AUG./SEP. LETTER

OCTOBER LETTER

President's Page

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
NOVEMBER, 2011

Dear SMETA Colleagues,

The Holidays are quickly approaching and I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you and your families very warm and wonderful Thanksgiving and Winter Holiday wishes. If you’re like me, you’re amazed by how quickly this year has gone -- and perhaps a bit overwhelmed by how much still needs to get done before there is time to relax.

Your SMETA reps and executive board members have been very busy. We can take pride in our involvement in the resolution of a wide variety of concerns that have come up over the last months. Some issues have been site based; some have been district wide -- but more and more I see how important maintaining a strong union voice is. As the months have gone on, and as I have sat through school board meetings, attended Labor Management Task Force meetings, dealt with site based concerns, and championed the teachers’ perspective on evolving policy decisions being made by administrators, I have realized how SMETA’s presence, how the knowledge of SMETA’s insistence on being involved and being heard, is and must absolutely be, a factor in how decisions get made.

The New Year will bring with it additional areas of focus: there are bargaining issues connected with the start up of next Fall’s Transitional Kindergarten program; the Superintendent is having School Services research and make recommendations about across the board salary increases -- which could very easily lead to a reopening of our current Collective Bargaining Agreement; Special Ed, not only the delivery of services but the stress put upon our members, will be a focus; and class size remains a major concern for us all.

With so much accomplished and so much still to do, I want to thank all of you who have given so selflessly of your time. I know that attending meetings is time consuming and not always the most exciting of activities -- but SMETA is a strong and healthy union and that is because we are all working together. Your time and efforts are greatly appreciated.

Again, my best to you and your families -- I hope you enjoy the Holidays.

Janet Chappell
SMETA President

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