CVEU Newsletter
August 21, 2018 Welcome back CVEU members! It was nice to connect with many of you at your in-person PD’s. Over the summer CVEU leadership met to help organize an effective strategy to implement the goals of our members and the goals of CVEU leadership. We focused on where to increase communication between leadership and members, have more voices from each department in bargaining this year and one of the most important goals was to give our members the power to enforce the contract. While the grievance procedure is there to offer a formal role in enforcing the contract, there are things we can do as members to ensure that the contract is upheld. Please come to our member meeting for more information. Remember, neither administration nor CVEU has the last word-only the contract does, and we have to ensure that it does by demonstrating strength in solidarity, just like we did in bargaining. Don’t let your rights be ignored. Below is our mission statement that was handed out and voted on during the PD’s. At this point we have received 281 “yes” votes on the mission statement. In Solidarity, Brianna Carroll CVEU President California Virtual Educators United Mission Statement California Virtual Educators United exists to improve the conditions of teaching and learning at our schools by empowering members and students to have a voice in the educational process, advocating for fair and transparent policies for all public education, promoting professional attitudes and ethical conduct, and embracing the unique qualities of our greater learning community. Member Meeting - Tuesday, August 28th @ 4pm Come join us at our beginning of the year member meeting. We will be going over some general union topics and updates and we will then move to break out rooms to delve into specific issues from each department. Start of the Year In-person PD CVEU board members had a chance this year to stop by all the Elementary, Middle School and High School PDs. We also attended the SPED, ELD, 504 Coordinator and School Psychologist PD on the 21st and will attend the Intervention PD in October. This was a great opportunity to not only update members on goals for the union this upcoming school year, but also speak with members about issues that each group is experiencing. We also had the chance for our members to vote on our mission statement. It is important for all our members to have buy in with our mission statement because it will guide us as we move forward as a union. If you did not have a chance to vote or make a comment on our mission statement please email [email protected] and say yes or no to the mission statement and/or provide us with comments. Why Representatives are Important There are a couple RLs and groups that do not have a rep. There are many reasons why having a rep from your team is important.
Have your voice heard and have a rep nominated for CVEU elections this year. Our goal is to have a rep for every team! Grievances Upon initial placement on the new salary schedule last spring, seven CVEU members became increasingly concerned about their placement. These teachers had each taught at CAVA for a period of time, left CAVA, then returned to CAVA. Some of them had less than a 30 day break in service. Unfortunately, Human Resources and CAVA Administration informed our members that they were being placed on the salary schedule based upon their “most recent hire date,” rather than their first hire date. We are disappointed that CAVA did not do the right thing and accept these teacher’s total years of service. Reimbursements Reimbursement information is part of our training and can be found under EBER - DataBasics Training. It is important to remember that reimbursements are meant to pay you back for costs related to your job and are not considered part of your income. Please make sure you read the policy and submit items for pre-approval if they do not fall under the already approved category. Unfortunately, some reimbursement requests are being denied. In one case, a member was told they should have purchased the item last year when they were receiving the “office stipend.” The CBA allows all members up to $3,300 reimbursement for this school year. If your request is denied, please email your request form, along with the email denying your request to: [email protected]. Don’t forget to claim your mileage from the PD - roundtrip! Catastrophic Leave CVEU and Jose’s family would like to say thank you to all the teachers who responded to the request to donate sick time to the catastrophic leave bank. If you have not done so yet please read over Jose’s story and learn more about how you can support fellow teachers in need. Please read more about the 10.9 Catastrophic bank from our contract. A get well card was also sent to Jose and his family from the union. Insight Update As you know, we are in the process of adding Insight educators to CVEU. Currently, the Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) is reviewing the petition with their teacher’s signatures. Once it is determined that Insight has a majority of teachers who signed the petition, CVEU will receive word that we are their exclusive representative. While Insight and CAVA educators will together comprise CVEU, each school will have separate contracts. We anticipate Insight will begin negotiating their first contract around October. We would like to welcome Insight Science teacher David Holtom to the CVEU Elected Board. August Membership Corner
Birthday? Wedding? New baby? If you have any life events that need celebrating, please email Stacey at [email protected]. If you have any questions or comments please email your rep or [email protected] In Solidarity, California Virtual Educators United |