Continuing Education Instructors' Bargaining Unit Newsletter:

Volume 2, Issue 4: April 2, 2004

President's Message

Here it is springtime, and this academic year is almost over. It’s been a busy year for all

Of you, and I know the time has flown by very quickly.

I must first of all congratulate the ESL instructors for a wonderful Heritage Day celebration. I had the privilege of attending some of the celebrations at Wheable, and I was absolutely overwhelmed. To see the students so enthusiastic about their own heritage was indeed a thrill for me, and I know the instructors worked hard to pull it all together. You deserve accolades….and I promise I will be at next year’s celebrations if at all possible!

Our ESL instructors from Empress are also looking ahead, with some trepidation, to a move out of Empress and into some new "digs." I’m sure this is causing some consternation, but I have been assured that new sites are in the works. Jean Sauve appears to be guaranteed, and is to be very nice when the renovations are completed. I am of the belief that some of the instructors from Empress can go over and take a look. Westmount Mall and Saunders SS are still in the works. Hopefully by the end of school the arrangements will have been completed.

Because it is now spring, there are some reminders that I want you to be aware of and so I am putting out this newsletter.

Retirements

If you are retiring this June, please ensure that you have a letter in to the Board office about mid-April. I would also ask that you send a copy to me or to the OSSTF office on Industrial Road. The reason for this is two-fold…..the Board has a retirement celebration in which you would be included, and so does OSSTF. I would hate for anyone to miss out on these well deserved celebrations just because we didn’t know about the retirement.

College of Teachers Information

Those Instructors who are members of the College of Teachers are reminded that the 2004 fee of $139 MUST be paid by April 15 at the latest.

Those who fail to do so, will be "suspended for non-payment of fees" by the College and the board has informed us that Instructors whose membership is suspended will be dropped down to the Group 4 rate effective on the date of the "suspension" and will not be restored to the Group 5 rate until the effective date of the their reinstatement to "Good Standing".

Scholarships

A number of scholarships are available for your dependents, and for yourselves through OSSTF. The information on these scholarships can be found on the Provincial OSSTF website.

There is also a scholarship available through the OFL. It is worth $2000 and the recipient must be entering, in Sept. 2004, the first year of a full time course of study leading to a diploma, certificate, or degree from any publicly recognized college or university. If anyone is interested in this one, I have the criteria for selection, and the application forms which I will gladly forward to you. The deadline for applications is May 3, 2004.

Student Successes

I invite members to contribute to this newsletter. Voice your opinion on issues or tell us about some of the successes of your students. It is important to let others hear our successes….it seems to validate what we do.

For instance, last fall I had a learner in my upgrading English class. He is in his early 40’s, and read his FIRST pocket novel during term 1. I was as thrilled for him as he was for himself. In addition to being proud of what he had accomplished, I was proud of myself for in some small way encouraging him to this end.

P.D. Committee

The Board wide PD days usually have no workshops pertaining to what we do as instructors of adults. As a result, we are usually given the day off without pay. Last year, we were paid to attend half a day, if there was a workshop which we felt was useful to us.

We have been invited to submit ideas, or do our own arranging for PD sessions with relevance to what we do. Therefore, we need a PD committee to get some ideas in order, and to contact some presenters. (Remember OSSTF has a wealth of information at the local and provincial level). Otherwise, come October, we will again be given time off without pay, and we DON’T want this to happen!

If interested, please contact me or Wendy and we will give you assistance in striking a committee.

CBC Brief

The collective bargaining committee has been working diligently over the winter months to put a brief together.

We have used your surveys to determine what is most important to the membership, and have tried to incorporate your ideas into the brief. We are receiving assistance and advice from both the local and provincial level of OSSTF.

By the beginning of June we hope to notify the Board that we are ready to begin our next round of negotiations and present the brief to them in early fall.

OSSTF Membership 101: Performance Evaluation

The excerpts below are from the OSSTF Handbook.

2.1 It is the policy of OSSTF that there should be clear separation between
2.1.1 evaluation of a Member for the purpose of making administrative decisions on the Member's future, and
2.1.1.1 supervision of a Member for the sole purpose of improving the Member's performance; and that where a Member is being supervised for the sole purpose of improving his/her performance, then the resulting reports should be confidential to the Member and those directly assisting the Member.

In other words, it is the policy of OSSTF that performance evaluations and training evaluations are to be done only by (non-OSSTF) personnel in positions of authority over the Members, not by the fellow OSSTF Members. This applies to all members, even those in positions of added responsibility such as Lead Instructors.

Colleagues may, of course, assist each other for the purpose of improving performance and for professional growth, and indeed are encouraged to do so, but any conversations and written information which come out of such situations are confidential to the Members and are not to be relayed or submitted to supervisors.

OSSTF Members are expected to comply with the constitution, bylaws, polices of the Federation. We have also made the Board aware of the fact that it is inappropriate for OSSTF Members to be asked to conduct evaluations on their fellow Members. Any Member who is directed to submit any information regarding the performance of a fellow Member should contact us immediately before replying and we will provide you with advice or, if necessary, intervene on your behalf.

AMPA 2004 Report

AMPA (Annual Meeting of the Provincial Assembly) is a 4-day OSSTF union convention.

Many issues were discussed and changes were made to our constitution. It is here that we vote on matters relating to OSSTF.

There were over 600 delegates and alternates at AMPA. I went as an alternate for our district; I learned a great deal about policy and procedures and how the union works at the provincial level.

I began my first morning sitting in as an alternate in an area known as "off the floor". After that, I spent a lot of time "on the floor" voting on issues.

One issue that really caught my attention was the matter on how to resolve disputes between members at the district level.

Our guest speakers for the event were Stephen Lewis and Education Minister Gerard Kennedy. Stephen Lewis’s speech was quite memorable and brought many of us to tears. He talked about AIDS in Africa. The second guest, Gerard Kennedy, spoke about working together in a more harmonious way. He made some promises regarding the PLP, helping kids who fall through the cracks as well as adult education. We’ll just have to wait and see whether all of this comes to pass.

One of the major highlights was the Marian Drysdale Awards given to students. One student who received one of these provincial awards was a District 11 adult student from Woodstock. Andy Berghuis won the Marian Drysdale award in the Adult Learner writing category.

I won an honourable mention for a Haiku poem I wrote! It was a great start to my March break and one I will never forget.

Let us not take thought for our separate interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)

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