NTU Updates

​Colleagues,

NTU Legal Victories – These cases matter. If the Governor and Cerf had prevailed at the Supreme Court there wouldn’t be a worry over contract negotiations—there’d be not contract.  If Cerf and his friends in the corporate charter school industry had prevailed at the State Board of Education in seeking to devalue certifications for charter school teachers, how long do you think they would take to come after yours?

The NJ Supreme Court has denied the state’s latest petition to freeze education funding and to grant the Commissioner of Education authority to override teachers’ contracts. Summarily

Colleagues,

1. Day Of Action: Thursday’s Day Of Action was a great success.  We had actions all around the city, and you can find pictures on our Facebook and website.  If you have any pictures from your school, send them along to mmaillaro@newarkteachersunion.com. Actions like this are vital to build up solidarity and show that we will fight back!  This is also why it’s so important to be engaged in our Respect The Contract campaign and letter writing campaigns.  Thank you!

2. Stipend Payment: At the Superintendent’s meeting three weeks ago, we were told the stipend payment would be coming

Colleagues,

1)      Important message from NTU President John M. Abeigon: In this War on Teachers, we can’t afford to not check our emails, NTU Website, and NTU Facebook posts daily.  In my visits to schools, I came across more than one teacher who did not know who Betsy DeVos was and the danger her appointment as Trump’s Secretary of Education could cause to all public school employees.  One was also unaware of NTU’s recent court victories.  She admitted to me that she was not “as caught up on things” as she should be. 

I get it.  I’m a teacher on leave of absence for Union service. I raised

Colleagues,

1)      NTU Ed Resource Center – Please be advised that the NTU Ed Resource Center will be closed for the rest of December.  They will reopen on January 3, 2017.

2)      Phase 2 Respect the Contract – So far, Phase 2 has been successful, but we know there are literally hundreds of health and safety, evaluation, Head Start, and Special Ed violations that the district continues to commit.  THEY MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! Please follow this link to get started: http://newark.nj.aft.org/respect-contract/phase-ii-toolkit

If you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve this

Colleagues,

1)      Phase 2 Respect the Contract - Each day, numerous violations occur in our schools negatively impacting staff and students. These include fire code violations, violations in Special Education requirements and Early Childhood regulations, violations of the Teach NJ Act, and health and safety issues.  

The thrust of Phase II will be to hold the district accountable for every single one of these violations.  On our website, we have form letters that can be used to report the district’s numerous violations anonymously.  These responses will be sent directly to the state and/or

Colleagues,

1)  LIFO Lawsuit - Earlier this week, the Newark Teachers Union, AFT New Jersey and the American Federation of Teachers filed a motion seeking to intervene in a complaint filed by the Partnership for Educational Justice challenging New Jersey’s law that aims to protect experienced teachers.  This lawsuit has been the latest in a series of corporate-led attacks around the nation on tenure protections.  There is a distinct conflict of interest for the Newark Public Schools since the defendant in the case has spoken out in favor of the plaintiffs’ position on numerous occasions.

“Newark

Colleagues,

1)    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 website - http://njeaconvention.org/general-information/.  If you need a notification form for your principal or info on how to get Professional Improvement Fund money to attend, visit our website: http://newark.nj.aft.org/news/njea-convention. 

2)    Retirement – If you are considering retiring, it is vital that you speak to the NTU Retiree Chapter.  Too often, we find out later that people are

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

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