Executive Committee Minutes
2017 March 8 – p17
Calgary Public Teachers
The Alberta Teachers' Association Local 38
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF MEETING
Held: 2017 March 8, 1645 hrs - #212, 3016 – 5th Avenue NE, Calgary, AB
Voting Members Present:
Mr Kevin Kempt, Mr Frank Bruseker, Ms Stephani Clements, Mr Andrew Finlay, Mr Nelson Moulton, Ms Linda Lalonde, Ms Caitlin MacDermott, Mr Steve Yanover, Ms Karen Pegler, Ms Marcia Hicks, Ms Jessica Petillot, Ms Sandi Nichol, Mr Bob Cocking and Ms Erica Good
Ex-Officio and Non-Voting Members Present:
Mr Kelly Hegg, Mr Dan Nelles and Ms Kathy Hoehn
Regrets: Ms Jenny Regal, Ms Heide Doppmeier, Ms Tasha Neisz and Ms Kathleen Popp
Guests: None
1647 hrs – K Kempt called the meeting to order.
1. CONSIDERATION OF AGENDA
Add # 14. 1 Associate Membership
E Good moved: “to adopt the agenda as amended.”
CARRIED
2. PRESIDENT’S REMARKS
1.1 K Kempt stated that the ARA Resolution meeting is scheduled for Saturday March 18 and Monday March 13 is the all day committee meeting. Thus far the Local has not received the resolutions bulletin from Provincial. K Kempt stated that he has contacted Provincial to ask for the bulletin prior to Monday when it will be sent to delegates electronically. With the change in school calendars, traditional and modified along with spring break, there is no room for alternate meeting dates. He asked Executive to pick up their Members’ Handbook along with Agenda for next Wednesday’s meeting. Important dates: Monday 13th - ARA Committee, Wednesday is Executive, Saturday 18th - Delegate Meeting.
2.2 K Kempt stated that the contents of the correspondence folder include CBE Budget documents along with a letter from a member addressed to Provincial regarding the Local Levy and Gordon Thomas’s response. Also enclosed is the copy of the letter he was asked to write regarding Greg Francis’s visit to CSR. K Kempt inquired if the Executive would like to continue to peruse new school opening brochures. The response was that they were not interested.
2.3 K Kempt stated that he attended the grand opening of Auburn Bay School and will attend Nelson Mandela’s opening next week.
2.4 K Kempt stated that the teacher workload joint committee met and that G Francis was called out of the meeting. The committee continued to work led by Matt Christison. The committee divided the items between the information that it could and could not deal with. My Nugyen took notes and made the document available on Google Docs. M Christison stated that he is determined that there will be recommendations for the Board by June.
2.5 K Kempt stated that the New Horizons banquet committee met and the Local was surprised that the Board had arbitrarily changed the maximum price on retirement gifts. T Auld asked for an explanation and the response was that Total Rewards now acknowledges every five years of teacher service. The Board recognized that they had not informed the Local of the change. K Kempt stated that this misunderstanding led to a draft in guideline changes where both sides have to agree. The Board will increase the gift value to more closely match previous years and the current guidelines. At this point in time there doesn’t seem to be many retirees announced for this year. Therefore only one Vice President, A Finlay, is required to introduce retirees. S Nichol volunteered to prepare and present the grace at the New Horizons Banquet on June 23rd.
2.6 K Kempt stated that he received regrets from T Neisz, J Regal, H Doppmeier and K Popp.
3. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS’ REPORT
3.1 K Hegg stated member contacts continue to be about general leave, maternity leave, and sick leave either going on or returning from. Some are asking if they can add a personal leave day to Easter weekend. There is interest in the transfer process along with eligibility of transferring to new schools.
3.2 K Hegg stated that there are five grievances being worked on:
1. Personal Days – Arbitration hearing on Friday February 24. Both sides presented. Argued on Collective Agreement wording and the strict interpretation of it. Decision to rule for CBE will now move to argue CBE past practice.
2. The extension of parental leave – CBE tried to move to have the grievance heard by a Board of Reference, CPT objected and it will be heard by the grievance committee on March 13. There could be a Human Rights complaint filed as advised by Teacher Welfare.
3. OH&S – both teacher and policy has been denied and are moving to grievance committee on March 22.
4. Summer pay grievance at CBe-learn – was awarded to the teacher and all teachers affected will be correctly compensated.
5. Policy grievance at Chinook Learning – Contracts (Terms & Conditions of Employment) in abeyance until Member Services and Field Law advise on the next steps. Contracts for teachers whose only CBE job this is.
· E Good asked for an explanation on “Board of Reference”. D Nelles stated the “Board of Reference” is the process referred to in the School Act regarding how you move to dismiss a teacher. A teacher dismissal must go through a Board of Reference in order for the dismissal to be official. In this case the Board moved that the teachers refusal to return to work because of her medically fragile daughter was in fact an abandonment of employment therefore the teacher’s contract was to be terminated. Teacher Welfare and the teacher did not agree and indicated to the Board to call the Board of Reference. F Bruseker further explained that it is the right of the teacher to protect their position; this is due process under law. It does not happen often, the ATA has defended this on behalf of teachers.
4. DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVES’ REPORT
4.1 K Hoehn spoke to item #9 of the DR report. She reminded Executive that all copies of PRISM: Toolkit for Safe and Caring Discussions needed to be sent to the Local office where they would then be shipped to Barnett house to be destroyed. Edition #2 is available for teachers to order.
4.2 K Hoehn spoke to items #12 and 13 of the report. She stated that teachers should contact member services or contact the EA’s who will direct teachers to member services for help regarding violence in the classroom.
4.3 K Hoehn referred to item #15 regarding the Local levy that was approved by members and advised that there was discussion around the PEC table regarding the surplus the Local has.
4.4 K Hoehn stated that there are three resolutions being put forward at ARA regarding Catholic education being regarded as public schools. With the recent attacks on Catholic schools and Catholic education she stated that it is important for the ATA to formally recognize Catholic education as public education. She stated that she would appreciate the support of Local 38 to speak in favour of these resolutions
· F Bruseker gave the historical perspective of public education and Catholic education regarding the Canadian constitution and that some of the provinces (Newfoundland) consider Catholic schools as private education. Provincially, Alberta considers Catholic schools as public education.
· K Kempt stated that Provincial Association must make their best effort to collect all PRISM books. This will be vastly communicated with all schools to have CSR representatives return them to CSR or ship them to the Local where they will be boxed and shipped to Barnett House. It was suggested that a picture of the version that is needing to be returned be published so teachers do not surrender their new resource PRISM 2,
5. MINUTES
5.1 Minutes Of The Executive Committee Meeting of 2017 February 8
Page 5 item 11.1: remove “notes were” and replace with “Agenda and Attachments are always”.
L Lalonde moved: “that the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of 2017 February 8 be adopted as amended.”
CARRIED
5.2 Minutes Of The Executive Committee Meeting of 2017 February 22
S Clements moved: “that the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of 2017 February 22 be adopted as printed.”
CARRIED
6. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
6.1 2017 February 08 regular Executive Committee meeting
· E Good referred to item 4.5 of the minutes. She stated that all grade three teachers and administrators from her school were sent the SLA survey. The Board requested that at least one teacher and one administrator from the school complete the survey. She stated that she volunteered to do the survey providing she received sub coverage and it took over one hour to complete as it had 66 questions. She stated that the reason they were contacted individually was that only one teacher and one administrator filled in the survey throughout the city. J Petillot stated that all grade three teachers in her school were told to complete the survey. K Pegler stated that she was sent an email from an individual from downtown who wanted to clarify the process. An email was sent in January asking schools if they would like to participate in taking the survey then they were asked to send a list of email addresses for those wanting to participate. In most cases the teachers and administrators emailed the researcher individually. Once the participant agreed, they were given the link to the survey. She stated that they were concerned that they wanted to clarify the process and that they were following research protocol. K Kempt stated that the CBE appeared to be concerned with the lack of participation in the survey. J Petillot stated that she received that email with the comment that when the email comes from the superintendent it becomes less voluntary. K Hoehn reflected that at this point in time it is to late to effect change in SLAs for the coming year.
· S Nichol inquired about item # 2.2 Local Presidents’ meeting regarding M Ramsankar holding the position of CTF President along with ATA Past President. K Kempt responded that upon his arrival Presidents were asked for items of interest to be discussed. He presented that our Local had sent him to talk about the President of CFT also acting as Past President of the ATA. At the wine and cheese after the meeting he spoke to other Presidents and shared his concerns hoping to garner support. He felt that both Thomas and Ramsankar appeared to have discussions with everyone he spoke with to dissipate discussion. Dr Thomas came to him and laid out his thoughts on the matter. There was no response the following day so he stated that there should be some communication surrounding this issue prior to ARA. He suggested that the question should be asked at ARA. It sounded like Dr Thomas had worked out some of the details but they were still negotiating as to which organization should pay for which items. K Hoehn stated that K Kempt laid out the concerns and was very professional.
6.2 2017 February 22 joint ARA/Executive Committee meeting
None
7. RESOLUTIONS
7.1 K Kempt stated that there are three computers being held for disposal. People have put their names in and the computers have been wiped clean and are ready to go. He explained that N Moulton has prepared a motion that describes the process, which follows current practice. He asked permission to get rid of the computers, which was acknowledged by Executive. T Auld has the list of interested parties and will notify those selected.
7.2 K Kempt spoke of the resolution that came from the Resolutions Committee regarding the Aspen Foundation. The Resolutions Committee received an action from the April 27th, 2016 meeting, which Executive directed to create policy to be made to support the donation on an annual basis, this was carried unanimously. K Kempt stated that he wanted to clarify that this motion came forward from Executive and then Executive defeated the motion.
· N Moulton stated that he would have abstained from voting.
· S Nichol stated that she would not have voted in favour as she has not used the resources produced by the Aspen Foundation.
7.3 Policy Review
New Policy
Administration of Schools
1. (Current Specific)
CSP 03/17 “BE IT RESOLVED THAT opportunities for effective teacher collaboration are facilitated by the provision of adequate team time, free from other duties and scheduled during regular school hours.”
Rationale: This policy resolution forms part of the Local’s strategic plan to help effect positive change in teacher workload.
C McDermott moved: “to recommend Policy CSP 03/17 to CSR.”
CARRIED
Administration of Schools
2. (Long-Range Policy)
LRP 04/17 “BE IT RESOLVED THAT the elimination of standardized testing is an important step towards teachers’ ability to personalize learning for all students.”
Rationale: This belief statement helps to advance teachers’ interests in creating more authentic assessment regimes for students rather than relying on standardized testing that is limited in its application.
L Lalonde moved: “to recommend Policy LRP 04/17 to CSR”.
CARRIED
Triennial Review of Current Specific Policy
3. “BE IT RESOLVED, that Policy 1.B.5 be reaffirmed.”
1.B.5 The Staff Development Fund shall be administered as follows:
1. The Executive of Calgary Public Teachers, ATA Local 38, employs an administrator of the Staff Development Fund.
2. The total compensation for the administrator of the Staff Development Fund shall be charged to the Fund.