Week of December 6, 2021

Message from the President

Welcome to the first full week of December. In my opinion, it's the best month of the year. I am a big Christmas and Christmas light fanatic, the days start getting longer after the Winter Solstice, and of course, my birthday is in December. People always ask about it when they find out I was born on December 23rd - did you get cheated out? Did you get combo gifts? Did you get birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper? The answer to all three questions is no. My parents worked very hard to keep my birthday separate from Christmas. I am also someone who enjoys celebrating a birthday. I don't ignore it, and I don't pretend it's just another day...just ask my colleagues at Charlotte Avenue. You would have thought my birthday was some national holiday!

It's going to be a busy week this week...just like every other week.

Teacher Negotiations

The Teacher Negotiations Team is meeting with the Board/District this morning at 9:00am in what I hope is our last session. I am hoping we come out with a tentative agreement to vote on before the Christmas holiday break. I have a place booked for a ratification meeting with a tentative date of December 20th at 4:15pm. If this comes to fruition, I will send out an alert as soon as possible. I will have an update to send out, most likely Tuesday, December 7th.

Food Service

The Food Service Negotiations Team is meeting with the District tomorrow at 2:00pm. There have been some complications in this negotiations. The Food Service budget is separate from the district operating budget. The Food Service budget relies on sales of food, al a cart items, and reimbursement from the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program. There have been some changes now that all students can receive free breakfast and lunch. However, we do have an understanding of how things are going to work for now, and this will help move negotiations forward. I will most likely send out an update on Wednesday, December 8th.

Know Your Contract

Weingarten Rights

The right of employees to have union representation at investigatory interviews was announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1975 case (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc. 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689). These rights have become known as the Weingarten rights.

Employees have Weingarten rights only during investigatory interviews. An investigatory interview occurs when a supervisor questions an employee to obtain information which could be used as a basis for discipline or asks an employee to defend his or her conduct.

If an employee has a reasonable belief that discipline or other adverse consequences may result from what he or she says, the employee has the right to request union representation. Management is not required to inform the employee of his/her Weingarten rights; it is the employees responsibility to know and request.

When the employee makes the request for a union representative to be present management has three options:

  1. It can stop questioning until the representative arrives.

  2. It can call off the interview or,

  3. It can tell the employee that it will call off the interview unless the employee voluntarily gives up his/her rights to a union representative (an option the employee should always refuse.)

Employers will often assert that the only role of a union representative in an investigatory interview is to observe the discussion. The Supreme Court, however, clearly acknowledges a representative's right to assist and counsel workers during the interview.

The Supreme Court has also ruled that during an investigatory interview management must inform the union representative of the subject of the interrogation. The representative must also be allowed to speak privately with the employee before the interview. During the questioning, the representative can interrupt to clarify a question or to object to confusing or intimidating tactics.

While the interview is in progress, the representative can not tell the employee what to say but he may advise them on how to answer a question. At the end of the interview the union representative can add information to support the employee's case.

Source: http://wa.aft.org/resources/weingarten-rights

AFT-NH Legislative Updates

2021-12-04 Bulletin 2021-23 School Vouchers - ACTION NEEDED!!!

2021-11-21 Bulletin 2021-22 School Vouchers

The Season of Winter

This lesson describes the winter season. The 4 seasons are: winter, spring, summer, and fall. This lesson will focus on winter. The lesson goes into detail about winter activities, winter holidays, and how animals survive the winter. The lesson details migration and hibernation as well as an animal adaptation example about Cardinal birds.

The lesson also provides a detailed explanation about how the Earth revolves around the sun and the Earth’s tilt is the cause of the seasonal changes. The temperature change has to do with the way the Earth is tilted in space. We revolve around the sun, but the tilt doesn’t change. Winter season occurs when the planet moves from more direct light into more indirect light.

https://sharemylesson.com/teaching-resource/season-winter-lesson-kids-328869

Have an idea for the Just for Fun section? Send it to Adam (president@nashuatu.org).

Turn on the heat, I'm cold!

Most of you use your heat, and a slight majority turn it on when it gets cold or your cold. There are some diehards that wait until November 1st. That thought brings me back to my youth and my dad saying to put on a sweatshirt.

Just for Fun

As I said above, I am a Christmas light fanatic. I have always loved Christmas lights. I have them up outside at my house, inside my house, and even up at the Union Office. I have two Christmas trees. Did I mention I love Christmas? I have always preferred the colorful lights over the plain white ones. However, as the LED lights have come out, the white lights have become much more attractive. This leads to this weeks question - colorful or white Christmas lights?

For the NTU calendar, click here

For the BOE calendar, click here

For the BOE agendas and minutes, click here


Upcoming Events

  • December 6th

      • Teacher Negotiations, 9:00am, Central Office

  • December 7th

      • NTU President/Superintendent Meeting, 9:00am, Central Office

      • Food Service Negotiations, 2:00pm, via Zoom

      • Executive Board, 4:00pm, via Zoom

  • December 8th

      • Early Release

      • Internal Secretary Negotiations, 4:15pm, Union Office

  • December 9th

      • Election Committee, 4:00pm, via Zoom

  • December 13th

      • Internal Para-Educator Negotiations, 4:00pm, Union Office

  • December 14th

      • NTU President/Superintendent Meeting, 9:00am, Central Office

      • Board of Directors, 4:15pm, via Zoom

  • December 20th

      • BOE Human Resources Committee, 5:30pm, Nashua High School North (agenda)

      • Board of Education, 6:00pm, Nashua High School North (agenda)

  • December 21st

      • NTU President/Superintendent Meeting, 9:00am, Central Office

      • Executive Board/Superintendent Meeting, 4:00pm, Central Office

  • December 24th - January 2nd

      • No School

      • Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

      • Happy New Year!

Questions? Comments? Need Assistance? Contact a member of the Executive Board

Trying to email Adam? Make sure to use president@nashuatu.org