Archived Announcements from 2011-2012 school year |
2011 - 2012 Announcements
GAP insurance is available
Good News! If you were interested in GAP insurance, and were awaiting the announcement as to whether payroll deduction was available, the answer is YES. The District announced at the Board meeting last night that they would accomodate payroll deduction for the GAP insurance. Please turn in the one page application for this to me by Friday. You can place it in interdistrict mail, I am at AK or you can drop it off at the YCTA Office on Stafford Way.
If you would like information about GAP insurance or need an application, you can find me at the YCTA office Wednesday, September 26 from 3:45 to 5:00 and again on Friday (9/28), same time and place. Paula Manning |
YCTA: WE are coming to a school near YOU
Hello,
Today is a YCTA MONDAY. Hopefully you will be able to meet with the YCTA Leader coming to a site near YOU. YCTA Leaders are coming to bring info and LISTEN to YOU. This impacts our immediate future as well as further into the future. Our next steps will be planned based upon MEMBER INPUT. Please be sure we hear from YOU. We need to show our bargaining team that we are all in this together and prepared to act together.
Please feel free to join us at any site where you are available this afternoon - MONDAY 9/24. This is tremendous orchestrated effort to get out to as many sites as possible on the same afternoon. We will follow this with planning efforts based upon your responses.
See you soon, Dina |
125? American Fidelity and more on CVT
Hello,
So many decisions to make during open enrollment. Here is another attempt to help.
Section 125 allows you to use pre-tax dollars to pay for premiums as well as unreimbursed medical expenses. Our provider for this service is American Fidelity. There are two different services within the Section 125 options.
CVT and medical insurance ---Many of you had the opportunity to meet with Dave Koop, our CVT account manager in person at our office, but if you missed that, you may call Denise our other CVT contact at 800-288-9870 x110 or email at deniseb@cvt.org I spoke with her this afternoon and she is ready to help - just call.
Plus there is also an informative webinar that Denise recommended at http://www.cvtrust.org/resources/webinars/UnderstandingYourPPOPlan.php
For those of you with a spouse or registered domestic partner also covered by CVT composite rate PPO plan, we have no news to report. The District will not work with us on this issue and the District plans to keep all savings. We have also asked for help with the premium increases. We have requested additional negotiations sessions in the hopes of resolving this, but currently we must all plan as quoted within the District packet. Watch for a message from the Executive Board in your mailboxes tomorrow or Thursday. I wish I could report better news. Mark your calendars for a general membership on September 19 - we ALL need to talk.....
Take care of yourselves and your family. We may not be able to control the raising costs of health insurance or the District's current response, but we can perhaps take some control of our own health and well being. Below you will find a quote from Elisa Hill, our CVT rep for Wellness and Health. She will be working with us to bring wellness to the forefront for our members. Let's support each other in our efforts for physical and emotional well being.
The top five major health conditions for CVT as a whole, in terms of claims, are Cancer, Coronary Artery Disease, Low Back Pain, Diabetes and Obesity. Of those at least 4 can be improved (as compared to resolved) by exercise, high fiber / low fat diet...for starters. Given the general U.S. population, those stats are not really surprising. I appreciate the long hours and selfish sacrifices of so many educators. Don't forget to take care of yourselves and your families. Tough times bring greater stress and we sometimes neglect ourselves as we care for others.
Take care, Dina |
Honor the labor movement, celebrate working men and women
I hope you're enjoying this Labor Day
weekend, when we honor the efforts of the labor movement and celebrate
the contributions of working men and women. I'd like to take this
opportunity to thank YOU for all the hard work you do every day on
behalf of California's students.
Think about all we have accomplished
together and how much more we need to do. This weekend, let's celebrate
not only the proud history of the labor movement, but also its future.
Our future.
Next year, CTA celebrates 150 years
of advocacy. One hundred and fifty years! We have a long history of
fighting for public education, human rights and equality.
Those were certainly not easily won
efforts, and this year we face another tough battle, but this time
we're fighting for our very existence.
Prop. 32 claims to be "political
reform," but in reality it was intentionally written to advantage
corporate special interests and disadvantage working people. (Learn more.) The Super PAC billionaires are ecstatic about Prop. 32 because it will make their independent expenditures even more powerful.
"SuperPAC Billionaire" made a video about his plans once Prop 32 passes - watch and share.
What you can do this weekend to stand with labor and get the word out:
1. Attend a local Labor Day celebration.
2. Sample Tweets:
3. Facebook Share:
4. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper.
Again, thank you for all you do and have a wonderful Labor Day.
Dean E. Vogel
CTA President http://cta.thevan.us/EmailSubscription.aspx?ID=40F145100893533D-GE62F1155739E-EF06775422387D978 ![]() ![]() |
YCTA Meeting TODAY - TUESDAY 5/29/2012
Please join us at the AK
gym (on Walton Ave - park in the lot in front) tomorrow. Click
here for map. Presentations at 3:30 PM and 5:00 PM. Voting from 4-6 PM.
Dina Luetgens YCTA President |
Budget Newsletter
YCTA presented a comparison of the District’s multi-year projections to the actual ending fund balances using the District's numbers. We can provide additional details about the complexities of budgets, however let us simply address the District’s acknowledgment that their numbers are “5.46%” wrong. YCTA has not yet confirmed the magnitude of this error. If we accept the District’s assertion of 5% wrong and use $100 million as the approximate district budget, then a 5% error would represent $5 million. Here is 5% in perspective. 5 million dollars is the equivalent of any one of the following: · 77 additional teachers for our students · 9% increase in salaries for every employee in YCUSD · Daily prep periods for all k-8 teachers and case management time for all special education teachers and speech and language pathologists as well as a significant reduction in their caseloads Less than 20% of that 5 million ($1 million) is the equivalent of any one of the following: · Restoration of all the counseling positions cut since 07/08 (14 positions) · Raising the top of our salary schedule by $10,000 to make our top salary closer to that of Marysville
Less than 10% of that 5 million ($500,000) is the equivalent of any one of the following: · Restoration of professional development days “buy back days” · Prep periods for all teachers in grades 6-8
The budget can be made to be abstract and complex, but people are more concrete and their impact on students are priceless. Eric Jenkins |
YCTA Rep Coucncil MONDAY
Hello, |
Rep Council - Let us stand together
Rep Council Monday. If you have any membership forms please bring those forms to the Rep Council meeting. Those forms must be processed by Carl Knorr, YCTA Membership Chair, tomorrow to allow our newest members access to legal representation provided by CTA. If you need another copy of the CTA Membership form, you may find a PDF version under helpful resources on ycta.net. On March 13, 110 of our YCUSD Colleagues received pink slips. That represents more than 15% of our bargaining unit. On this same day, the YCUSD Board received the 2nd interim budget report showing almost $5 million in the completely undesignated ending fund balance for the general fund. The total general fund ending balance exceeds $16 million including designations for more than $5 million as a contingency for the cuts that may occur if the Governor's ballot initiative for a tax increase does not pass. Short version - they have almost $5 million leftover even if the worse case scenario comes to pass. Many of those that received notices, were able to attend a meeting yesterday with CTA attorney Beth Curtis. Please join me in supporting our colleagues in these tough times. A special thank you to a YCTA Site Rep who accompanied the teachers from his site and the former YCTA Site Rep and current BTSA Support provider who accompanied his Participating Teachers to the meeting. Please come to the Rep Council meeting to learn more about how to support our newest members who received their notices as well as more.... Please be sure your site is represented at Rep Council as we listen to each other, share information and plan for action. These are tough times and we need to stand together. The importance of one-on-one face time is crucial and this begins in our Rep Council gathering. |
Thank you for joining us!
Thank you to all of you who joined us before the
Board meeting this evening. I enjoy seeing so many familiar faces. YCTA seeks to build a vision for education that gives our students opportunities and support for a diverse, high-quality educational experience that prepares them for a future with multiple possibilities. Every school and class-room should be a warm and welcoming place where students and staff feel valued and respected. Students and staff should be nurtured and challenged to bring forth their best work.
In addition to listening to YCTA members in small, school site groups and at successive YCTA Rep Council meetings this school year, we have solicited written feedback from YCTA members. We have also consulted literature from the California Department of Education, as well as the U.S. Department of Education. The CDE report A Blueprint for Great Schools was released in August 2011 and is quoted extensively within this document. YCTA has organized our members’ input into four areas of high value with specific strategies to implement each. Our ultimate goal is to provide the best education possible for all our students.
Open the attached
document for the complete text. |
YCTA: LayOff Notices and Gathering
Sorry, but I bring you tough news. The District took two separate actions Tuesday night, February 28: the release of all temporary teachers and also a PKS resolution. The PKS (reduction in Particular Kinds of Service) resolution eliminates 53.44 FTEs (Full Time Equivalent) of the categorically funded positions. This effectively initiates a lay-off process. Please be aware that the District finances are such that they can and appear to be planing to continue with the same staffing numbers with the exception of the reduction of 8-11 teachers that I previously mentioned. It is unfortuante that our Dsitrict maintains such a large number of teachers in temporary status. CTA continues to support our chapter and members. First CTA attorney Beth Curtis has been representeing us as we challenge the number of unit members left in temporary status - more than 40 people. Beth will also be representing our members in this lay off process. During this lay off process will be able to assure that we have protected all our members to the maximum extent possbile. Unfortunately we have been here before as we support our colleagues in the uncertainty of these times. I hope that we will all stand with them again as they will be receiving their notices soon. To our newest members, you will only be entitled to CTA legal representation in these proceedings if you are a CTA member when you receive your notice. If you are unsure whether you are a member, complete the attached application and send it to Carl Knorr at AK through intradistracit mail. If have not completed a membership application before you receive your notice, you will not be entitled to representation. So, please get this done. I will be seding you more information to support you through this process. Your first step will be to file a request for hearing, this will allow us to challgenge whether your classification is legitimate and your return rights.. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to support you. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Please be assured we are all YCTA and we stand together to protect and support one another and our profession. I hope to see you all soon as we gather as YCTA Members on March 13. Please save the date. Please plan on staying in town for dinner with colleagues that evening. Our unity in these times is our greatest asset. Thank you, Dina |