STRS Election: Ballots have been mailed to members. Voting ends May 5. Members may vote by phone, internet or mail-in ballot. AEA has not interviewed or endorsed a candidate for this race. Only one candidate—Tim Myers—is a classroom teacher. Members are asked to keep that in mind when they cast their votes.

Principal Evaluations: Forms have been mailed to each building. Evaluations are due in on May 25^th. As soon as the results are tallied, they will be posted on the AEA website.

Staff Reductions: Schools have been notified of staffing projections for next year. As of now, the district is projecting a need of 36 fewer elementary teachers, 5 fewer middle school teachers and 7 fewer high school teachers. Retirements at the secondary level will obviate the need for RIF’s at that level. In fact, the district will add 4.5 positions at the Early College School. To date, however, there are only 21 retirements at the elementary level. While there will certainly be more retirements between now and next fall, and there will be requests for year-long leaves, we may find ourselves in the position again this year of moving elementary teachers into middle schools. As additional information becomes available between now and the June 1 transfer deadline, we will pass it along to you.

Health Care Changes: The Health Benefits Advisory Committee has agreed to the following changes in our plan: In-network annual deductible $150/300 (was $100/200); out-of-network $300/600 (was $200/400). Brand-name prescription drugs, $15 (was $10); generic stays the same ($5). Out of pocket maximum for prescription drugs, $900 (from $600).

Highly Qualified Snafu: Our office and the LPDC office have been flooded with calls from panicked teachers who were notified by their principals that they had not attended HQ professional development days this school year and therefore were not highly qualified teachers. We are working to clear up the confusion. Anyone who missed one or more of the three waiver days this year was affected. The state does not, of course, mandate any annual minimum number of hours of professional development activities teachers must attend to remain highly qualified. This is a replay of what happened last year, and as last year, we are working to correct the problem.  

BCII and FBI Checks: The question of who pays for BCII and FBI checks is still unresolved. A strong argument can be made that the district may pass on the cost for the screens for new hires only, and that it must pay the costs for existing employees. The administration argues that the district is not obligated to pay for anyone. We are researching this issue further and will, if that research further supports our position, take steps to bring the district into compliance with the law.

Motion for Reconsideration Filed: AEA and the Akron Association of Classified Personnel have filed motions for reconsideration of SERB’s dismissal of the ULP filed over adoption of an employee discipline code. SERB dismissed the ULP, we believe, on the basis of misrepresentations by the lawyer representing the Board in a communication with SERB. To the administration’s credit, the code has not yet been implemented and they have invited us to state our specific objections to the code. There is no guarantee, however, that they will accept our position.

Date of Golf Scramble Changed: Due to a scheduling conflict, Brookledge Golf course has asked us to move our annual golf scramble from May 31 to May 17.

Petitions Received: We have received petitions for the following Board of Trustees District seats: Buchtel Elementary: Bessie Brown (Rankin); East Elementary: Carol Caughron (Barber); Garfield Elementary: Leigh Conti (Barrett); Kenmore Elementary: Connie Kubilus (Smith); Firestone Elementary: Lisa Feist (Essex) and Diane Pancoe (Resnik).

Exam Schedule Change: This year the district changed the high school semester exam schedule, eliminating the early release of students over the three days exams were given. The changes were made in response to complaints from residents and merchants about students being out of school for the afternoons on exam days. The district also received complaints from residents near some high schools about “empty” teacher parking lots on the same days. Teachers complained in December about the lack of time to grade exams before grades were due. We addressed the issue with the administration and agreed to the formation of a committee of teachers to work with the administration on the problem. The committee recommended giving the exams earlier to allow teachers more time to grade them. They (the committee) reached a consensus on a modified schedule which had to be further modified to accommodate Career Ed (Trans-opt students), Child Nutrition and Transportation.

Portage Country Club Offers Part-time Summer Jobs: The country club has positions available for grounds crew workers for the summer. Members interested in such an opportunity may call Fred Alvarez at Portage at 836-4994, Ext. 2308.