being held, yet it appears as though they have through the online system. Although some teachers may not have a pre-conference, all teachers must have a post conference.
NEGOTIATIONS: Thanks to all who attended the General Membership Meeting on May 7. NJEA NE Regional Director, Thomas Hardy addressed the members along with our Uniserv Rep, Jim McGuire. We discussed the status of negotiations.
We encourage ALL members to participate as needed as we continue to work toward achieving a fair and equitable settlement for our members. It will take all of us standing together to be victorious.