Building Representatives'
Newsletter
House Passes Minimum School Year Bill: As if they had no problems more pressing than this, the Ohio House passed a bill changing the minimum school year from days to hours. The minimum number of hours for elementary schools is 910, replacing the old 182 day mandate. For secondary schools, the minimum moves from 182 days to 1001 hours. The bill also eliminates calamity (snow) days. It is unclear at this point (not surprisingly) whether districts that are over the minimum number of hours can use calamity days so long as using them does not drop the district below the minimum hours.
Retirement Incentive: Last weekend’s Beacon article about buyouts in nearby districts created a wave of calls to our office about the status of Akron’s study. The independent consultant with whom we are working is out of town until mid-month. We will meet with him upon his return. He has had access to the financial information he needs, and we expect that he will have at least a partial opinion by the time we meet. In any event, a determination should be forthcoming rather quickly once we are able to meet again. Keep in mind that the consultant’s sole authority is to make a recommendation to both sides. Neither side is bound to accept the recommendation.
Hands Off Our Health Care: Both the Health Care Advisory Cte. and the Health Care Board are scheduled to meet for the first time this month. Our coalition is monitoring their activity. We anticipate that when this issue is finally voted on, our best chance to defeat it is in the Senate. It appears that the House is a lost cause.
Negotiations: We have had no discussions to date with the Board about how we will approach negotiating a new contract this spring. The May levy will certainly put a huge demand on everyone’s time. In the meantime, Local 100 (custodians) and the union representing secretaries have yet to reach a settlement as they approach one year since opening talks. It is worth noting that the Board opted to retain out-of-town counsel to negotiate with the secretaries and the custodians, and that the reservoir of funds available to pay legal fees is apparently bottomless.
STRS Endorsements: The AEA Trustees have endorsed Mark Fredrick (Cleveland Schools) and John Brackett for the two seats on the STRS Board up for election this year. We are assisting these gentlemen in getting petitions signed for Summit County.
Board Endorses Sutton, Sherrod Brown: The Board of Trustees has endorsed Betty Sutton in the 13th US Congressional District Democratic primary and Sherrod Brown in his general election race against Mike DeWine for the US Senate.
Members To Vote On Deduction, Membership Policies: We will be asking members to vote on three changes to the current dues deduction and membership practices. The Board of Trustees has endorsed these changes and is recommending that members vote FOR them. Ballots will be sent to BR’s within the next two weeks.
Elementary Trustee Petitions: The following have submitted petitions for elementary seats on the AEA Board of Trustees. All are incumbents: Buchtel: Gina Hohman (Rankin); East: Carol Caughron (Barber); Firestone: Lisa Feist (Essex); Kenmore: Connie Kubilus (Smith) and North: Darlene Sakac (Bettes).