News

Welcome back! Hope you had a relaxing and restful summer. As the year begins it is time for our members to become engaged and enact change for our profession.

 

At Tuesday's Opening Day meeting speech (link attached) I reminded colleagues that our strength as a union is derived from your involvement. The Primary Elections are just days away. NYSUT has refrained from making an endorsement in the governor's race. This has sent a clear message about Governor Cuomo's lack of support for education. You can make your voice heard by becoming active. An informational flyer on  Andrew Cuomo and Zephyr

I hope you enjoyed the first ten days of summer. I wanted to update you on two items:

 

The New Teacher Contract was ratified by 92% of teachers who voted. This successful response was due largely in part to our PNC and Executive Council who met with teachers in the buildings and explained the changes in the contract. The breakdown by building was:

Administration   1  YES     0 NO

Center St.        39 YES     3 NO

Denton             50 YES     3 NO

High School      91 YES    10 NO

Middle School  69 YES      8 NO

Searingtown     40 YES      1 NO      1 NOT VALID (marked wrong)

 

Total:             290

At the Board of Education Reorganization Meeting on July 1st, Jim Gounaris was sworn in as the 2014-2015 Board of Education President. Nancy Feinstein will continue as Vice President and Christine Turner as the Parliamentarian.

 

At the regular BOE meeting, Board President, Jim Gounaris, announced that the BOE had come to an agreement with the HTA on a successor teacher contract. The Board and HTA worked together since January to come to the agreement that was reached on June 19, 2014.

 

Below are the terms of the agreement reached:

Dear Colleagues,

 

Thank you for voting in today's Teacher Contract Ratification Vote. Regardless of how you voted, we respect your opinion and continue to work to represent you. This was a difficult choice for many to make. Negotiations is a process of give and take. The current climate of the 2% Tax Cap, State Mandates and other factors made this compromise even more difficult. The HTA and the District needed to find the best balance that would benefit both parties and help to maintain our premier Herricks District.

 

I am pleased to inform you that today's teacher vote ratified the tentative

Today is the last day left in the legislative session, NYSUT is on the verge of a deal to achieve a moratorium for teachers on the high stakes consequences of Common Core state test results. The only missing piece is reported to be Senate approval of the deal.

 

Please do everything you can to call or contact your state senator to urge support for this legislation.  In calling senators about the moratorium bill you can reference "Governor's Program Bill 56" or the "Teacher evaluation bill.” Senators will certainly know what they’re referring to. Faxes can also be sent on the MAC, but calls would

On Thursday, June 19 at about 2 a.m. the Teachers' PNC and the District signed a memorandum of agreement pursuant to the expiring Teachers' Contract. This memorandum is subject to ratification by teacher members and the Board of Education.

 

It is imperative that teachers attend the general membership meeting for teachers and teaching assistants in the Community Center auditorium on Tues., June 24th at 4pm. Negotiation updates for expiring contracts will be provided. Specifics regarding the signed teacher memorandum will be discussed. Please make every effort to attend this meeting so you can

Summertime…and the living is easy…

Right now, much of the talk in faculty and grade level meetings is about summer slide (at least on the elementary levels). But students aren’t the only ones to suffer from summer slide. Teachers and staff can suffer, too!

Education is a demanding profession. We all know that our work responsibilities extend far beyond the school hours and days. Over the school year we make many personal sacrifices in terms of time with our families and friends. By the time summer comes, it is a much needed and necessary rest. Summer allows many of us to become human again. It

Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to provide you with a Professional Negotiations Committee (PNC) update.

 

The Teachers' PNC has met countless times since January in order to reach a fair successor agreement. We have another meeting scheduled for next week and continue to work diligently to negotiate, in good faith, a successor agreement before the end of the school year.

 

 A general membership meeting is scheduled for teachers' and teaching assistants on Tues., June 24th at the Auditorium of the Community Center at 4pm. Negotiation updates for expiring contracts will be provided at this meeting whether

35 pints of blood were collected.  Teachers and staff from the Administration Building, Searingtown and the Middle School, as well  many parents, community members, and Herricks alumni made a difference by donating the gift of life. 

 

A special thanks to Deirdre Bambrick, HTA P.R. representative, who coordinated this lifesaving drive. Thank you to all who got the word out, donated their time to help greet donors and serve them juice and cookies. And thank you to the PTA Council, Middle PTA and Center for their donations.

Building Representative Elections have been confirmed. Thank you to all the candidates who ran for this office. Your participation is appreciated.

 

The 2014-2015 Building Representatives are: