Minutes of Milford Federation of Paraeducator Meeting
January 7, 2016
Meeting was held at the Parsons Complex in the Board of Education room. Interim President Nancy Tomasco called the meeting to order at 4:00. There were22 members in attendance.
Secretary's Report - Minutes of the previous meeting of November 5, 2015 were reviewed by Laura Kuchta, Secretary and the minutes were approved with no corrections to be made. Motion was made to accept the minutes by Carleen Olderman and seconded by Fran Pugliese.
Treasurer's Report - Treasurer Dana Enders reported: Checking account $20,098.27 and Savings account $6,312.20. Motion to accept the treasurer report was made by Peggy Taylor and seconded by Holly Altieri.
Dana reported that the audit was completed in December and she will report on the outcome at the May meeting.
A thank you card was shared with everyone which was received by Gail Battista and Family.
Interim President Report- Nancy Tomasco introduced Michael Ozga from AFT Connecticut who will be our new Field Representative.
**Michael shared his biography and work experience with everyone.
Nancy reported that we are continuing to work on our website and that we are looking for a representative to take the task of adding and updating information on the website. It was voted on that a $250.00 stipend will be given for the task. All were in favor of the stipend. Peggy Taylor volunteered for this task. An amendment will be added to the By-Laws with this change.
Also, Tract Fratercangeli and Anne Bernacchi will be handling the arrangements for the end of the year gathering. Information regarding the dinner will be forth coming.
A follow up was needed on Time Center. Nancy contact Michelle and was informed that as long as you have Windows 10 you can access Time Center from home. It was brought up that this is not the case and it is not accessible from home so Nancy will contact Michelle again.
New Business:
A Proposal notice was displayed for all members to read.
Thursday, January , 2016
Proposal
Annual stipends shall be paid to the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer at the rate stated and Building Representatives at a flat rate effective August 1 through July 31.
This will be voted on at the May meeting.
Nancy provided all Building Representatives with an updated copy of the seniority list. All Building Representatives should copy the list and provide it to the members in their buildings.
Gwen Giorgi and Kim Grich made the nominations for the next Executive Board which will be voted on at the May 2016 meeting.
The nominees are as follows:
Laura Kuchta - President - accepted
Nancy Tomasco - Vice President - accepted
Joan Krusinski - Secretary- accepted
Colleen Patrick Treasurer - accepted
Comments/Concerns from Population:
Kim Gretch - Building Represenative - Meadowside - A contract to be signed was given to all Paraeducators who held a new walkie-talkie during the work day. The wording in the contract makes the Paraeducator responsible for all damages. The contract was reviewed by all Board Members and the Field Representative and it was agree upon that the Paraeducator should not be responsible for damages which were not created by them. Nancy will contact Sue Kelleher and Linda DeFrancesco head of PPS to clarify and ask that a new contact with different language be supplied to the Executive Board for review prior to having Paraeducators sign it. Nancy will ask that all previous contracts be null and void until the new contract is provided for review.
Peggy Taylor had questioned the use of sick time for doctors appointments verses personal time. Nancy will call HR and look into this
All other Building Representatives had nothing to report with the exception of Pumpkin which currently has no Building Representative.
There being no further business for discussion a motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Fran Pugliese and seconded by Gwen Giorgi