Happy Teacher Appreciation Week

CTA is proud of each of our amazing Teachers. We hope that you have felt the love this week from your students, parents, staff, and community. As a small token of our appreciation we have awarded gift cards throughout the week to many CTA Members. Winners of the gift cards were notified by email and gift cards have been sent to you. Thanks again for all you do for the students in Carmel Clay Schools! You are tremendous and we are proud to represent you!

Changes to School Day Update

As you know the proposed changes in the school day were presented last night by Dr. Beresford at the April 27th Carmel Clay School Board meeting.  If you were not able to watch the meeting live, we encourage you to watch it so you can view and hear the presentation and the discussion that followed. Here is the link for you to view it at your earliest convenience:
https://youtu.be/ynwQcn7ZKyM?t=1871
(This link begins at the presentation at minute 31:10)

The School Board also is seeking feedback on this topic.  We encourage you to take some time and submit your comments to them.
Click here for the feedback form.

They will vote on this issue at the Monday, May 18th School Board Meeting.  Thank you for sharing your insights, knowledge, and concerns regarding this topic.

Respectfully,

CTA Executive Board
Pete O’Hara, Mark Wien, Michelle Foutz, Jill Grimes, Amy Bannister, Mike Meyer, Jason Hicks, Paige Miller, Scott Chelli, Michelle Hewitt, and Dan Patane

Length of Day Survey Results

Thank you to all of the Educators who participated in last week’s survey. The summary of the results are posted below.

Lots of participants also made informative comments.  We are in the process of compiling the comments, and will share them next week.

Here is a printer friendly version of the results: 2020 Time of Day Survey Results

Thank you for providing your feedback for this important issue.

TRF Meetings

On February 6, 2020 a representative of INPRS will be holding informational meetings at our Educational Services Center (5201 E. Main Street, Carmel) regarding the Teachers Retirement Fund (TRF) and the Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERF).  There will be two sessions available: 10:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.  These sessions are open to any employee currently enrolled in either plan and their spouses.  No need to sign up!

If you have any questions, please contact Sandy Bierer at 317-844-9961, EXT. 1043.

Happy Holidays!

Red for Ed Tomorrow

We know lots of you are supporting the Red for Ed event tomorrow in various ways.  Several of the CTA board members will be meeting with our legislator J.D. Ford to kick off the day’s events. 

For those of you attending the event in downtown Indianapolis, click here for more information.  On the link you will find an agenda, parking info, bus schedules, maps, marching routes, and talking points. 

For those teachers unable to attend, we encourage you to still support the movement.  Wear Red to school on Tuesday.  Click here to contact your legislators.

Be safe tomorrow and thank you for your support of public education!

Red for Ed Action Day

On November 19 teachers throughout the state are meeting at the statehouse to advocate for public education.  Any teacher wishing to participate should use a personal day and should wear red for ed.  During school that day, we encourage teachers to wear red at school to support education initiatives.  At the bottom of this email we have included some information and links regarding the event.  CTA supports higher teacher wages and encourages initiatives to advance public education.

Red For Ed Action Day
Date: Nov. 19, 2019
Time: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET
Location: Indiana Statehouse

Join ISTA for the Red For Ed Action Day, Nov. 19. Educators, parents and community members are invited to attend. Let’s show legislators that we are still here, activated and ready to advocate for our kids, our schools and our future.  Here is the link to register for the event.

Agenda

Talking points/action day priorities

1. Invest budget surplus in teacher compensation
   • TEACHER COMPENSATION Lawmakers must demonstrate a commitment to addressing teacher pay by using the state’s budget surplus to begin increasing base salaries for teachers. The lack of significant and sustainable investments in our schools over the past decade has placed Indiana behind neighboring states on funding levels and places us last in the nation in teacher salary growth.
   • The state has accumulated a $2+ billion surplus and an additional $419 million surplus from last year’s budget. The legislature should use a portion of these funds to continue the work to make teacher pay competitive in the region.
2. Hold students, teachers and communities harmless from I-LEARN
   • HARMLESS FROM I-LEARN Low I-LEARN scores don’t reflect the hard work Hoosier kids and teachers are doing in our classrooms. Test scores certainly shouldn’t determine how our communities are labeled by accountability grades.
   • Legislators must hold schools and teachers harmless until educators feel confident in the system.
   • Hold harmless should not only include letter grades for schools and teacher evaluations, but also for school intervention and state takeover of schools. The scores at this stage are questionable and should be used only as a benchmark – nothing more.
3. Repeal PGP/externship requirements
   • REPEAL PGP/EXTERNSHIP REQUIREMENTS Changes under HEA 1002 require teachers in traditional public schools using a PGP for renewing their license to complete 15 of the 90 PGP points in one or more of a series of program options focused on career navigation or economic development – including corporate externships.
   • As of July 1, 2019, over 50,000 of the approximately 60,000 teachers initiated their next license renewal so that the 15-credit requirement will not apply to them until their next re-licensure.
   • This new requirement has placed an undue burden on teachers and is misplaced in its implementation. Relevancy of this requirement aside, real feasibility issues exist in many areas of the state to comply with the options listed in the law. The PGP licensure language in HEA 1002 should be repealed.

Keep doing great things!

Pete O’Hara
CTA President

Happy Boss’s Day

Retro Pay Update

We wanted to update you.  After checking again with Human Resources, there has been a change for the new pay date.  You will still receive your retroactive paycheck on Friday, October 25, 2019.  However, you won’t receive your new paycheck with the 2019 salary until Friday, November 8, 2019.

On Oct 25th, you will actually see two direct deposits on your paycheck.  One deposit will be the total retroactive amount for the following dates: 8/30/19, 9/13/19, 9/27/19,10/11/19 and 10/25/19.   The other deposit you will see on Oct 25th will be your “old” check amount.  On each person’s check stub, the retroactive amount will also be labeled as such. Then on Nov 8th, you will see the new check amount.

Sorry for the confusion and hope that helps!

Contract Approved & Retro Pay Date

CTA is happy to announce that this morning the School Board voted to pass the new 2019-2021 Tentative Agreement for teachers.

Our new contract is effective immediately and may be found here on the CTA website.  See below for retroactive pay as well as the new salary paycheck.  You will receive retroactive pay for 4 paychecks:  Aug 30, Sept 13, Sept 27, and Oct 11. Please note this Friday’s paycheck will still be the old contract’s salary amount.  Your Oct 25 paycheck will include both the retroactive pay as well as the new salary amount.  

Our negotiation team thanks you for a very successful process this year.  Have a great week and enjoy your well-deserved Fall Break!

Respectfully,

Pete O’Hara, Mark Wien, Michelle Foutz, Whitney Miller, and Amy Bannister
CTA Negotiations Team