Sent to New hires on 9/8/2020

Hope you are doing well and adjusting to this stranger-than-strange start to the 2020-2021 school year. I know I have personally spent hours trying to learn as much as I can about Zoom and Canvas, and I wait for the day when we are able to return to the classroom. Before school started I was able to briefly introduce myself to you at the New Teacher Orientation. However, I wanted to give you some additional information regarding the Faculty Association. This email is probably a little on the lengthy side; however, I recommend reading all of it when you have the time.

Before I start, I want to say thank you to everyone who joined the Faculty Association. We have always had a strong Faculty Association here in the SMJUHSD, and the more we continue to stand together, the stronger we will remain. The Faculty Association worked hard all summer long to ensure we had a say in our safe return to school, and we will continue to communicate with the District as we get closer to a return to the classroom. Thank you.

Alright, a little about me first, my name is Matt Provost and I have been a Math teacher at Righetti High School since 1991. Over the years, I have coached numerous sports at Righetti, and I have three adult children who all graduated from Righetti. This is my fifth year as the Faculty Association President, and I have some great people who work with me on the SMJUHSDFA Executive Board:

Tanya Guiremand – Vice President, SMHS
Patty Peinado – Treasurer, PVHS
Becky Masuda – Recording Secretary, SMHS
Mike Emerson – Corresponding Secretary, RHS

Additionally, we have Site Representatives at each of our sites. Their names can be found here along with our Executive Board members:
https://smjuhsdfa.org/representative-council/

There are a number of useful items on our FA website:
https://smjuhsdfa.org/

If you can’t find one of my recent emails or want to see what has been going on in our District, here is a link to view all of my emails over the past four years:
https://smjuhsdfa.org/category/posts/

We also have a webpage with a number of important documents including the current contract and the current salary schedule:
https://smjuhsdfa.org/documents/

Knowing your Weingarten rights can prove to be very valuable. I would highly recommend taking the time to read them here:
https://smjuhsdfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Weingarten-Rights.pdf

Here is a webpage with some important resources and links to AESOP, ESCAPE, Zoom, CalSTRS, the CTC and more:
https://smjuhsdfa.org/resources/

By joining CTA/NEA, you receive a complimentary Life Insurance and Death & Disability policy. You must enroll, and you can submit your beneficiary on their website. Links can be found here:
https://smjuhsdfa.org/resources/

Keep in mind that it might take a while for CTA to process your application before you are officially in their system.

If you can think of something that might be helpful if we added it to our website, please let me know.

If you would like to help out with the FA in some capacity, please contact Tanya, Patty, Becky, Mike or me. We would be more than happy to answer any questions.

In addition to having an Executive Board and Site Reps, we have a number of committees including:
Elections Committee
Interview Committee
Grievance Committee
Medical Committee
Faculty Management Council
Negotiations Team

Additionally, we elect members at each site to School Site Council and Shared Decision Making Committee. Here is the list of our current members at each site:
https://smjuhsdfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SDMSSC2020-2021.pdf

Observation Timelines
As a new teacher to the District, you are considered non-tenured and will be evaluated this year. Our current MOU states that evaluations will take place even though we are teaching online. Here is the timeline from our current contract. Please let me know if you have any questions.

TIMELINE: TENURED: NON-TENURED:
Pre-Observation Conference by October 31 by October 1
Observations October – April October – February
Final Evaluation by May 1 by February 15

In-Lieu Policy
Here is the in-lieu policy from our contract:
6.2.1 The “In-Lieu” policy is specifically intended as coverage for singleton periods wherein the regular teacher is missing from two (2) or fewer periods or when the District is unable to find enough substitutes. Priority should be given to in-lieu teachers before using substitutes. When a teacher substitutes for another teacher at the request of the administration, the teacher substituting shall be credited with “in-lieu” leave for each period served.

To summarize, when a teacher voluntarily covers a class for another teacher, they do not get paid like a substitute, but instead receive an in-lieu period. When a teacher receives five in-lieu periods, they can take an in-lieu Day or absence without taking a sick day. Working under our current MOU, things have been slightly changed.

As teachers, we are not legally allowed to take a sick day to go to Disneyland. However, if you take an absence as an in-lieu day, you can treat it as a vacation day. Hopefully we can go to Disneyland again sometime in the near future.

Here are a few highlights from Article 6.2 of our Contract
– you may in-lieu one period per day
– you may earn up to 7 days of in-lieu per school year (Or 35 in-lieu periods)
– you may carry over up to 15 days from one school year to the next (Or 75 in-lieu periods)
– you may use up to 7 in-lieu days in a school year
– in-lieu days can only be taken as full days (5 periods)
– No more than 3 in-lieu days may be used consecutively
– you must have principal approval to use an in-lieu day (So plan ahead)

I know we are all super busy right know, but please try to take some time to look through our SMJUHSDFA website. You will probably find a lot of boring stuff, but at the same time there is a lot of information that could prove to be very helpful. In fact, just the other day a teacher friend was struggling with starting a Zoom session for one of his classes. His computer just wasn’t cooperating. I directed him to our FA resource page where he clicked on Zoom and he was up and running. Give it a try: https://smjuhsdfa.org/resources/

Hope you have a great school year.
Let me know if I can be of any help.
Thanks,
Matt Provost
SMJUHSDFA President
School: mprovost@smjuhsd.org
Personal: mprovost@juno.com
RHS: x2845
Cell (805) 714-4165