Hello FEA Members,
This has been a difficult and challenging week for all of us.
As you can see there is a seniority list at the bottom. However, note this is the district’s list and we do feel there are errors. Please take a look at your name and placement on the list. If you see any errors, contact me immediately.
I would like to say a quick note about this list. After last years debacle of a process, I began requesting from Elvis an updated seniority list beginning in November. This list was promised to us in December. While Elvis did send a list it was in no way aligned with our current contract language, contained confidential information, and had numerous errors. I did not feel it would be appropriate to send this list out to all members. I did ask the district to correct it and send it out to members. We have repeatedly requested a corrected list and have been promised the list monthly. As late as April 23rd, Elvis said he would have the list out to us by the 24th. As you can guess this never happened.
This has been a repeating pattern of where the district has ignored association input. We have seen this with the Class Size/Mix committees, the RIF process, and the budget reductions enacted last week. While the district at times invite us to meet with them, our input has been simply ignored. We are hopeful things will change with new leadership.
The list was provided to FEA on Monday, May 11th. Within minutes, we noticed errors and contacted the district with the errors. We also requested the district send out a corrected version so all members could check their status. While the district is trying to blame me for not releasing the list, they acknowledged the list was not correct. They never sent us a corrected list nor told us that it was ready to share. Therefore I waited until now to send it out.
This process has been a mess and we are currently working on language that will make this process much more transparent and clear. We hope the district understands this new language will be mutually beneficial in our next contract. Unfortunately, we are stuck with the language we have currently.
Please support your fellow members and your negotiators as we work to make FSD the best place for all of us.
2008/2009 Seniority List --Excel Spreadsheet
***
Tracie Morris
FEA President
*Working for the benefit of educators in the Ferndale School District to maintain quality for our students.