Colleagues,

You have all heard the saying, when one door opens, another one closes.  Well the NTU doesn’t accept that willingly. When one door opens and another one closes we stick our foot in the door jam and demand to know what’s going on in there. 

The open door:  The acting Commissioner of Education Kimberley Harrington has declined to exercise her discretion to allow a Petition for Declaratory Ruling on Larisa Shambaugh’s removal from her position as Chief Talent Officer.  As per our alternate request, the case will proceed on Appeal.  This comes as no surprise, since this is how the

Colleagues,

 1)      Respect the Contract – Negotiations continue between NTU and NPS regarding our contract.  Things have been progressing well in many areas, though the process continues to be slow. Our next negotiations session is scheduled for next Thursday.  Hopefully, we will have some news to report out after that session.  Until then, continue to RESPECT THE CONTRACT!  Nothing more, nothing less! 

2)      NJEA Convention – We have been getting a few questions about cost, child care, etc for the NJEA Convention.  You should be able to get answers to any questions at NJEA’s convention

Colleagues:

Next Wednesday, the Newark Teachers Union will be hosting an emergency meeting for our Child Study Team members to discuss pertinent information that will impact all of us. 

EMERGENCY CHILD STUDY TEAM MEETING

Wednesday, November 2, 2016 

4:00PM – 5:30PM

1^st Floor Conference Room

Newark Teachers Union

1019 Broad Street

Newark, NJ 07102

(Parking is available behind the building on Beecher Street)

In Solidarity, 

Colleagues,

Why I am so adamant about School Improvement Panel’s,  TeachNJ and the Peer Oversight Committee?  See the attached tenure case we recently won.  This Decision is scathing on so many levels, that while I generally do not assign required reading, I feel compelled to do so in this case for the sake of teachers as well as students.

This is a case where the district committed every possible disservice they could against the teacher and the students of these schools!  From the Decision, “As for the School Improvement Panel, I note the District either did not have such a panel or, while one

Colleagues,

NPS recently sent out the attached forms regarding the NJEA convention that REQUIRE informing your administrator of your intention to attend by November 1st.  A recent arbitration award won by the NTU indicates there are NO SUCH LIMITATIONS on when you can decide to go. That said, the NTU does recommend that you let your administrator know AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.    

In addition, we have worked with NPS to ensure that staff can use the Professional Improvement Fund monies to attend the NJEA Convention, and have attached the procedures and forms here. YOU ONLY NEED TO FILL THE

Brothers & Sisters:

I am cautiously optimistic in reporting out the results of Wednesday’s NTU Executive Board Meeting.  As we are all anxious to hear about the contract, I’ll get to that first:

The Negotiation Team (Michael Iovino, Carmen Lopez-Wolf, Ronnie Carney, John Cunha, Nancy Gianni, and Michael Maillaro) reported to the board that there was enough favorable movement at Wednesday’s negotiation session to schedule another meeting on November 9^th.  Certain deal breaker proposals were taken off the table and favorable proposals temporarily agreed upon.  Salary and benefits were also