Please accept my apologies for the typos in the distribution made earlier today. It was a draft that escaped unedited. Thank you to all who gently brought the problem to my attention.
Hopefully, the positive news found in the content provided some encouragement. An edited version has been forwarded to our webmaster for posting.
LINK TO APPLE BALLOTS
In this morning’s update there was an embedded link that some recipients found to be unusable and notified me of the problem. Readers having difficulty should find success using the following: www.mdappleballot.com
Clicking on the above should prompt you to enter an address and get you to your ballot.
On Wednesday, June 4th, TAAAC’s Association Representative Council (ARC) voted by wide margin to accept the tentative agreement after reviewing the results of the electronic straw balloting conducted during the previous week. Of the 126 schools and work sites that submitted votes, only three schools voted to reject the tentative settlement. The ARC voted accordingly.
Earlier on that same date and due to good work by the two most persistent friends of public education we have, Councilmen Benoit and Trumbauer, the Anne Arundel County Council restored sufficient funding to cover our transition to the new scale and a step increase on that scale. Happily, the Laura Neuman budget did not pass as proposed.
On June 18th, in in its final meeting before the end of fiscal year 2014 and twelve days before the expiration of our current contract, the Anne Arundel Board of Education will meet and reconcile its FY15 budget. It should also be voting to ratify our FY15 Negotiated Agreement. In that our members will still be working and the event is a day time meeting, most members will not be able to attend. There will be supporting testimony given by TAAAC’s President and/or Executive Director. Once successfully ratified by the Board, Unit I employees will have new salary scales on which there are no longevity (or “dead”) steps, and their first full-year step increase since 2009.
On its face this may seem like good news indeed, but looking down the road this could end up being just an anomaly. We still need to make some changes in the Arundel Center. Check out http://mdappleballot.com to find our recommended candidates and please check out the “volunteer” tab. We need some member-volunteers to cover critical voting locations on June 24th.
EMPTY PAGES
Unlike the past three years of negotiation sessions, in which the scope was limited to only reopeners that occurred during the four-year term of a standing contract, the negotiations to begin in October will be on a new collective bargaining agreement. The current four-year Agreement expires at the close of this month. We will be doing some surveying to assess priorities, particularly on items that carry price tags. Please take the time to respond.
THANK YOU
TAAAC did well this year at the bargaining table and at the Arundel Center. To all of you who contacted a councilman when asked, attended the May 8th public hearing, and helped fill the entire first floor of the Arundel Center on May 12 beyond its capacity, you made a difference. It is not coincidental that the tone of conversations around the budget changed after May 12. To those who took part in none of these activities, take a moment to thank your colleagues who did.
