Speaking Up for Teachers

You may be interested in this op ed piece from Sunday's Salt Lake Tribune.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13979904

Susan Attends Governor's Education Summit and Other News

Susan attended the Governor's Education Summit on Thursday along with Kory Holdaway and Sara Jones from UEA. Superintendent Bryan Bowles was also in attendance. Susan felt positive upon returning to the office and thought there were a lot of good discussions during the summit.

In addition, there is early speculation regarding the Governor's budget which will be released at 11 AM Friday morning and will reportedly call for an immediate reduction of 3% by state agencies. It is unclear at this time whether and how this will impact the district. We will be watching closely as the proposed budget is released today and analyzed over the next few days.

We also expect the newest proposals for the 2010-2011 calendar to be posted today or Monday. You should receive emails announcing the posting, but you may want to check later today to look them over and comment.

2010-2011 Calendar Options to be Revised

As you may have noticed, the calendar options originally posted on the district web site have been temporarily removed. An error was discovered regarding the date for Easter which will require that the calendar committee meet again to refine the options based on that correction. You may have also noticed that the professional days before the start of school are not included on the proposals. Professional Days will be determined later based on legislative funding and negotiations. We will let you know when the new options are available for comment. Remember your comments are suggestions to the school board which will make the final decision.

Background Checks and Fingerprinting

As the impact of the recent legislation and state office implementation of teacher background checks has started to impact our members, we are hearing increased concerns about this new regulation. We understand your concerns and will continue to look for ways to minimize the impact on our members. A link to the explanation of the requirements is included below.

http://www.schools.utah.gov/cert/require/renewal/Level2_3/active.htm

It would be helpful to us if we can hear from members who are renewing licenses this year about how the procedure is being implemented.

H1N1 Vaccine Available Wednesday and Thursday

Davis School District employees and their family members are now able to receive the H1N1 vaccine at the Davis County Convention Center, 762 Heritage Park Blvd in Layton. The vaccine will be available Wednesday, and Thursday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

If you live out of Davis County, you will need your District I.D. with you to identify you as a Davis District employee to be able to receive the vaccine. As long as you live in Davis County, you won't have any problem.

This vaccine is provided at no charge. This has nothing to do with insurance, whatsoever. It does not matter if you are insured or not. The vaccine is provided to District employees and their family members at no charge. The Davis County Health Department is making it available to us.

Please plan to go early. Davis School District employees will be a preferred group Wednesday. They expect a larger group will be seeking the vaccine on Thursday and the lines could be longer.

This is a great benefit provided by Davis County Health.

Additional Flu Shot Clinic Added

For those that missed the district's flu shot clinics that were held in September, we have arranged to provide one more opportunity. An additional flu shot clinic will be held on Wednesday, December 2nd, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the District Administration Building Auditorium. Altius and SelectHealth will be providing flu shots at no cost to all district-insured members and dependents 18 years of age and older. Please note, these flu shots are for protection against the regular season flu, not the H1N1 (swine flu) virus.

Meet Executive Board Member Shelli Arthur

“I graduated from Weber State University in Early Childhood Education with an Elementary Endorsement and ESL Endorsement. I have taught Kindergarten and First grade at Oak Hill Elementary for 15 years.
“I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve in my professional teaching association on the DEA Executive Board as the minority member. I have had the opportunity to attend the NEA Western Region Minority Conference and Minority Leadership Training. These trainings have taught me how important it is to respect our students’ heritage, culture, and family environment. I am currently serving on the DEA Membership Committee. I am also currently on JSSC and have been a building representative in the past.”

Shelli can be reached at sarthur@dsdmail.net.