Greenfield Education Association

Please complete the brief 3 question survey that was sent out today, if you teach at the middle or high school.

We sent out a link to the spring survey. Please complete this by May 1st. We need your feedback.

Congratulations to Robert Hansen the New Greenfield School Board President.

Here is a brief recap of the meeting held on March 2, 2017
1. Please vote for Tony Evers for State Superintendent on April 4th or get to your polling place and vote early. Also, please encourage your friends and family and colleagues to vote for him as well. We need to ensure that someone who supports teachers and their profession are in positions of elected office,
2. Work continues on salary regional meetings. The school board’s response to last year’s petition was to give the senior teachers a $1000 increase instead of $800. It can be considered a small step in the right direction, but the board’s team does not come to the table in what I believe to be a positive or will to engage type of manner. This is an area that we need to increase our pressure and you can help by mentioning the need to bargain in good faith when you see a school board member out and about or by email or with a phone call. In addition, the board and CO administration need to feel pressure to reconvene the Compensation Committee to evaluate and modify those base wage cells. If that doesn’t happen, no one will ever truly get a raise. I can tell you that I have asked many times over the past year and a half and have been ignored.
3. I heard the intake of breath and other reactions when I read my correspondence with Cathy Walsh. And saw the reaction when Margret discussed her attempts to contact board members. Any time you see a board member or member of central office, I would appreciate if you would mention this refusal to build relationships even though it is the MISSION Statement of the school district. I am easy to ignore. WE are not.
4. Finally, the executive board, Ted Kraig, and I are in the process of creating an annual survey. We would love to have member involvement, so if you would like to see a draft and help to finalize this survey, please reply to me as soon as possible.

Petitions Delivered - Will They Listen?
May 24, 2016

On Monday night, GEA President, Shirley Adams, visited the school board meeting to speak briefly and deliver our petition calling for the administration and board to reconsider their position on cost of living (inflationary) adjustments to our salaries and the rates on the Compensation Model. The petition was signed by 207 Greenfield teachers (83%) and stated:

We the undersigned professional educators hereby request that the Board provide cost of living salary increases to all professional educators in Greenfield. We further request that the Board adjust rates on the district Compensation Model so that they keep up with the cost of living. We appreciate that the District worked with the GEA to create a salary system that values our experience and dedication to the district’s students. However even with increases granted through the Compensation Model, 79 of our colleagues received less than an inflationary increase, meaning their salaries lost value. It would be very affordable to provide these increases – significantly less than the individually negotiated increases the district has already provided to certain people. Similarly, there has been no inflationary adjustment to the rates in the Compensation System since it was created. If the district does not make such adjustments, in ten years the top rate of $70,000 will be worth less than $57,000 in today’s dollars. The system will have little value to us without inflationary adjustments. Thank you for considering our request.

Shirley stated that inflationary adjustments to our salaries and the rates on the Compensation Model are critical if the district wants to attract and retain quality educators. She asked the District’s representatives to sit down with us again and work towards a voluntary agreement that meets these goals. We hope the administration and board will listen and make a sincere effort to work with us.

This is a reminder that we are having a general meeting on Thursday February 11 from 3:45 to 5:45 at Jimmy K's. This is open to both members and non. We hope to see you there.

The re-certification vote is half over. If you have not yet voted yes, now is the time.
You'll be seeing us coming around to remind or check in with you in the very near future.
Please also encourage those you work with to vote now and vote YES.

Good evening,
First, I apologize for the lateness of this message but it is crucial that we get as many members as possible to attend the school board meeting tomorrow night, July 27th, at 6:30 pm. The school board will be deciding to hire for the Middle/High School Media Specialist Position.
We do not want them to hire someone without fighting for Deanna Barth.
She is dedicated and overly qualified for the position and the school board needs to feel pressure to not only understand that the interview process was completely unfair, but also to see that it is their job to question the practices of the administration that works for them.
Please do not let this happen to a dedicated professional like Deanna.
Please do whatever it takes to show that we have a voice and we are not afraid to use it to fight for one of our own. Attend the meeting, please.

Congratulations Greenfield teachers on the completion of a tough year! As graduation nears, whether it's from elementary, middle, or high, we have played an important role in many students' lives, and for that teachers deserve respect (and better pay and BENEFITS)... Enjoy your summer.

Reminder: general membership meeting tomorrow at Ray and Dots from approximately 4-6... The compensation model will actually be explained!

Let's hope the Board sides with teachers tomorrow, not administrators.