Saturday, March 2, 2013
The salary schedule grid and other details of the three-year agreement now can be seen by the general public.
There wasn't any trumpet-blaring fanfare or here-ye-here-ye proclamation, but the School District 304 and Geneva Education Association three-year teachers agreement is now posted on the district's website. It's not easy to find, so bookmark this article for future reference and you can see it by clicking this link. Although an 11th-hour agreement was reached on Nov. 12, it hadn't been posted as of Dec. 3, although a summary of the new three-year contract was for a time prominently displayed on the School District's redesigned homepage. The contract provides some detail that the summary did not. It includes, for example, the exact salary scheduled grid for the next three years and has additional details regarding the makeup of the Salary …
What do you think? It is a good idea to invite a teacher to take part in the finance advising or is it an inherent conflict of interest?
So, is it good policy to have a member of the Geneva teachers union sit on the School Board Finance Committee? Some of the "pro" arguments include: Some of the "con" arguments include: You can read more about the appointment in this article.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
School Board members vote unanimously to accept Mark Grosso's appointment of Tom Anderson to the board's Finance Committee. Anderson is a teacher, parent of school-age children and Geneva taxpayer—and also a member of the GEA negotiating team.
Geneva School District 304's decision to appoint a teacher's union negotiator to the board's Finance Committee stirred some conversation Monday night. At the regular board meeting, school officials unanimously selected Tom Anderson to join the committee, which is an advisory body previously comprised of three School Board members. The committee deals with policy issues regarding school finances—everything from debt reduction to teachers' salaries. And that's one of the reasons School Board President Mark Grosso wanted Anderson on the committee. "Tom Anderson was part of the (Geneva Education Association) negotiating team," Grosso said. "I felt, and the reason I brought his name forward, was that Tom was very innovative in some of our …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The GEA "reluctantly" intends to drop its unfair labor practices complaint against School District 304, according to an article in the Kane County Chronicle.
A report in the Kane County Chronicle says the Geneva Education Association intends to drop its unfair labor practices complaint against School District 304. The article says the GEA is dropping the complaint "reluctantly." GEA President Carol Young said the action was prompted by statements made from an attorney from the Illinois Education Association—the statewide teachers union organization. The GEA filed the complaint in November, prior to an 11th-hour agreement that averted a potential teachers strike. School Board members said they expected the complaint to be dropped after both sides signed a new three-year contract, but were surprised when the GEA indicated its intent to follow through. In December, School District 304 filed a …
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Editor's note: This is the last of a 10-part countdown of articles looking back at the Geneva newsmakers of 2012. The No. 1 newsmaker is Geneva Patch's 2012 "Person of the Year."
To be Geneva Patch's "Person of the Year" is not necessarily to be a hero or a villain. Like TIME Magazine's Person of the Year—who have ranged from Adolf Hitler to Pope John Paul II—the title goes to the person who has had the biggest impact on the news of the past year. The process starts with identifying the top Geneva stories of the year, and in 2012, the story that far and away captured our attention was the School District 304 teacher contract negotiations. That's why Geneva Education Association President Carol Young was No. 2 on the countdown of 2012 Geneva newsmakers, and it's why the first-ever Geneva Patch Person of the Year is Geneva School Board President Mark Grosso. The School District side of negotiations were directed by…
Monday, December 31, 2012
These are the most-popular articles in 2012—not necessarily the "best."
Readers' top stories of the year weren't always the "top" stories of the year, but there was signficant overlap with those most of us would call important or newsworthy. If you'd like to compare this list to a more-newsy list, check out Geneva Patch's "year in review" series loosely titled "Geneva Newsmakers of 2012." The series looks at the people who made the news but also reflects both the most important stories and the most popular stories of the year. There's no doubt that the No. 1 story was also the one most-followed by Geneva Patch readers. The No. 2 most-read story falls into the category that's (perhaps sadly) always at the top of the reading list: celebrities. The remainder in this list represents individual stories that made …
Who will win the 2013 Dancing With the Geneva Stars? Get to know the contestants and start voting!
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Monday, December 31, 2012
As the only unmarried couple dancing together in this year’s event, Dorothy Flanagan and Sam Hill have been friends and co-workers at the Geneva City Council for more than 11 years. They both enjoy dancing and have supported this event every year since its inception in 2009. They are thankful and excited to dance in this wonderful fundraiser. Dorothy Flanagan is the vice president of marketing and sales for Copia International (a software publishing company) and has been alderman of Geneva’s 4th Ward for the past 19 years. She also co-chairs the Geneva Beautification Committee with Sherry Weitl to coordinate the volunteer efforts to plant the knuckles and planters in downtown Geneva. As a longtime member of St. Peter Catholic Church, …
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Friday, December 21, 2012
While the Geneva teachers union continues to pursue an unfair labor practice claim, the School District has filed a similar counterclaim against the teachers union.
In a legal battle before the Illinois Labor Relations Board, Geneva School District 304 is now filing a counterclaim against the Geneva Education Association for unfair labor practices, the Kane County Chronicle reports. The GEA filed the charge against the School District on Dec. 10, before a new three-year teachers contract was ratified. But the GEA officers decided to move forward with the complaint, saying its members "still feel like they were treated wrongly." GEA President Carol Young said the School Board was trying to intimidate teachers when it sent an e-mail informing them that they would be responsible for paying for their full health and dental insurance premiums for every day during a work stoppage. A GEA press release said …
Monday, December 17, 2012
We've got to uncouple property taxes and teachers' salaries.
If there actually is a woman out there who’s had to put up with me almost as much as my longsuffering wife, it’s gotta be Chronicle Managing Editor Kathy Gresey. The sad thing is, unlike my beloved spouse, she didn’t sign on for the job. For the record, Ms. Gresey, the only person on the planet with more energy than me, is a supremely talented journalist and editor. Given a bit more latitude, she could turn that newspaper into something really serious. And the fact that my too-frequent attempts to goad her into seeing things my way are patently unfair hasn’t prevented me from pressing my point. Now that you’re armed with that information, you’ll understand the irony of what I’m about to say. Because when I read Brenda Schory’s piece on the…
Thursday, December 13, 2012
The Kane County Chronicle is reporting that the Geneva Education Association is moving forward with its complaint that the School Board used health benefits as a leverage prior to a possible teachers strike.
The Geneva Education Association is moving forward with the charge it filed with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in November, saying teachers "still feel like they were treated wrongly," according to a report in the Kane County Chronicle. The charge was filed on Nov. 10, when GEA President Carol Young issued a press release saying the board was trying to intimidate the teachers union from going on strike by telling teachers they would have to pay for their full health and dental insurance premiums for every day during a work stoppage. The charge was filed with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, the state agency responsible for enforcing educational labor relations laws and regulations in Illinois. According to …
Dan
5:30 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Hear-ye, Hear-ye. It grinds me when school articles contain spelling errors. more ›