Page 1 chapter voice chapter voice chapter voice chapter voice Volume 20, Issue 4 February - March 2011 CONEJO VALLEY Newsleer for Classified Employees of the Conejo Valley Unified School District California School Employees Associaon - Chapter 620 CSEA Chapter Meetings February 17th, 2011 March 17th, 2011 District Office Conference Room E, 5:15 pm CVUSD Board Meetings February15th (6:00) March 1st, 2011 March 15th, 2011 Board Room - District Office CONTENTS President’s Letter 1 Important Dates 1 CSEA & CVUSD Board Meetings 1 Farewell to Jeanne Foster 2 Know Your Rights Training 2 CSEA Officers & Representatives 3 Robert O’Reilly LLR 3 Health Check 360 4 Personnel Commission 4 Retirement Planning 5 CSEA Scholarship Info 6 IMPORTANT DATES February—2011 Feb. 15 - Board Meeting Feb. 16, - Personnel Comm. Feb. 17 - Chapter Meeting Feb. 18 - 21 - Presidents Day March—2011 Mar. 1 - Board Meeting Mar. 8 - Personnel Comm. Mar. 15 - Budget Comm. Mar. 17, Chapter Meeting A Message from the President Hello, all! It’s a new year. We have some new members on our Chapter Executive Board, and, since Jean- nie Foster has retired, we have a new Labor Relations Representative from CSEA. If you check out the list on Page 3, you’ll see the new names. One of the things that hasn’t changed, though, is the economy. If you weren’t at the last Chap- ter meeting to hear the complete report on how the Governor‘s budget proposal will affect us, let me give you a brief overview. The District is in financial trouble again. Probably. If Governor Brown can get his tax extension proposal on a June ballot - and it passes - we in the CVUSD will only lose another $400,000.00. We can handle that fairly easily. If the proposal doesn’t make it to the ballot, or if it doesn’t pass, our CVUSD loss balloons to $7,000,000.00. Add that to the $5,000,000.00 that we’re already in the hole and, well, that adds up to $12,000,000.00 that we have to fill in. And it could get even worse - our loss next year could go as high as $10,000,000.00 or more. Unfortunately, we have to have a budget in place for 2011-12 before we know if the vote passed - if there even is a vote. While there is some money to fall back on, there isn’t enough to cover everything if the vote fails. Everyone - from upper Administration, to the site Administrators, to the parents, to our mem- bers in the offices and shops, knows that we Classified employees don’t have any more left to give. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t still in the cross-hairs. There are discussions about increasing class sizes, laying off counselors, deans, directors, librarians, across the board pay cuts… Nothing, and no-one, is safe - including us. The cuts will have to come from somewhere. If Governor Brown is successful in getting his tax extension proposal on the ballot - I encourage all of you to support it. It will make a huge dif- ference to your fellow workers who otherwise might be facing layoffs or reductions. We will be fighting for you, and for the District. Come to the Chapter meetings for continuing updates. Thank you, Ron Meyer Chapter 620 President
Transcript
Page 1
chapter voicechapter voicechapter voicechapter voice Volume 20, Issue 4 February - March 2011
CONEJO VALLEY
Newsle�er for Classified Employees of the Conejo Valley Unified School District
California School Employees Associa)on - Chapter 620
CSEA Chapter Meetings February 17th, 2011 March 17th, 2011 District Office
Conference Room E, 5:15 pm
CVUSD Board Meetings February15th (6:00) March 1st, 2011 March 15th, 2011
Board Room - District Office
CONTENTS
President’s Letter 1
Important Dates 1
CSEA & CVUSD Board
Meetings 1
Farewell to Jeanne Foster 2
Know Your Rights Training 2
CSEA Officers &
Representatives 3
Robert O’Reilly LLR 3
Health Check 360 4
Personnel Commission 4
Retirement Planning 5
CSEA Scholarship Info 6
IMPORTANT DATES
February—2011
Feb. 15 - Board Meeting
Feb. 16, - Personnel Comm.
Feb. 17 - Chapter Meeting
Feb. 18 - 21 - Presidents Day
March—2011
Mar. 1 - Board Meeting
Mar. 8 - Personnel Comm.
Mar. 15 - Budget Comm.
Mar. 17, Chapter Meeting
A Message from the President
Hello, all! It’s a new year. We have some new members on our Chapter Executive Board, and, since Jean-nie Foster has retired, we have a new Labor Relations Representative from CSEA. If you check out the list on Page 3, you’ll see the new names. One of the things that hasn’t changed, though, is the economy. If you weren’t at the last Chap-ter meeting to hear the complete report on how the Governor‘s budget proposal will affect us, let me give you a brief overview. The District is in financial trouble again. Probably. If Governor Brown can get his tax extension proposal on a June ballot - and it passes - we in the CVUSD will only lose another $400,000.00. We can handle that fairly easily. If the proposal doesn’t make it to the ballot, or if it doesn’t pass, our CVUSD loss balloons to $7,000,000.00. Add that to the $5,000,000.00 that we’re already in the hole and, well, that adds up to $12,000,000.00 that we have to fill in. And it could get even worse - our loss next year could go as high as $10,000,000.00 or more. Unfortunately, we have to have a budget in place for 2011-12 before we know if the vote passed - if there even is a vote. While there is some money to fall back on, there isn’t enough to cover everything if the vote fails. Everyone - from upper Administration, to the site Administrators, to the parents, to our mem-bers in the offices and shops, knows that we Classified employees don’t have any more left to give. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t still in the cross-hairs. There are discussions about increasing class sizes, laying off counselors, deans, directors, librarians, across the board pay cuts… Nothing, and no-one, is safe - including us. The cuts will have to come from somewhere. If Governor Brown is successful in getting his tax extension proposal on the ballot - I encourage all of you to support it. It will make a huge dif-ference to your fellow workers who otherwise might be facing layoffs or reductions. We will be fighting for you, and for the District. Come to the Chapter meetings for continuing updates. Thank you, Ron Meyer Chapter 620 President
Page 2
CSEA hosted a farewell party
for Labor Representative Jean-nie Foster. Jeannie has spent
the last 20 years representing employees in our district. We
treated Jeannie and her hus-band to a farewell dinner at
Buca de Beppo in Thousand Oaks.
We will all miss Jeannie and
the exceptional work she did to help hundreds of our mem-
bers over the years. We wish her well on her retirement.
Pictured: Seated: Karen Meyer, Royce Foster, Jeanie Foster, Ron Meyer, Pam Ross, Standing: Valerie Minott-Mitchell, Matt Waldman, Kim Rafter, Barbara Safe, Lori
MATT GENTILE KNOW YOUR RIGHTS – THE BASICS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW
WHEN: SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2011
TIME: 10 A.M. – 2 P.M. (LUNCH PROVIDED)
PLACE: GOLETA UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD ROOM
401 N. FAIRVIEW AVENUE
GOLETA, CA 93117 OPEN TO EVERYONE
R.S.V.P. by Monday, February 28, 2011
Page 3
Chapter 620 Officer Roster
President
Ron Meyer
(Cell phone # 805-907-8335)
First Vice President
Karen Meyer
Second Vice President
Kim Rafter
Secretary
Matt Waldman
Treasurer
Pam Ross
Public Relations Officer
Lori Rhoades
Labor Relations Rep.
Robert O’Reilly
(805) 604-1753 x 3860 or
(800) 834-9959 x 3860
Employee/Employer
Relations Representatives:
Child Care
Jani Larsen - Aspen
Child Nutrition
Steve Sandstedt-Park Oaks
Clerical
Barbara Safe-CVHS
Custodial
Kim Rafter – TOHS
Pam Ross - Glenwood
Para Professional
Marianne Robertson - WHS
Warehouse & Copy Center
Lynn Stroud -Copy Center
Maintenance & Grounds
Matt Waldman
Neighborhood for Learning
Jennifer O’Hop
Conejo Valley Chapter Voice
Editor – Lori Rhoades
CSEA Website http://www.conejo.k12.ca.us
(ClassifiedPersonnel>>CSEA)
Correspondence may
be sent to: CSEA Chapter 620
c/o CVUSD
1400 East Janss Rd
Thousand Oaks CA 91362
Reasonable Accommodation
By Robert O’Reilly
CSEA Labor Representative
Workers who have disabilities, whether temporary or permanent, are afforded protected disability rights. Disabled workers are protected from discrimination under the Ameri-cans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ADA law expects that the employer, as well as col-leagues respect the medical latitude given to disabled workers. The spirit of the law is kind in its application since it considers the disability as punishment enough and does not seek to add to the punishment of the disabled worker. The employer must have knowledge of your particular disability if you claim you have been discriminated against due to your medical disability. Remember that Labor Law application has tenets of notice, reasonableness, and uniformity. Disabled workers may receive reasonable accommodation/s given their particular disa-bility/ies. All job descriptions contain essential duties commonly referred to as ADA functions. As long as the disabled worker can fulfill certain essential duties of their job with reasonable accommodation then the employer must grant them reasonable accom-modation. Disable workers might require an ergonomic work station or may need flexible starting times in order to deal with the proper regulation of medicine adjust-ment. Disabled workers might even work in a lower classification but at their higher rate of pay. This accommodation might seem unfair to well workers but I’m sure that disabled workers would gladly trade their disability to these well workers (not well-wishing workers?) Site administrators may informally accommodate you. However, if you don’t receive informal accommodation then you have the right to ask for a formal accommodation from the district. Sometimes the site doesn’t want to accommodate you since they might have to pay for the accommodation from their site funds. The District might have spe-cial funds to pay for the particular accommodation at the site. Disabled workers are free to suggest reasonable accommodations regarding their partic-
ular disability/ies to management personnel. It is a wise idea to bring a Union Steward
into the reasonable accommodation meeting since they serve as an advocate and wit-
ness to what was said or not said at the meeting. Failure to provide reasonable accom-
modation has severe legal consequences since the disabled worker may seek adminis-
trative punitive relief through the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH
- the state) and the Equal Employment Occupation Commission (EEOC- Federal). I
have found it easier to file with the DFEH since if you convince the intake officer that it
appears the employer violated your disability rights on the surface (prima facie), then
the intake officer will issue you a complaint number. Once you get the DFEH com-
plaint number, it automatically gives you a corresponding EEOC complaint number as
well. Once the state completes their investigation, they may issue you two (2) right-to-
sue letters, one to the offending site administrator and the other one to the employer (the
district). Once you receive the right-to-sue letters, you have 90 days to file in the ap-
propriate court.
Page 4
Register for a session now by clicking a date below:
Wed, Mar 2, 2011 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM CST - Heart Health - Your Blood Pressure and You Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM CST - Healthy Snacks Wed, May 4, 2011 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM CST - Managing Your Stress with Proper Fitness
System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000 Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer This email was sent by: HealthCheck 360, P.O. Box 1475 Dubuque, IA 52004-0028 USA Contact Information: Phone: 800.793.5235 www.healthcheck360.com
Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the Webinar.
HealthCheck360 is continuing our Health Coaching webinar series for our clients and friends. Our health coaches will be presenting a new wellness topic for you and your employees at noon central time the first Wednesday of every month. All webinars will be 20-30 minutes long. The topic for March is: Heart Health - Your Blood Pressure and You We understand that not everyone can get their employees to the live webinar at the beginning of each month. So, we will be posting a video of each webinar on www.healthcheck360blog.com. From here you can access the video for your own wellness events, post the link to your intranet site, watch from home or forward the link via email to your employ-ees. To attend the live meeting or to forward the login information to your employees to attend, please use the information below. We look forward to you and your employees joining us to learn how we all can live healthier lives. Best regards, The HealthCheck360 Team
Report from the Personnel Commission meeting… Lori Rhoades and Ron Meyer attended the January Personnel Commission meeting. At the meeting, a new job classification was created for the Special Ed Department. The job is titled “Paraprofessional - Severely Disabled”. Both Lori and Ron supported the creation of this new position, as it recognizes the specialized requirements that are needed in dealing with the severely handicapped 18+ year-old students that attend our District. The position is paid at a slightly higher scale than other Paraprofessionals. Perhaps not as much of a differential as we might wish, but, given the economic times, we were pleased to see the recognition that the posi-tion deserves higher compensation. Ron spoke about the worries that many of you have expressed concerning work-load demands in reduced hours, and both Lori and Ron made the Personnel Commissioners aware of the issues concerning re-classification of positions (primarily at the District Offic-es) which creates smaller job families - thereby reducing the protection that seniority provides and limiting opportunities for trans-fers. Lori was very eloquent in speaking about the issues of work-place morale at the school sites.
This year CSEA Chapter #620 will offer four - $500.00 scholarships to graduating high school seniors of our chapter members. If you are a chapter 620 member {service fee payers are not eligible} and have a child who plans on continuing their education, you qualify to apply for one of these scholarships. Applications available on the CSEA Website , or by contacting Karen Meyer at [email protected]. Applications must be sub-mitted by April 29th. Please not the Chapter 620 scholarships are separate from the state CSEA scholarships. If you are not a CSEA member—you might consider signing up. Your children would be eligible to take advantage of this benefit when they graduate. A great investment for $2.00 a month!
