Check out her website
And especially her blog
Every candidate says things like transparency and consitutency services, but then do what? This is what I call transparency and constitutency services. The sad thing is she should be the rule, not the exception for our elected officials.
Same Time Next Year
-
It’s been nearly a year since I wrote about the problems that come from
having 11 bosses who are not on the same page about anything, as well as
suggestion...
4 months ago
12 comments:
T's response to my concern about snow day make up brougth forward from a prior thread:
Tracy Novick said...
Jahn,
No problem. Currently end of school is June 23, as we've had seven snow days; as you probably know, we have to end by June 30, the end of the fiscal year. We haven't talked about it yet because we've still got five days left there (and this winter HAS to let up sometime, surely? Maybe the only remaining snow will fall over February vacation?).
I really think--though this is me--that it would be a last resort to cut vacations. It's far too complicated.
1:15 PM
So Thursday June 23rd plus 7 snowdays brings us to Fri July 1st...one more snow day brings us to Tuesday July 5th.........
So Tracey, I thought I heard one of the talking Worc. heads say teh teachers WORK contract runs to June 30th and/or it doesnt allow work past june 30..............so does this not become an even a more URGENT issue., esp. w/ the Pharamshere Almanac predicting 2 more good sized storms for this area... & Mass State dept of education already saying no waivers re the 180(?) day school year. :(. I mean the MTA and PTA & EAW & Joe OB, etc all say its for teh children???
Not to pick on the School committe but I trust thsi issue on the Febr 17 th agenda. If it isnt, is there SC meeting during Wintaaah vacation week and if not then that catapults the issue to March 3rd and heaven forbid it snows that night.
If it is not on the this Thursaday's meeting (FEBR 17th) then does the SC have its priorities lost in a 7 ft high frozen plow windrow? I mean with all the teachers union yapping about Window glazing containing PCB's where's the priorities?
Lotsa those teachers with houses down in Dennisport, S. Yarmouth, and up in Eastham etc are going to be ripped if the snow day make ups start bumping into their 4th Julio cherry bombs & sky rocket displays
Not pickin' on ya....just raising a pt. :).....but it's a forgone conclusion that Spring break will have to be forgone??? and if it isnt and no school day waivers are allowed by the state.....................does that mean we have to also pay extra for teh teachers to work beyone june 30?
Jahn,
The teachers' contract runs that way for fiscal reasons (we can't pay them for this year out of next year's money). And the contract calls for 180 days, anyway, so there wouldn't be more money involved, so long as we stick to that.
I think (based on past [watched] experience) that Worcester would be more likely to go for a longer day to make up time, rather than Saturdays or cut vacations (as some districts did two years ago). And that's assuming that increased pressure on the state for a waiver gets us nowhere if we do get to July 1.
It's not on the agenda...let me think if there's a way to ask a question under open meeting laws (it has to be related to what's on the agenda or be an emergency, and I think I'd be ruled out of order on this being an emergency just yet.) on Thursday; I'll see if I can get you an answer on plan B.
And thanks, Bill! I'd better update that website.
Dont worry about the website, your blog is more important and you do a great job keep people informed.
Maybe just direct people from your website to your blog?? Lets hope more elected officials follow your lead.
Bill
Hey Tracey, TY for the prompt response & concise answer to my question......but....... you said
Tracy Novick said...
Jahn,
"The teachers' contract runs that way for fiscal reasons (we can't pay them for this year out of next year's money)."
OK I understand the fiscal year issue, but let's assume for the sake of simplicty that there was one sno day this year on Jan 28, 2011. So the teachera have to work an extra day in June.
Are you saying that they are not paid for that snow day and are paid instead for it on June 24th when they actually work which would be the make up day in my example.
If they are in fact paid for Jan. 28th snow day, then come June 24th, the make up snow day would be a freebie for the city.
Extrapolate my example to this winter and if the teachers are paid for 7 snow days on days the snow days actually occur, are they not now owing 7 days labor to the city in late June and July, for which they were already paid on the winter snow days.
So.........payment being made in a new fiscal year is not an issue????????? because the those teachers that were paid for the 7 snow pays are now in The Pawn Shoppe to the city for 7 days labor?....so there is no payment/ fiscal year issue unless teachers were NOT Paid in the winter for snow days
Or ..... and God I hope this aint true........the teahcers use sick & personal days when it snows??...so come late June payment does become a fiscal year issue.
Hope I was clear on this.
Bill, it's not all fixed, but it's better. I had to do it sooner or later!
Jahn, good question! Technically, it's the days worked that count(so it'd be the replacement day in June, not the day off in January). In actuality, teachers are on salary (not per diam) and get paid in even amounts either over the course of the whole year (twice a month, even through the summer) or over the school year. So it's more a "take total salary, subtract deductions, divide by paydays."
Better?
Again, TY Tracy.
So as long as the snow make up days dont pass june 30th the city doesnt have to cough up extra money
If they pass June 30th we still have to pay the teachers extra b/c contract says their work ends June 30th even though they didnt work on the snow days and still got full pay for the snow days.....AND....even thugh they are on "SALARY" This egregious and is what makes us private sector "servants" upset.
OUCH try pulling that in the dreaded private sector as Howie would say:
"Hey Boss, Yes I am on salary for 180 days work but I get paid extra if I Have to work a few days of previously missed work (sno days) that is outside my work period per my contract".
Sooooooooo........let's make the next teachers "work period" run Aug 1st to July 31st...a full year rather than what appears to be about a 10 month contract?
A 1 year (or 3 yr ) contract that stipulates one will only work from about Aug 27th(?) to June 30. Unreal. As Obama said: "Time for Change".
And yet even though no work is req'd for what appears to be all of July and most of August, they still get their health insurance paid by city...
No, we just won't go past June 30th. If there's extra time involved, it's covered already in the salary. So, no, this one won't cost us more (beyond the $54,000 in snow moving expenses, but that's just because there's been so much of it).
Thanx again T.
So if we're not going past june 30th and teh big boys in Beantown say no waivers........shouldnt the make up times/days be the 1st item on each SC meeting until the issue is resolved?
From what little I know of SC procedural issues, the item has to be filed to bring it b4 the SC like a week or 2 in advance...right??
So it is not on for Th. 2-17(?) and the next week is Wintaaah vacay............so that brings us to TH. March 3rd.
IM(not so)HO :) SC should bring it up as an emergency item and /or hold an unscheduled meeting during school vacay week.
I mean think about it.....the collective school committee is diterhing and waffling and dragging their feet on an issue where time is definitely of the essence....that affects 1000's of kids and 1,000's parents lives, work schedules, vacation schedules & the like?
In a private company, there would aleady have been an emergergency policy/plan set up and contingencies plans would have been made years ago for this type event(7 sno days)....which as we all know is, over a certain time frame, inevitable....
E.g. When ice toppled power lines here on Dec 10-11th, 2008.............Mass electric already had contingency plans in place for such an occurrence.......
I think going forward, the SC shuold draw up plans for the possiblity of 8 or 10 snowdays off in some future year......reduce it to contractual language....and then all parties know what to expect in the future........could those plans be changed from time to time.....absolutely.......but shouldnt we plan in advance for the inevitable?
I can hear those squirrels in my attic now munching away on all the acorns they socked away for their hard winter :)
What do say...some fail to plan.....others plan to fail.
Happy Valentines, Tracey. :)
Tracy, I am following Jahn's reasoning here.
What prevents a day of school on Tuesday July 5 if necessary?
The money not spent to pay the teachers before JUne 30 would roll into the next fiscal year for expenditure, according to the logic the school business office has been using to prepay for things. Does teh collective bargaining agreement prevent school from occurring juLY 5 as a makeup day from snow?
T, we can't pre-pay just anything. We can buy supplies ahead and we can pre-pay (very specifically) special ed tuition. That's it, though.
Whoops, I didn't answer your whole question: yes, the contract also does preclude going into July.
Tracey what do you think of making the teachers 180 days work req'mt cover the entire contract year?
I mean think about it, the city is bound by a contract for a year (or 3 years?) but work is limited to only Approx 10 months of that year(or 3 years?)period.
What if a school burns to the ground in Oct and and under the most optimistic of circumstances it takes 6 weeks to get modular classrooms set up. That would push the required 180 days into August and If I am understanding you correctly, the city would have to pay the 6 weeks teachers were unable to work while replacemtn classrooms were set up PLUS they'd be paid all the extra time they'd work in July & August to make up the lost 6 weeks.
Also, I the more I think about this situation the more I can see the need for eliminating one of the vacation weeks in Feb or April. Let's face it, we all went through this, the hotter it gets in June the less learning gets done.
A spring vacation may have had some practicality back when farmers needed their kids to seed the fields, but not nowadays
Tracey, I can say I've learned something these last 2 evenings, but sometiems the more I learn about how the city operates.......well the more I wonder how many other stones have to be turned over to discover how things really work.
Thanx for the input
Post a Comment