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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Support Personnel Lack Contract

A version of this story appears in TheDailyNorwalk.com

Norwalk Public School support personnel have been without a new contract since July 2009 and they think it’s not fair.  Donna Riddel, President of the Norwalk Federation of Educational Personnel, spoke during the public comment section of the Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday evening.  “The way we have been treated for the last year is deplorable, demeaning, unfair and quite frankly unacceptable.”

The NFEP represents 425 aides, clerks, secretarial and support staff and are the second largest bargaining unit in the city, after the teachers’ union.  The NFEP is asking for a salary increase and improved benefits that they say they “rightly deserve.” The union and BOE’s negotiations committee could not come to an agreement about the contract terms and negotiations are now in arbitration--to be decided upon by an independent body by the end of the summer.  The union members work under their old contract until the new terms are decided.

In her public statement, Riddell said, “this arbitration cost could have gone towards the funding of the economic package instead of lining the Board’s lawyers pockets.”

Riddel who has been secretary to the principal at Tracey Elementary school for the 20 years, also takes issue with the recent contracts awarded to two top administrators that awarded a 3 percent raise in the form of furlough days.  “The Board of Education voluntarily provided rich contracts to the Assistant Superintendent and Human Resources Director,” said Riddel, also remarking that the support personnel are “the lowest paid employees."

“I am sensitive to the economic times, but how could the administrators get such contracts?” said Riddell after the meeting.  “We are supposed to be in it together.”

BOE Negotiations Committee chair Jack Chiaramonte could not be reached for comment and Jodi Bishop-Pullan, a member of the committee said that she could not comment on negotiations since they are confidential.
Posted by Moina Noor

13 comments:

  1. I have been working for the Norwalk Public School system for 15 years and I have never been so disgusted and upset about the way the NFEP members are treated as I am now. We have always been given the least amount of consideration when it comes to our contract. It is true that we have been without a contract since July 2009; however the NASA members got 3.5% increase and the Asst. Superintendent and the HR Director (who is negotiating our contract - how sad!)just received substantial salary increases. Also, the NFT members received salary increases this past year. How convenient that two BOE members would not comment. Do any of the BOE members know exactly what the NFEP members really do every day to keep the Norwalk Public System running smoothly. I would really like to see what would happen if all of the NFEP members decided not to show up for work one day. How would the NPS System function? I applaud Donna Riddell for speaking up at the last BOE meeting. I know she has been working hard on our contract renewal, but unfortunately, no one cares. I hope that Dr. Marks reads this blog and does something to help us.
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  2. I totally agree with the 7:22pm post - you are the lowest paid employees of the NPS; however you forgot to mention that the Executive Support Group also got a new contract this year with a pay increase. So why are we paying the Board's lawyers to negotiate your contract when that money could have gone towards your contract. Oh, I forgot, we all know who runs the NFEP Union. His initials are BM and he could care less about your union. All I know that every member of the NFEP are the "backbone" of the NPS, but no one wants to realize that. I work with several of your union members and I know that I could not get any of my work accomplished without them. Shame on you Board Members and past Superintendents for not supporting the NFEP Union.
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  3. Well said and shame on the board for allowing two interim Central Office administrators to continue working in positions that have been filled.
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  4. I'd like to throw in my own remarks at this time, if I may. This is a very important topic which does not get the proper dialogue it deserves. First and foremost, I have to say that my own experience with NFEP union employees is that they are generally a hard-working, reliable group of individuals. These are the aides who work directly with children, the school secretaries who run the schools, and the librarians who provide library services to students and staff. Their jobs are not the kind that are merely "filled." We come to rely on their individual personalities and unique talents to make the school more personable, more nurturing, and more resourceful. You don't hire ordinary people to fill these positions. Theirs is a humble salary that demands way too much. Not only do many of these people have to work well with principals, they also have to work well with specific teachers and prove their adaptability and resourcefulness on the job. Once they have proven themselves, I would think we would try our very, very best to keep them. It's a rare individual who can juggle many demanding tasks and have the patience needed to deal with children. And while we're on this topic, can we please do something about adjusting their contract re: early dismissal in a snow storm so these poor people do not have to risk their own safety because they all have to wait to leave until the last bus is gone?
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  5. 7:22, How is it that the support staff at some schools are well mannered and responsive (Ponus, Kendall, Marvin) and others not so much. In fact at one school the support staff is so miserable I wonder why they come to work each day. So why the disparity in customer service? How are these folks evaluated and why are they allowed to keep their jobs when they are so rude to the public? Why is that? In the private sector these women would be out of a job so fast their heads would spin. How would you like to go into a school approach a secretary's desk and have someone say to you "what are you doing here, you're not supposed to be here you're supposed to be out front?" Lovely, just lovely. Worse, there are two others just like her. And the princiapl, can't even be bothered to return a call. Let's see, is this the example we want to set for the students? If kids today are poorly mannered, thoughtless and rude we have to look only at some of our schools because if we as visitors are being treated like this how are the student's being treated?

    To the point though, by all means the support staff should have the increase in salary. However, it should not be across the board. Bad behavior should not be rewarded. Give the increase to the workers that deserve it. Sitting behind a computer all day does not entitle someone to a raise.

    It's time the schools/unions got with the program and considered giving raises based on merit not tenure or even beacause the staff shows up for work. It should be based on a comprehensive evaluation just like in the private sector. Do you know evaluations ask about attitude, dressing appropriately for the workplace, as well as the skills it takes to do the job. yes, that's the way the real world works. Mollycoddling not performing workers is not tolerated. Ching, ching, is that the sound of our tax dollars being spent on across the board raises? Again?
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  6. 7:20, you have a very good point. I was the over-enthusiastic poster writing from my own perspective. The employees I know are very upbeat and helpful. Forgive my narrow tunnel vision. Yours brings up a very important issue that needs to be addressed in our district asap: attitude and building climate. This has got to come from the top. You can't tell people to "smile" all day. You can't tell them to "be upbeat and happy" either. It is a feeling you have to cultivate in the workplace and it stems from the top. I know many employees who try so hard to keep smiling all day in a very oppressive work environment, regardless. Kids, however, being the emotional sponges they are, always catch negative vibes whether you hide them or not. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that it is essential to implement a valid means of measuring building climate that will truly address weaknesses to FIX them as they fester. Positive climate is the magic pill we have yet to take seriously in our district. So 7:20, yes... I am blaming an over-arching attitude monitoring that does not appear to exist. Friendly approachable employees are cultivated from the top down.
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  7. You are right that friendly approachable employees are cultivated from the top down, so why do we have Administrators in this district who are not so "friendly and approachable"? Who evaluates the Administrators including those in the Central Office? Why did the BOE approve the recent pay raises of the Asst. Supt. and the HR Director without an evaluation? This district has no respect for all of the NFEP members. It is so obvious by the remarks made by Jack Chiaramonte in the Norwalk Hour on 7/23/10. He said "You look around at what's going on in the country right now -- everybody's cutting back. He also said that the other unions had their contracts renewed before the budget crunch". Wake up Jack, the NASA and the Executive Support Group union had their contracts renewed either right before or during the "budget crunch". Somehow they just slid through the crack. This just proves what all members of NFEP feel - that most people, (especially Bruce M.,the previous Superintendent and Interim Superintendents) in this district do not appreciate all of the hard work that the NFEP members do on a daily basis. I am asking Steve Colarossi and Sue Haynie to step up to the plate and get this serious situation taken care of. We are counting on you!
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  8. Update from D.C. Friday 7/23/10

    Pink Slip Day.

    Rhee dropped the hammer today.

    241 teachers and 61 support personel were dismissed today. The staff had signed the contract last year that included the stipulations of significant cash incentives for positive performance and dismissals for poor performance.

    The evaluations were in depth, done by a variety of experinced staff and outside evaluators. Teachers were observed five different times by five different evaluators.

    The only dismissals the union is challenging are the dismissals over teachers being unlicensed or with insuffucient qualifcattions.

    Superintendent Rhee battled for the right to fire the deadwood but she also put the huge diamond studded carrot out there for the whole world to see.

    If your a teacher, are good at your craft, really give a damn, Rhee will welcome you.
    If your looking to just keep on, keeping on, Rhee is gonna kick the booty.

    No excuses, no exceptions.

    We have to raise the bar. Raise our expectations of our students, our teachers and support/admin staff.

    Rhee is making it happen, she cares, she's committed and she isn't gonna quit. She has some of the worlds heaviest hitters behind her.

    The woman is gonna turn it around in DC.
    She has the tools and the resources, private resources that are not going to evaporate at some election.

    Every child in D.C. is going to get that shot in life, long as Rhee has anything to say about it.

    Way, way cool.

    Rhee is a true American hero.

    Back on the local scene students, teachers, staff and BOE, gaze at >>> Marks.

    Is Marks online?

    Have the passion?

    The steadfast determination?

    The personal committment, professional skills?

    With complete understanding of the responsibilities, the human moral committment to education?

    Is Marks committed to the education of every single student, regardless of cultural or socio economic challenges and barriers?

    Will Marks set the tone and clean up what needs cleaning up and take us forward?

    Can Marks intergrate technology to not just reduce, but with the goal to, completely eliminate the achivement gaps.

    Yes, it all can be done.

    Really isn't all that difficult.

    The resources are out there and the time has finally arrived.

    Now is the time, here is the place.

    We CAN NOT fail any more children.

    None.

    It's our challenge as well as Superintedent Marks to make that happen and make it happen now.
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  9. This is about the NFEP contract - not about Rhee! We don't care about Rhee! Let's keep this post on target - the NFEP members do not have a contract and the BOE and Bruce M. do not care about anyone in the NFEP union. We need a contract with a raise just like every other union in this district received this year, even though we had to cut $5M from the budget.
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  10. I can't believe what Jack Chiaramonte said in the Hour article on 7/23 "everybody is cutting back", then why did Jack and the other Board Members approve the Asst. Supt. and Dir. of HR's contract -with substantial raises- after the budget crunch was passed? It is a joke. The NFEP union are the lowest paid union in the school system. What a disgrace! Without them, there would be no school system. It is about time that the Board Members and Dr. Marks realizes that we have to stop putting them at the bottom of the barrel. Maybe some of the Board Members should spend a day with one NFEP employee to see how hard they work and how little they are paid. Also, it's about time that Bruce M. keeps his nose out of their union. They are tired of him because he doesn't care what happens to their union - it's only about the teachers!
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  11. B.M. has no integrity. It's high time he got off the gravy train.
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  12. If you dont feel comfortable in education maybe there is some other field that would give one greater pleasure and sense of accomplishment than watching and helping little minds grow. Reading some of these posts makes me wonder, where are folks priority's?
    Instead of focusing on improving some are bickering about compensation. With the state leadership, missing in action and local leadership non exsisstent, no wonder we lost out on RTTT. People, YOU, are supposed to be the grown ups. You, as school personel, are representing the entire district are supposed to be setting examples. Lots of work to do.
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  13. 12:22pm post - what are you saying - that they are supposed to set examples but not get compensated for it? Then why do the teachers, nasa union members, executive support group members and central office administrators get compensated with substantial pay increases? Why aren't the new "Parents Not Politicians" Board Members helping NFEP union members get their contract renewed with pay increases and benefits that equal every other union in this district? We depend on the NFEP members to get all of the "little minds" to grow, so why should they be one of the lowest paid unions in this district?
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