LMEA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

November 13, 2006

NOTE: These minutes are also available online at www.lmeaonline.org.

President D. Pendino called the meeting to order at 4:05 PM.

Motion by A.Flicker to approve the October Executive Council minutes – sec by V. Fedeli. – Approved.

Bob Teti of KellyTeti Associates gave report of our annual audit. We have a good financial status. D. Pendino explained the purpose of the annual audit.

Officer’s Reports:

President’s Report: D. Pendino gave the following report:

• Building concerns raised last month were addressed and resolved.
• Information regarding the phone numbers of PSEA Legal Services was provided.
• Employment opportunities exist at the local Huntingdon Learning Center in Bala Cynwyd – call 610-726-9930 for more info.
• Membership update – building reps should check their monthly membership lists and report any error/omissions to D. Grumbine at the LMEA office.
• Applecore items were discussed. For “imputed income” - you pay taxes on the cost of the life insurance premium if the insurance is over $50,000. Also – regarding salary credit for professional development – be aware even though the district encourages participation in certain professional development, that does not guarantee the district will give you salary credit for this.
• If you take an emergency personal day or family illness day you must submit a reason to Human Resources. For emergency personal days you will be docked pay if you do not submit a reason to HR within 3 days of your return to work. See Article 21 Sections D and F. You get 5 personal days – 3 will full pay, the last 2 are minus the cost of the sub, even if a sub is not needed. The last 2 personal days for support staff are at half pay. You cannot take personal day for pleasure or convenience. A regular personal day requires a 1 week notice. If you don’t give notice it is considered an emergency personal day – then a reason must be given within 3 days of your return to work.

VP Support: V. Fedeli wished all a Happy Thanksgiving and gave the following report:

• Doug Jones, a custodian at WVMS, will receive the ESP region member of the year award at the PSEA House of Delegates in recognition of his assisting in the rescue of 2 men in the Delaware River last winter. Congratulations to Doug on the award and for his efforts on the river that day.

• November 15 is Educational Support Professional Day. Vic hopes all enjoy their day and that he’s proud to represent you.

• Elections – Many of the PSEA/PACE recommended candidates won their elections. Support

Professionals across the state played an important part in these elections. Thanks to all who made the effort to get out and vote.

1 st Vice President: C. SantaMaria reported on the status of outsourcing. In order to be fiscally responsible to the community, the District has to explore cost-saving measures such as outsourcing. Obviously if the District eventually pursues and conducts outsourcing, our members would suffer the consequences and we believe the parents/students in the district would lose the quality of educational support services to which they are accustomed. The LMEA will form an Act 1 committee co-chaired by C. SantaMaria and L. Giaquinto. D. Pendino made motion “to allocate up to $15,000 to fund a poll and focus group for a public relations campaign to counter anti-public education movements (anti-public school groups, outsourcing).” The poll would be conducted to get data from the community about their opinions regarding the public schools in LMT. The LMEA is willing to pay for this poll and the data will be ours. The poll could be completed by January 31 st. We would work with Toplin (or similar group) to form a focus group to test messages from the poll data. The focus group would be run by Toplin (or similar group). The focus group would be done by March 31 st and we could possibly deliver our message to the public sometime in the summer. We don’t know exactly what the focus group will ask. Will this be a cost that becomes yearly? The $15,000 would be a one time cost. The cost of delivering our message to support Board candidates will probably be an annual cost. Visit www.lmsd.info for information on the local taxpayer group opposing the current District spending plan. For more information on Act 1, visit the PSEA website www.psea.org Question was called to vote on the motion. – Motion approved.

VP Professional: NR

Secretary Support: NR

Secretary Professional: M. Stettner reminded building reps about the United Way campaign.

Treasurer: D. Mandarino made motion to approve the October treasurer’s report – Approved.

Committee Reports:

Constitution: NR

Elections: NR

IPD: NR

CNC: NR

FAC: C. SantaMaria reported that we are getting information about transferring funds to a better money market account.

Health & Safety: NR

Legislation: NR

Minority Affairs: NR

PACE: C. SantaMaria reported briefly about the impact of the national elections and NCLB. M. Rios added that NEA is asking members to submit their stories about how NCLB has affected their teaching. Visit www.nea.org/esea/tellyourstory to submit your stories. C. SantaMaria gave report on early PACE collections. We cannot hold the contributions for very long. Members should fill out the top of the form completely.

PR&R: P. Dawson gave brief summary of current grievances. Please let P. Dawson or E. Leber know of any unsatisfactory evaluations.

Public Relations: NR

Social: NR

Special Services: NR

Sunshine: NR

Membership: NR

CARE: M. Rios reported on the FLOW program and how it’s incorporated in our schools. Barbara Moore Williams, a consultant to the district, recently led a discussion on a book to help member of our district address the needs of minority students. Also, M. Rios reminded about only using district computers/email for job related reasons. Employees have no privacy on the district’s network.

Building Reports:

Belmont Hills: NR

Cynwyd: NR

Gladwyne: NR

Merion: Could district’s handling of support staff be considered a tactic to break the LMEA? Possibly but nothing they are doing now is illegal. How does an employee get the severance pay (from accumulated sick days)? – You must be at least age 55 with at least 25 years of service in PA or superannuated. See Article 36 in the contract.

Penn Valley : NR

Penn Wynne: Can Epipens be administered by teachers? Yes. Must teachers create eboards? Yes – it is a reasonable request by the district – but use the eboard in a way that you don’t do the same work multiple times.

Bala Cynwyd: NR

Welsh Valley : NR

Lower Merion : NR

Harriton: NR

Building and Grounds: NR

Administration: NR

Transportation LM: NR

M. Stettner made motion to adjourn. Second by P. Dawson - the meeting was adjourned at 5:34 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Michael Stettner, Secretary