Grievance Filed
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 highest possible quality for the children of Georgetown, and that good morale within the teaching staff of Georgetown is essential to achievement of that purpose.” Based on our professional experiences and the research on teacher transfer, both of these purposes described in the CBA are being violated by this decision.
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’ effectiveness was seen even in more experienced teachers, and cut across all grades.”
The administration should also note that NCTQ points to research showing devastating outcomes for students with teacher movement. NCTQ explained in 2018 that “One study found that second graders assigned to a teacher from another grade experienced the equivalent of about 42 to 50 days less learning (that’s more than two months!) compared with students who were taught by an experienced second grade teacher. When those students moved onto third grade, they were still losing about 22 days of learning.” The outcome of so many transfers is negative for educators, harmful for students, and is having a horrendous impact on teacher morale, standing at odds with the purposes outlined in our Preamble.
Furthermore, Article VII of the CBA also states that “teacher assignments may change from time to time due to unforeseen circumstances.” The district in their transfer notices to staff has failed to cite any “unforeseen circumstances” and therefore lacks any justifiable cause to forcibly transfer dozens of teachers.
Lastly, the long standing past practice regarding teacher transfers has always been based on operational needs as well as including an initial solicitation of volunteers before implementing involuntary transfers. The district lacks any operational justification for this action. Nor did the administration solicit volunteers before initiating these broad based assignment changes.
Remedy Requested at this Level: This unnecessary and painful decision to arbitrarily transfer dozens of teachers must be reversed across the board; any and all other appropriate relief.
Sincerely,
Joe Pittella
GEA President
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 highest possible quality for the children of Georgetown, and that good morale within the teaching staff of Georgetown is essential to achievement of that purpose.” Based on our professional experiences and the research on teacher transfer, both of these purposes described in the CBA are being violated by this decision.
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’ effectiveness was seen even in more experienced teachers, and cut across all grades.”
The administration should also note that NCTQ points to research showing devastating outcomes for students with teacher movement. NCTQ explained in 2018 that “One study found that second graders assigned to a teacher from another grade experienced the equivalent of about 42 to 50 days less learning (that’s more than two months!) compared with students who were taught by an experienced second grade teacher. When those students moved onto third grade, they were still losing about 22 days of learning.” The outcome of so many transfers is negative for educators, harmful for students, and is having a horrendous impact on teacher morale, standing at odds with the purposes outlined in our Preamble.
Furthermore, Article VII of the CBA also states that “teacher assignments may change from time to time due to unforeseen circumstances.” The district in their transfer notices to staff has failed to cite any “unforeseen circumstances” and therefore lacks any justifiable cause to forcibly transfer dozens of teachers.
Lastly, the long standing past practice regarding teacher transfers has always been based on operational needs as well as including an initial solicitation of volunteers before implementing involuntary transfers. The district lacks any operational justification for this action. Nor did the administration solicit volunteers before initiating these broad based assignment changes.
Remedy Requested at this Level: This unnecessary and painful decision to arbitrarily transfer dozens of teachers must be reversed across the board; any and all other appropriate relief.
Sincerely,
Joe Pittella
GEA President
