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

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

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.

• Premium deductions using pre-tax dollars.  If you did this last year, you do NOT need to do it again this year.  However if you were on 10C last year and did not set up a 125 last year, you MUST do so this year by meeting with a rep at your site or the DO.
• Flexible Spending Account.  This allows you set aside dollars in anticipation of unreimbursed medical costs.  Problem - you need to estimate conservatively because if you do not use all the money - it goes away at the end of the year or more precisely to the District general fund.  For example - You may choose to set aside $100 per month.  You may then file a claim to get this money back after you incur unreimbursed costs for copays, deductibles, prescriptions, and other examples - last page of packet from District.  If you are on 10D - it may not take much to use the set aside $1200. But if you do not, you lose it.  The money is taken out before taxes and reduces your taxable income and thus your tax bill.

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

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.

It is late in the year; we are tired; we are scrambling to finish.  But we need to ask you to gather one more time.  

• You will get information directly from the Bargaining and Organizing Team
• We will vote to ratify the partial TA.
• You will tell us what we can do next.
• We will gain strength from our unity.

You have heard the frustrations of many in multiple emails. You have read the bargaining updates.  You have heard from your site reps about grievances and other unilateral actions.  You have heard from the Organizing Team about the District ending fund balances. You can access lots of YCTA info including the budget presentation at YCTA.net.  Click here to go directly to YCTA.

We hope to see you there.  Our unity is our greatest leverage to gain respect and make progress.  We can only make progress if we act together.

Thank you, Dina

P.S. Given multiple conflict at this late date in the year, the Elections Committee has suggested that we allow voting to continue on Wednesday at the YCTA Office from 3:30 - 5:00PM.  Click here for map.

We should thank these members of the committee for all the work.  They will need to be present both days. 

Dina Luetgens

YCTA President

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.

Hello,

REP COUNCIL MONDAY (3:45 - 5:15 PM at YCTA)-
    Will your site be well represented? 

The YCTA Bargaining Team will meet with YCUSD Bargaining Team on Monday.  Come hear the updates at Rep Council.

The voting to modify terms of the contract using "Site-Based Decision Making" will also be discussed.  YCTA has a proposal to modify the existing contract language.  Come hear all the details.

A report on the YCUSD Budget will also be shared, so that we may all better recognize the bottom line and address the priorities of our District that impact spending.

Developing our Plan to Build Organizational Capacity will be one of our highest priorities as we move towards the close of another year.  Come contribute to that decision and share the views and concerns of your site.

I hope that you will enjoy a beautiful spring weekend and look forward to seeing you Monday or .... soon.  Save the dates: May 10  and May 22 - two upcoming YCTA general membership events.  We look forward to gathering together to educate our members and build the relationships that make us a stronger organization to advocate for our members and our students. 

Thank you for the continued support, Dina

Thank you to all of you who joined us before the Board meeting this evening.  I enjoy seeing so many familiar faces.

You had the opportunity to hear from members of your bargaining team and meet the new Organizing Chair, Eric Jenkins.  We look forward to working with Eric as we continue to work to build our relationships and organizational capacity to mobilize and support one another. If you could not join us, please ask someone to pass along the messages.

During the Board meeting YCTA Executive Board presented the attached YCTA Values and Priorities Document.  This document reflects our collective vision.  See opening excerpt below.

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.

Thank you to the Executive Board who presented the document this evening and worked to edit the final version to reflect all of the input from our members.  These hard working folks have put in countless hours to advocate for our unit. 

Thank you to your Bargaining Team who started the day together to prepare for the day's bargaining at 7:30 AM this morning and then moved on to share their  perspective from the table with our assembled members.  These hard working folks have put in countless hours to advocate for our unit. 

Thank you to all who came out on a cold wet evening to stand with us.

Our newest members received lay-off notices today from our administrators today.  Please consider reaching out to support them in these days.

I hope that each day you will remember that you do important and meaningful work.  I hope that you may enjoy our work with our students. I apprecaite all of your efforts each day.

Thank you, Dina