Georgetown Education Association

  Dear Colleagues: Please see the cease and desist letter attachment regarding signs in our rooms. The GEA Executive Board

Dear Colleagues: Thank you to all the members. Our GCAT Members will be approaching each member by no later than Tuesday, April 2nd for a face to face quick chat trying to firm up commitments to see who will be attending the meetings listed below.  YOUR ATTENDANCE AT THESE MEETINGS IS VITAL. UPCOMING DATES FOR ACTION STEPS! 4/2- Dr. Ferrick public forum via Zoom at 6:30 PM.  We are asking all GEA members to attend the Zoom meeting and have the attached Georgetown button as your background.  Here is the link for the Zoom Meeting. https://zoom.us/j/92461358954?pwd=L2owNTk1Y096SHNsTkxOeFRLNXZjZz09 4/4-Level II Grievance at Perley School beginning at 3:30 PM for all involuntary transfers.  We are asking as many members to show up at Perley by 3:15 PM to attend the meeting. 4/4 -Dr. Ferrick public forum at Penn Brook at 6:00 PM.  We are asking all Penn Brook members that can attend this meeting with their Georgetown Educator Signs and stand outsid...

Greetings Colleagues, Many of us have parent conferences this week and lots of members have had questions on how best to approach it. We know many parents are curious about the contract campaign, the transfers, or other components of the ongoing crisis in GPS. Obviously, we would never advise our members to disrupt such an important part of our work. However, the GEA would like to ask all members to engage in the following non disruptive ways: 1.  Wear  black  on Wednesday – We want to symbolically show our discontent with the way we have been treated. 2.  Wear a union button/put up a union sign - We are working on getting union buttons printed and signs made for Wednesday. Please wear it and hang a sign in your class.    3.  OPTIONAL:  If you are so inclined, you can r ead this statement  before each conference begins. (See below)  If a parent asks about what is going on or asks how they can help, please read the statement and allow the...

  Dear Colleagues: Tonight the GEA core bargaining team was joined by more than 60 silent representatives for the first time in this negotiation. Your presence helped hold the district bargaining team accountable and was empowering for those of us at the table. We resubmitted the GEA proposals as well as modifications to our package based on the feedback we've received from you, our members, in the last few weeks. The  negotiating team feels that for the first time in this round of negotiations, our team was heard by the district team thanks to the presence of the silent reps.  Having even more silent reps at the next meeting will demonstrate to their team that we are committed to developing a fair contract. At the next negotiating meeting, we hope to have more discussions about parental leave, wages, and sick leave as well as the district's attempts to change our schedule and planning times. We look forward to membership hearing the district's pr...

  Dear Colleagues: There is no way around it, today sucked.  We are sorry that this is happening hence why this grievance was just filed.  Aw always, feel free to reach out if you need anything. Joe APPENDIX J -2 GRIEVANCE FORM GRIEVANCE LEVEL TWO SUPERINTENDENT DATE FILED: March 22nd, 2024 TO: Superintendent School/Work Location: District-wide UNIT EMPLOYEE: Class Action LOCATION/WORK AREA: District Wide Violations: Preamble; Article VII: Teacher Assignment, subsection #1; established past practice. Statement of Grievance: On Friday March 22nd, 2024 the GPS administration informed dozens of members across the district that they were being transferred involuntarily and seemingly arbitrarily. We not only find this radical decision by management troubling and incredibly harmful to our students, we also maintain it is in violation of our Collective bargaining Agreement. The Preamble of the CBA states, “Recognizing that our prime purpose is to provide education of the hi...

  Dear Colleagues: We had a great showing at our GCAT (Georgetown Contract Action Team) meeting this afternoon.  About thirty members from Penn Brook and GMHS attended.  We left the meeting with a clear agenda and action plan. Tomorrow, members of the GCAT will be approaching GEA members and asking you to take a quick culture/climate survey using your phones.  The survey will take only a few minutes.  None of your emails of any other information will be tracked.  This information is vital.  The data collected will specifically determine our next collective steps.  We need these surveys completed by tomorrow.  When a GCAT representative approaches you about taking the survey, please take the time to complete it. We know that many members received emails today requesting a meeting for tomorrow (Friday) to talk about next year's placement.  IT IS YOUR RIGHT to go with a union representative.  Furthermore, IT IS NOT YOUR JOB TO FIN...

Dear Colleagues: It has come to the GEA’s attention that this Friday March 22, 2024 the superintendent and her leadership team intend to inform dozens of members of involuntary transfers between classrooms and grade levels next year, across the district. We not only find this arbitrary and radical decision by management troubling, we also find it incredibly harmful to our students. For an administration which claims to be data driven, Dr. Ferrick has clearly not read up on the literature on this subject or ignored it. (See links and attachments provided) According to the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), “While most teachers generally improve from one year to the next, switching grades hinders their own growth as a teacher. For example, teachers going from their second to third year of teaching generally improve quite a bit, but a recent study found that the typical rate of improvement drops by 20 percent if they’re asked to take on a new grade. That same drop in teachers’ ef...

  Dear Colleagues: We wanted to update you on a few union items. First, a few members have received emails from HR Director Michael Cassidy regarding sick time discrepancies since the district switched over to the MUNIS System last year.  We feel that these discrepancies are clerical errors and that our members are at no fault.   Last week, the GEA Executive Board sent a cease and desist letter to Mr. Cassidy (See below).  If any member receives any notification regarding this matter, please forward them to me.   Soecond, a few members at Penn Brook under the generalist license (including me) have received some letters from HR DIrector Michael Cassidy regarding the validity of our licensure.  We are in contact with the MTA regarding this issue and awaiting a response.  If you have received an email regarding your licensure, please let me know.  We have an MTA contact person and would like to take care of this issue all at once. Third, The GEA is a...

Dear Colleagues: In a 4-1 vote, the School Committee voted to approve the Superintendent's school budget for next year.  Mrs. King, the only School Committee group member who is currently in the field of education was the only hold out.  The time for action is upon us.  We need you to put that energy towards fighting for our colleagues and our students.  Below is the link to join the Georgetown Contract Action Team (GCAT) and to become a silent member at our contract negotiations meeting.  More than 40 members signed up to be part of the GCAT but only 11 members thus far have RSVP'D.  Only two of those eleven members that RSVP'D are from the GMHS.  WE NEED YOUR HELP.  It is through this collaborative and collective approach that we will be able to systematically and strategically implement our action steps towards reversing the tide and negotiating a fair and just contract. I want to assure members that the GEA Executive B...

Dear Colleagues: First, more than 40 of you signed up to join the Contract Action Team and more than 50 of you signed up to be a silent rep for 3/25.   We will have our first Action Team Meeting on Thursday, 3/21 at 3:30 PM (location TBD). If you can’t make the first meeting, no worries. However we want to get the ball rolling ahead of our first “expanded” bargaining session on 3/25 at GMHS. We will send out an RSVP email later this week with a specific location.  Secondly, we are aware that some members have received audit letters from HR Director, Michael Cassidy regarding sick time discrepancies due to potential clerical issues.  Please see the attached letter we sent to Dr. Ferrick.  If any member receives an audit letter regarding sick time discrepancies, please do not reply back to them until we have received the requested information that can be found in the attachment. Third, the School Committee vote on the proposed school budget is this Thurs...