PSSP Bargaining Unit Newsletter:

Volume 3, Issue 2: March 7, 2005

President’s Message

We are almost through the winter months, and I hope that when you read this, we will have a break in the snowy weather. As we move into the spring months, there are developments in the collective bargaining of the teacher bargaining units of District 11, both OSSTF (secondary teachers) as well as with elementary teachers (ETFO). We have had queries about this, and for the moment, job action for ETFO is well short of a full work stoppage, but some administrative job sanctions are being introduced (e.g. no comments on report cards, no staff meetings, etc.). For those of our members who work in elementary schools, while we would of course support elementary teachers, we will be expected to do our work in elementary schools despite their job action. If there should be a larger withdrawal of services, we would be expected to attend to our work nonetheless, as we would not be taking job action. Our current contract runs to August 31, 2005. Steps are being taken to communicate with elementary and secondary teachers about our roles and the fact that we are in a different bargaining unit of OSSTF than the secondary teachers. PSSP members can be supportive to ETFO and OSSTF teacher bargaining units by communicating with them and co-operating with them by not taking up duties to replace teachers’ normal activities (e.g. coaching extracurricular activities, completing Woodcock Johnson academic achievement tests, etc).

During March Break, I will be attending the annual meeting of OSSTF, called AMPA, along with Nancy McDougall and other federation services officers and bargaining unit presidents of OSSTF District 11. Ken Coran, of District 11, currently Vice President of OSSTF, is running for president, and Dave Russell, federation services officer, is running as governor of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation. One of Ken’s initiatives in his campaign platform is the Full Service School, which promotes the secondary school as the natural place for broad services to students, including services for their social-emotional needs. It’s encouraging to see locally based representatives active in the larger direction of OSSTF.

Just a reminder to check your OMERS pension statement when the 2004 statements come out in the near future from the TVDSB. Full time employees should be credited with a full year of service, for example. Also, you may want to check your salary and total years of service and reconcile any queries items with Human Resources as soon as possible. If you communicate by e-mail, you can keep a copy of your communications for future reference. If there were any errors, an updated statement should be issues.

The February issue of Education Matters Online is now on the District website. Please make note of the article titled “Your Right to Union Representation”.

Our annual general meeting is coming up in May, and I hope to see many of you there. We have traditionally had a good turnout of our members at this event, where we can get to know each other better and discuss issues.

Marlies Sudermann, President

Audrey Cooley - 2005 PSSP Bishop Townshend Winner

Our congratulations to Audrey Cooley, the PSSP Bishop Townshend winner for the 2004-2005 school year! Audrey and her husband Richard attended the annual Bishop Townshend Award dinner on February 23, 2005 at the Grosvenor Club in London. The following script was read during the awards presentation to honour Audrey:

“Audrey Cooley has provided intellectual and special needs assessments for students of TVDSB for over 10 years. She has modelled excellence in her thorough, gentle, and highly perceptive approach to assessing students. Audrey also includes aspects of fine motor and other physical aspects of a student’s functioning into her assessment of special needs, facilitating the physical aspects of learning, such as printing and handwriting, without which students cannot function in the educational system. She has provided teachers, parents, administrators and other support staff with highly insightful information about students’ intellectual functioning and special needs, and in doing so, has facilitated meeting students’ learning and self-esteem. Her gentle, highly intelligent and very respectful manner in communicating with students, parents and educators is very noteworthy.

Within the last few years, Audrey has expanded her knowledge and competence by attaining advanced qualification in her area of expertise, as a Psychological Associate, one of the first in the PSSP Department and the province. She has, through this, expanded her role to include consultation to schools and service to students on social-emotional issues and crises. She has assisted students who are experiencing severe emotional distress and behavioural changes.

Audrey has frequently taken the initiative to do extra, voluntary duties to develop training for learning support teachers on advanced academic assessment and other topics and techniques. This has enabled these teachers to provide new services for students who have special education needs. As well, Audrey has also edited and written for PsychScope, a publication which disseminates information on understanding and teaching the “whole child”,especially students with learning and behaviour challenges.

Congratulations, Audrey Cooley, the Bishop Townshend nominee for 2004 - 2005 from the Professional Student Services Personnel.”

Local P.D. Session

A local OSSTF District 11 P.D. Session on bullying, jointly sponsored by our Educational Services and Human Rights/Status of Women Committees, will be held on May 5, 2005 at the Delta Armouries Hotel in London. Four individual sessions will be run, two at a time, followed by dinner and prizes. Topics include girl bullying, harassment in the workplace, racism, and violence/bullying related to gender orientation. Posters and brochures will be available in schools and other worksites in the near future. Members wishing to attend should note that they will be asked to pay a subsidized fee of $8 toward the cost of their meals and that registration will be on a first come, first served basis. Last year’s event was a sell-out, so please register early.

OSSTF Family Bursary

Ten $1,500 bursaries will be offered again for the 2005-2006 school year. The applicant must be a child or ward of a member in good standing of OSSTF and be entering post-secondary studies at a college, university or apprenticeship program in September 2005. The applicant must currently be attending a publicly-funded secondary school or must have been a student who graduated from a publicly-funded secondary school in June of the previous year. He or she must have a proven record of involvement or leadership in the school and in the community and have shown leadership and interest in the community or in labour, union or other social issues. Applications are available on the Provincial OSSTF website, the local OSSTF website or by calling Marlies Sudermann or Nancy McDougall at 659-6588.

Mark Your Calendars!

The PSSP Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday May 24, 2005. The meeting and elections will be held at 4:30pm, and will be followed by dinner at 6:00pm. The location is yet to be announced.

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

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