Herricks Teachers' Association

Update on BOE Meeting March 20, 2014

elow is a synopsis of the BOE Meeting on Thurs., March 20th.:

*Adoption of the 2014-2015 school budget. The 2014-2015 General Fund Appropriation of $107,234,911 was set forth subject to voter approval on May 20, 2014.

*Bond Proposition (facilities improvement project) not to exceed $3,500,000 to be placed on ballot and voted on May 20, 2014.

*Approval of 2014-2015 School Calendar - provides 181 instruction days plus 2 staff days and 6 contingency days.

*Announcement of mutually acceptable agreement between the BOE and HAAS. The

Advocacy Website & Rally Reminder

Dear Colleagues,

It is imperative that we keep up the pressure and continue to make our voices heard as we advocate for our public schools. Our colleagues in Garden City have created a new website to give the GCTA advocacy tool (similar to the NYSUT MAC) a more generic look. The new link www.thegcta.org is a one page site that is just on advocacy. The campaign that is targeted at the senators is spotlighted on the page, allowing anyone to click on the banner and take action. Anyone that uses the old link (previously sent out) will be automatically redirected to the new site.

PLEASE feel free

Important Rally on Friday, March 21, 2014 3:30 pm

Rally at Senator Jack Martin's Office

151 Herricks Road

Garden City Park, NY 11040

Friday, March 21, 2014

3:30-5pm

Dear Colleagues,

This Friday, at several locations around the state, NYSUT activists and our allies in education are going to bring home the message that the budget proposals being negotiated in Albany are unacceptable.

As we enter the final two weeks of the state's budget process, the worst possible proposal is the Senate resolution. It includes many unacceptable positions that short change public schools, fund and empower charter and private schools at the expense of public schools

Middle School and High School Conferences

FYI, at the BOE meeting on Thurs., March 6, the parent who wrote the recent article in the local paper (regarding H.S. & M.S. Parent- Teacher conferences) asked the BOE to consider making the request for M.S. & H.S. parent teacher conferences a part of negotiations. The BOE's response was that they already had a lengthy list of requests which they had on the table. The BOE also stated that they would research by asking for data from nearby districts who had such conferences. They would look into what was done, how it was done, frequency, positive effects, and if stopped reason for doing so

Long Island Presidents Council

As mentioned in the recent "President's Pen", the Long Island Presidents Council provides information on how to contact legislators on the elimination of the GEA.

Please visit http://educationis.org/ for more information.

Important Information About Your Unum Benefits

Herricks Teachers' Association Upcoming UNUM

Benefit Meeting on Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 4 p.m

Click here for additional details.