William S. Hart Union High School District Teachers Association

November 30th, 2020

Posted on by Posted in Communication, Covid-19, Distance Learning Leave a comment

Welcome back. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed your time off. I wanted to share a few updates and items we will be addressing.
We understand that the issue of returning to work is the first thing on everyone’s mind. The new County regulations do permit the SPED cohorts to continue on campus’. It seems highly unlikely that we will be able to return in January. We have been supportive of the Superintendent’s idea that any return occur at a natural grading break. We continue to work on language for a return to work MOU. 
In addition, a negotiation survey will be provided soon to address overall concerns. The district’s first interim budget report is due December 15 which we will be comparing with the initial budget and end of last year’s. We hope to hear of positive federal action to support state and local agencies. 
There seems to be some contradiction in COVID reporting and action protocols, especially in regard to individual contact with someone identified as positive. We will be working to clarify.
As stated previously, those who have provided requests to continue working from home have been offered unpaid leave by HR. It is understood that this is not the solution we were looking for. If/when we are back with students, the only way to take paid leave would be with a Dr. note putting you out on leave for which you would have to use your own leave time. In this situation, HIPPA regulations are less stringent and the employer has the right to the details of the nature of the issues at hand. 
There are many other more specific issues being addressed. More to come as we get verification.

Together, J

John Minkus Addresses School Board 11/4/2020

Posted on by Posted in Communication, Covid-19, Distance Learning, Negotiations, School Board Meeting Leave a comment

Good evening board members, President Storli, and staff. Thank you as usual for providing time for me to speak

Tonight, as we all anxiously await the decisions made in the 2020 election, I want to first recognize the service of Mrs. Storli and Mr. Sturgeon for their tireless support of the Hart District and wish them the best. These two board members have been committed to the oversight of our students, staff, and district as a whole. Thank you.

In terms of our current situation, I want to reiterate the association’s deep concern for the safety of all as we begin to return to campus. As word of mouth is an unstoppable force, I continue to ask for a transparent communication of information in regard to cases of covid on our campus’.  As numbers of reported Covid continue to rise, I have become aware of multiple cases throughout our schools that are not widely known. This is why HDTA has asked for the adoption of the standards in AB685 prior to its implementation which would require notification to all employees on a campus where a case has been documented.  Not that we don’t want to come back, but of a concern for safety. Please take these concerns in serious consideration. A colleague of mine reminded me of a phrase, FUD, Fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Teachers are fearful of the disease. They are uncertain of what the return will look like, and they are doubtful it can be a safe and pedagogically efficient return for all. Don’t get me wrong, teachers want to be back in the classroom. 

In addition, there is very little clarity to the requests of teachers who submitted letters, including from physicians,  in regard to teaching from off site as we return to a blended model.  Once again fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

On another note, the consent calendar tonight has a listing of costs for students for whom we are paying outside agencies enormous fees. I would think this would be a discussion among our board members who are the fiduciaries of our district. There is between 2-3 million dollars being appropriated for these outside services which does NOT include legal fees incurred during the process. Our teachers are tired of hearing there is no money, the sky is falling, we’re going bankrupt. We have continued to keep up our part of the contract, reinventing the wheel to support our students, but have not seen anything in return. We are all in this together, let’s keep it that way.

J

11/4/2020 School Board Agenda:https://williamshart.agendaonline.net/public/Meeting.aspx?AgencyID=159&MeetingID=80472&AgencyTypeID=1&IsArchived=False

Message from John Minkus: 10/26/2020

Posted on by Posted in Covid-19, Distance Learning, School Board Meeting Leave a comment
Good morning. I hope you all had a refreshing weekend.  I wanted to share a couple of updates from last week. 
Mike C and I had our weekly meeting with Mike V and Kathy H. We worked out a deal to offer the opportunity for staff to access the leftover Learning Loss Mitigation Funding through tutoring for students who are not being successful in the online platform. As this is one time funding, it will be offered at $50/hour.It does not change the hourly rate otherwise.  The opportunity should begin this week. 
In terms of paid PD, we addressed the issue that a couple of sites wanted to use Wednesday in the AM for PD. We objected to that as some want to do synchronous teaching on Wednesdays as well. Please share  with me any PD plans that fall outside of Wednesday PM and are unpaid. 
If you watched the board meeting you know my effort was to encourage a more rigorous protocol for COVID reporting. Although our district is following the current county guidelines, there is a new bill that will go into effect January 1 that will increase the requirement. We have asked that they begin this implementation immediately.
As cohorts are back, I ask that the sped teachers relay any issues that arise. La Mesa and Valencia have already shared concerns. The issues are not easy to address as they go through 3 different departments. In addition, let your site reps know if members outside of sped are being required back. I will be working on these issues today. 
We understand that it seems inequitable that some are being required to come back to campus but we do not want to get into an us vs us situation. The district is following the permissiveness of county guidelines while still giving most the option to work off site. 
There are still many questions regarding return to work. The superintendent has basically said that the earliest we would be back in the classroom would be January. Julie Schneider and Sean O’Brien represent us well in the district discussions of what this will look like.  The general feeling seems to be that online learning would be best to continue if we can’t have an all out return. We will monitor the blended models as they are presented.
I personally thank you all for everything you are doing. 
Together,
J

Hart District School Board Meeting 10/21/2020

Posted on by Posted in Communication, School Board Meeting Leave a comment

View the virtual Hart District School Board Meeting on 10/21/2020 at 7:00 pm. View the meeting at https://youtu.be/IWvbHGqlf8E on YouTube.

To provide public comment, email wshpubliccomments@hartdistrict.org no later than 4:00 p.m., October 21. Please use “Public Comment” in the title of the email and limit your comments to a maximum of two minutes when read aloud.

No action will be taken on any item not appearing on the agenda <https://williamshart.agendaonline.net/public/Meeting.aspx?AgencyID=159&MeetingID=80276&AgencyTypeID=1&IsArchived=False>.