BIG PROBLEMS NEED RESOLUTION!
NO AGREEMENT ON:
· Adequate Hours. The administration has proposed to eliminate the 20 hour minimum work week that applies to all Para Educators (Special Ed, LAP, ELL, Head Start, and more), Nurses, Deans, and most other jobs. It does not apply to School Assistants or School Technology Assistants. Eliminating the 20 hour minimum could result in more NESPA members working fewer hours, and more ineligible for benefits. We are seeking minimum workweeks that correspond to what most members currently work, and a process to make it easier to get more hours, when available.
· Compensation: The administration has proposed no guaranteed annual step increases, and no COLA on Professional Standards Program Stipends. Both are essential. Step increases and a COLA need to be the guaranteed minimum increases. The administration has proposed an inadequate increase.
· Transfers: The current process is confusing. Some jobs are posted. Others are not. We are seeking a process that enables staff to more easily get positions at the schools and with the hours they want, when available.
· Displacement: When enrollment drops in a school, staff are displaced. They have to apply for other jobs, and have no guarantee of a position similar to what they had.
· Nurses: The cuts to 8 schools (including TJH), making their nurses 20 hours per week, has created numerous issues that have not yet been resolved. These include their duties, moving and before school work time, scheduling, storage needs, and what happens when they are not at a school. (Assignment process has been agreed.)
· Professional Hours: Many of us run out of professional hours early in the year. We are seeking access to a pool of unused professional hours, for those who need them.
· “School Year Only”-Single Year Only- Hours and Positions: Why is one out of 4 NESPA members SYO—with no job or hour security—even when our jobs and hours continue year after year? We need a better system.
· “Substitutes” : Currently, almost any employee could be classified as a substitute. An ongoing employee can be considered a substitute, for an unlimited period of time.
· Representation on School’s Leadership Team: Education Support Professionals are not part of the team, though there are some decisions which affect them. We are seeking a representative on the team, although the certificated staff on the Team could decide whether the NESPA representative may participate in deliberations of a matter if they believe it does not affect NESPA members.
· Safety Training: Special Ed Parapros who work in CLCs with violent students need access to the paid training far more often than it is currently offered.
· Staff Development Training Fund: The amount currently provided ($18,000: $200 per use max) is inadequate, and any unused funds in the total pool should be carried over to the next year.
· Step 15: We should not have to wait 16 years to get to Step 15. The current process does not make sense.
Your participation today and in August
makes the difference when we get back to the table.
