Canada Day in Vancouver, BC

Celebrating the 143rd birthday of Canada with a few hundred thousand Vancouverians today. Lots of celebrations, food and music. Julie walked my tush off today and we saw a lot of the city. We took the ferry over to Granville Island and sat next to a Teachers' Union staffer. She said they have the same problems we have in Utah...budget cuts and high class sizes. The big difference is that all teachers must join the union and they pay a percentage of their salary in membership dues. It was a nice, overcast, drizzly day with a temperature of 62 degrees.

Weber Education Association and the Weber District have agreed to use Lynn Trenbeth (retired from Davis County) for our mediator for negotiations. We used Lynn 6 years ago and she will be fair and helpful.

OEA will be looking to resume negotiations when we all get back in town in a week or so.

Rick

On the road to Vancouver, B.C.

Leaving Yakima this morning and driving into Vancouver, B.C. I noticed in the Seattle Times this morning that the American Federation of Teachers is having their annual convention in Seattle. Well, that would be a bit cooler than our folks will be experiencing in New Orleans this week. Both groups will be looking at the educational reforms that are being tried around the country. Ogden has three "School Improvement Grant" schools, Madison, Odyssey and Dee Elementary. These three schools will be implementing "research driven reforms" to help improve instruction and student achievement. The federal government is giving them each over $1.5 million dollars over three years to extend the instructional day and year, pay teachers for their expertise and professional development, and give retention bonuses for student growth. The OEA will be included in these discussions, especially where they affect current contractual language.

Rick

Blogging from Yakima Washington

The NEA Representative Assembly in New Orleans begins July 1 and several WEA leaders will be attending, including President Marlene Irons, VP Terie Maxfield (also representing the UEA board of directors), Mary Margaret Lyon, (member of WEA Executive Board), Jo Egelund (newly elected to the WEA Board) and Cheryl Parkinson (also newly elected to the board). Attending from OEA is VP Lisa Vipperman. They will spend long days in meetings from 7am to late in the afternoon doing the business of NEA. Go to the NEA website to get daily updates.

Rick

NCUEA begins in New Orleans

Lisa Vipperman, OEA Vice-President, is representing the Ogden/Weber UniServ at the summer conference of the National Council of Urban Education Associations in New Orleans. Lisa will meet with leaders from the largest NEA locals and discuss many of the issues coming to the NEA Representative Assembly that begins July 1.

Rick

WEA goes to impasse in negotiations

Marlene Irons and Terie Maxfield, WEA President and Vice-president, delivered a letter of impasse to Supt. Jacobsen Thursday. After our negotiations meeting Wednesday the WEA team voted to go to impasse. The WEA and the district will now ask State Supt. Larry Shumway for a list of mediators. When we agree on a mediator we will schedule the mediation. Two issues that brought us to this impasse are the refusal of the district to pay increment steps to eligible teachers and their refusal to pay any portion of the insurance increases.

We will keep you informed as the mediation process begins. Most of our WEA leaders will be gone to the NEA Representative Assembly starting July 1 in New Orleans.

Rick

Utah Schools to Pay Teachers Based on Success in Classroom

Lisa Schencker wrote Wednesday in the Salt Lake Tribune: "Starting next school year, more Utah teachers will earn money based on their performance in the classroom. In five pilot schools, educators will earn up to an additional $2,000 each for boosting student achievement, for the quality of their instruction and for parent satisfaction. Currently, most teachers' pay is based on years of experience and educational background." You can read the entire article at http://www.sltrib.com/


Rick

Negotiations Update

OEA's negotiation team met with the district's team on Tuesday and discussed contract language changes and heard the district's financial proposal for the first time. Doug Stephens has called a OEA Executive Board meeting to talk about negotiations. The Ogden School Board met in executive session last night, but we have not heard a response to our proposal. We hope that we can come to an agreement soon.

WEA's negotiation team is meeting with the district's team today at 2pm. WEA's executive board met last Friday and discussed proposals on the table. We hope today goes well.

Many of the leaders will be leaving next week to attend the NEA Representative Assembly in New Orleans.

Rick