President's Message

Ratification is finalized and we have a new contract in place. The district will be posting the amendments to the contract soon. Thanks to all who voted on the ratification and here are the percentages by site:

Site

I went to a CTA training on Special Education and was reminded of several laws that are occasionally broken by districts:

All members of the IEP team must sign the document and you can’t be asked to sign if you weren’t there. Additionally, you are allowed to write “dissent” next to your signature if you don’t agree with the IEP and write an explanation why.

Any teacher of a special ed. student can call for a new IEP at any time to review the goals and/or behavior plan.

RTI is a general ed. program and cannot encroach on special ed.

Special ed. teachers cannot simultaneously teach general and special ed. students.

You can find out information about general and special ed. issues, how to file complaints, who has to be at meetings and what the meetings are for. Check this out at www.ctaipd.org.

The deadline for the CTA scholarship applications is Feb. 3rd. If you have a dependent going to college or continuation school or you are going back to school, apply for the CTA scholarships. You can receive up to $5000 toward tuition. Who doesn’t need that?

From NEA President, Dennis Van Roekel “Politicians are balancing budgets on the backs of families and kids, and workers are under siege. From coast to coast, they are slashing budgets that are hurting families. And they are stripping educators and other public employees of their collective bargaining rights – even after workers have accepted wage and benefit cuts – because they know unions like NEA are the only check on corporate power. Understanding this as we work to protect our "goalie" at the federal level is important. At the November 2011 NCUEA meeting, I stressed the importance of recruiting our members for Educators for Obama. As we watch the Republican nomination play out and listen to the campaign promises being made in the Republican nomination fight, it is clear the stakes are higher than ever of losing our goalie, President Obama.” www.nea.org has more info.