NTU Update - October 30, 2015

Colleagues,

1)      NTUniversity – On Thursday, November 5, the NTU will be hosting an ALL-DAY Google Workshop at Technology High School as part of our new initiative of Teachers Teaching Teachers. The morning session will take teachers through all of Google's features from Gmail, Docs, Drive, creating Documents, Slides, etc. The afternoon session will take you through the use of Google Classroom including using Forms for quizzes and tests, grading etc.  There are ONLY 30 seats for this all day workshop and you need to pre-register by clicking on this link and reserving your seat.

http://goo.gl/forms/AckpkFuwJA

THE USE OF GOOGLE APPS FOR EDUCATION WILL HELP YOU ON A DAILY BASIS TO MANAGE YOUR WORK, DELIVER INSTRUCTION, AND IMPROVE YOUR EVALUATIONS!

Keep an eye out for MANY MANY more courses as we roll out NTUniversity!

2)      NJEA Convention – For this year’s NJEA convention, anyone who will be attending must submit the attached form to their principal.  IF YOU ARE NOT REQUESTING PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENT FUNDS, THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SUBMIT TO ATTEND THE CONVENTION.

This year, for the first time, NTU members can uses Professional Improvement Fund money to attend workshops at the convention.  Please review the procedures on our website.

3)    Take Action – Charter Schools - Now is the time to put a temporary hold on increasing charter enrollments and study what is working and what needs improvement. There is a bill in Trenton that would place a moratorium of charters for three years. We urge you to click the link below and Take Action

http://aftnj.org/topics/news/k-12/2015/take-action-lets-get-the-facts-on-charter-schools/

4)    Class size and Supply Survey - In order to collect the many class size and supply violations we have been receiving already this year, we have created a survey on Google Docs.   We will be using this information to report out to the Newark Board of Education and the NJDOE.   Please fill out the survey: http://goo.gl/forms/gvhWBpIafp  WE HAVE ONLY RECEIVED 40 RESPONSES SO FAR.  NTU cannot resolve these situations if we do not know about them.

5)      Upcoming Schedule:

• November 5 - Staff Development Day - NJEA Convention
• November 6 - Puerto Rico Recognition Day (Schools Closed)
• November 10 - Day before Holiday, Staff must take personal day if they are absent
• November 11 - Veteran's Day (Schools Closed)
• November 12 - Day after a Holiday, Staff must take personal day if they are absent

NPS is also defining November 5 and 9 as the work days before and after a holiday, respectively.  We are grieving this as Puerto Rico Recognition Day is not a recognized state or federal holiday.

In Solidarity,