Bedford Education Association
Executive Board Meeting
May 14, 2015
Executive Board Members Present:
Kristen Tracy, President
Allison Hammer, Vice President
Cassie Dresser, BHS
Bonnie Klein, JGMS
Jennifer Foster, Davis
Gretchen Dick, Lane
Lisa Campana, Davis
Jill Beers, Davis
Lenore Zavalick, Lane
Tova Margolis, BHS
James McLernon, Treasurer
Sarah Kane, New Member Representative
Cia Gisone, Secretary
Meeting was called to order at 3:39 pm.
President’s Report
Secretary Bargaining- The team had their first meeting and negotiations are underway.
Evaluation Language Committee- The team is done meeting for this year. Disagreements
around DDMs between teachers and administration will be mediated by a joint labor
committee. Student feedback will be collected by teachers but not seen by evaluating
administrators this school year. Teachers need to keep this data to use for their self
assessment next year.
MTA Annual Meeting- We had a full delegation in attendance! Topics included
RETELL, PARCC, and fingerprinting. Check out the MTA website for meeting minutes.
There will not be an MTA Summer Conference this summer due to contract issues at
UMass Amherst. Janelle Quarles, who the BEA endorsed for MTA Ethnic Minority
Representative, won the seat.
Holyoke- the DESE voted to take over the Holyoke school district (see April 2015
minutes). The state now has control over school decisions including hiring. The
community did not support this decision.
DESE PARCC Hearings- the DESE is holding hearings to discuss PARCC. Kristen is
still collecting anecdotes about how PARCC testing has disrupted learning.
DESE is coming to BHS on May 18- BHS received a commendation for gains in closing
the achievement gap.
Schools Our Students Deserve- Send Kristen your stories!! We want what’s best for
students!!
-Collect stories about what our students are doing.
-Collect stories about what we are not doing because of autonomy, funding, testing, etc.
-We want to collect these stories and create a publication. PARCC stories would be
great!!
Bedford Executive Board- This is the officially the last EBoard meeting for the school
year. The June meeting is for next year’s representatives and officers. Cia is resigning as
Secretary.
Professional Development Committee- the BEA President appoints representatives from
each school to manage a $20,000 district professional development budget. Jill Beers
was appointed the PDC Chairperson. There are open seats for BHS, JGMS, and Lane.
One inservice credit is given to each member (three to the Chairperson).
Teachers are encourage to join School Council!! One inservice credit is given to
participating teachers.
Vice President’s Report
No grievances
Secretary’s Report
Cia made a motion to approve the April 2015 minutes. Bonnie seconded. The minutes
were approved unanimously. They will be posted to the BEA website.
Please encourage people to friend request Bea Sec on Facebook for BEA and MTA
related information.
Treasurer’s Report
James is paying out stipends to building reps and officers. The budget is balanced. Next
month, he will present the 2015-2016 budget.
EA/TA Report
Nothing to report.
Building Report, Davis
Nothing to report.
Building Report, Lane
There is confusion around ‘conference give back’ dates. Where should this time come
from? People feel it should come from administrative days, not teacher days.
What avenues are there for feedback of administrators?
Building Report, JGMS
People are feeling stressed by the student feedback portion of the evaluation process and
the confusion around it.
Building Report, BHS
A member is exploring other options to make up snow days beyond extending the school
year.
Questions continue to be raised about our options for insurance besides the GIC. This is
not something that is negotiable. If a plan is found that can save the town more money
than the GIC, it can be brought to the town but is not negotiable in the teacher’s contract.
Ten Minute Meeting Topics
-Call for building reps, PDC reps (except for Davis), Secretary, School Council
-Evaluation Language- problems implementing feedback mechanism? Feel free
to ask Kristen.
-PARCC and Corporate Education reform - speak up (share PARCC nightmare
stories with Kristen)
-Schools Our Students Deserve initiative (see below)
-Stay informed through massteacher.org; check out the MTA Toolkits
-Speak up at mass.gov!
-As always, suggestions for negotiations: contract/eval/TeachPoint language
-As always, call for building issues; remind folks they can see you at any time!
Cia made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Cassie seconded. The meeting was adjourned
at 4:41 pm.
Minutes taken by Cia Gisone