Cleveland Teachers Union
News & Notes
Compiled by Tracy Radich, 1st Vice President
January 5, 2016
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MANDATORY TRAINING
GRADE REPORTING
DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN TRAINING AT HOME ON
Marking Period 2 ends on Friday, December 18. The
YOUR OWN TIME. The deadline for completion is
portal to enter grades is now open. Don’t forget there is a
March 1. This does not need to be done today. Your
place to continue to indicate any new/additional parents
UCC is working out a schedule with your principal to
that you have conferenced with this school year.
make sure that there is enough time for the training
videos. Jillian and David are working with Chairs directly
For high school teachers: Quarterly grades will need to
where problems may arise. The information below is
be entered by the close of business on December 7. On
from Jillian Ahrens and was printed in the December 16
December 8 the system opens for semester grade
News & Notes:
verification. Final semester grade over-rides are due by
7:30am on December 11 (unless another date is agreed to
A message from Jillian Ahrens: The District sent out
at the building by the UCC and principal). For K-8
emails regarding mandatory online training and asked
teachers: Grades are due by 7:30am on December 11
staff members to complete these trainings. These
(unless another date is agreed to at the building by the
trainings should take approximately 8 to 8 and a half hours
UCC and principal).
to complete. Please review the options below regarding
how to complete these trainings.
VISION CARE
The District has agreed to extend the completion deadline
Since you only use this every 2 years, it can be hard to
until March 1.
remember the name and numbers for our vision care. Our
vision is with United Health Care. The website is
*Your APT team and Principal can agree to use the 100
www.uhcvision.com (if you sign in as a future member it
minutes of professional time for 5-6 weeks to complete
is much easier).
the trainings (per Article 9, Section 2).
*Your UCC and Principal can agree to use the
EVALUATE THE EVALUATORS
Professional Days on January 4 and/or February 15 to
On Tuesday, December 29 CTU members received an
complete the trainings (per Article 9, Section 7).
email from Shari Obrenski with a link to the Evaluate the
*Your Principal can use their monthly Staff Meeting times
Evaluator Evaluate the Evaluation Survey. Each member
for the remaining months to complete the trainings (per
is asked to think of the last year that he/she was evaluated
Article 9, Section 2).
and use that evaluation cycle and that one evaluator as a
*You can combine the above options to cover 8-8.5 hours
frame of reference. If you did not receive the link, check
your SPAM (for some reason gmail accounts seem to send
*If sufficient time is not identified within the work day to
this to SPAM most often) if the email is not there, then
complete the trainings please ask staff members in your
email yolanda@ctu279.org with your name, school, and
building to document the hours used outside of the school
job.
day to complete the trainings and send this information to
Jillian Ahrens for the grievance to compensate this
UNION DUES
required time.
Michael Kulcsar wants everyone to be on the lookout for
2015 union dues that is being sent to each building. Many
These trainings are mandatory per state law.
members have called to request the union dues totals for
2015. Bargaining Unit Member’s year-to-date total under
“ctu-contsal/soc/prt/edcon” on their CMSD voucher dated
BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS
Several schools may have already completed mandatory
12/18/15. This is provided that they worked from January
training regarding Bloodborne Pathogens. Deb Aloshen
to June and August thru December of 2015. This
(Nurses Supervisor) is giving the district the names of
information is also posted on the CTU website.
people who have completed and they are marking them
complete in the online system.
IPDP
IPDPs need to be written BEFORE you take classes for
your license renewal. An IPDP should be written and
approved as soon as you have your new license in hand.
You DO NOT write a new IPDP when it is time to apply
for a new license. If you have an approved IPDP that was
written after your current license was issued, there is no
need to write a new IPDP. When done correctly, the IPDP
is written as soon as you get your new license and prior to
taking any classes or PD that counts for CEUs and it is not
written at the end when you are applying.
WEINGARTEN VISIT
On Monday, November 23 American Federation of
Teachers President Randi Weingarten visited Cleveland.
After visiting schools with CTU President David Quolke
and meeting with Chapter Chairs and Delegates, President
Weingarten heard of many issues and concerns regarding
TDES. While meeting with Chapter Chairs, Delegates,
and their guests President Weingarten told the crowd:
“Schools should look like Max Hayes and Buhrer.
Teachers, paraprofessionals, and RSPs should be treated
with respect and dignity. Do you agree? The only way we
change what is happening this is if we change the frame.
Let’s evaluate the evaluators. Let’s evaluate the
evaluation. Does this sound like something you all want
to do? Is this something that your members would want to
do?”
The leaders that were in the room that day agreed with
Randi and over break you received a link to the survey
which is asking you to Evaluate the Evaluator.
CTU TEE SHIRTS
Have you seen the posting for CTU tee shirts at your
school? Have you had a chance to order your CTU polo
shirt? Shirts are royal blue with a white logo. For more
information email Wendi Kral (wkral@ctu279.org).
LICENSE/PERMIT RENEWAL
All CTU members that have a license or certificate that
expires June 2016 – please renew your license ASAP.
Members that have a license or certificate that expires
June 2016 were sent an email from HR on Monday,
December 7 with instructions and helpful tips on how to
renew the license. Everyone must complete the renewal
application and pay for the license or permit online. ODE
is accepting renewal applications now. Usually, one must
wait until the actual year of the renewal, this year you can
actually do it now. After applying and paying online,
teachers and related service providers must submit a
sealed transcript or CEUs, IPDP approval email, and
a copy of current license to CMSD. Teachers, related
service providers, and paraprofessionals must also be
fingerprinted.
HEALTHSPAN
Many CTU members as well as employees throughout
CMSD have HealthSpan as their health care provider. It
was announced that HealthSpan would be dissolved (go
out of business) on March 31. Members will have to
change over to another insurance provider. In the
meantime, all benefits and services as provided by
HealthSpan will remain exactly the same until March 31.
David sent the following email to all Chapter Chairs on
Thursday (12/16) to be shared with all members:
As you may have heard one of our healthcare
providers, HealthSpan Ohio (formerly Kaiser), "will
exit direct care delivery and dissolve the medical group
on March 31st". This will impact a number of CTU
and CMSD employees. We are in the process of
gathering more information on what this will mean for
our members and have scheduled a meeting with the
district on January 6, 2016.
Anyone with HealthSpan will be covered through
March 31st. We will begin working out the next steps
on January 6th to ensure a smooth transition for all
employees. DQ
Update: This meeting will now take place on January
13 due to the availability of critical people on January
6. This impacts members of the CTU, members of the
other unions in CMSD, and CMSD non-union
employees.
TEXT ALERTS
A text service is available for members of the CTU. You
can sign up right now to receive mobile text message
alerts from AFT-Cleveland Teachers Union. You will
receive updates, notices, and reminders. Get your phone
out right now and send a text message with the word
ctu279 (lowercase, no spaces) in your message box. Send
to the phone number 69238.
AFT-CTU will never charge you for text messages, your
carrier's Message & Data rates may apply.
PUPIL ACTIVITY PERMIT RENEWAL
Anyone that coaches or is in charge of an activity
afterschool (like chess or intramurals) needs to have a
Pupil Activity Permit. Submission of supporting
documentation is still a requirement for pupil activity
permit renewal. Supporting documentation includes a
copy of the Fundamentals of Coaching certificate, valid
CPR certification, Concussion Training Certificate and
First Aid for Coaches Certificate, and a copy of your proof
of payment receipt from the ODE website, which is issued
after successful completion of the online application.
Documentation will not be accepted without the ODE
proof of payment receipt. After completing the online
application process, you will need to submit the
supporting documentation to Human Resources at 1111
Superior Avenue E, Employee Services Center – 1st
Floor.