AMU Time

March 2015

Agenda Roll Call Approval of Agenda Approval of February Minutes Executive Board Report Committee Reports Unfinished Business- None New Business- Teacher and Counselor Stipends-UTLA Resolution Discussion Items Announcements Adjournment

Executive Board Reports President- Salina Joiner

Bonuses How to read your paycheck Eval Survey AMU time survey New Eval Committee Member Site Rep Shout-Outs

Bonuses

Why Are Bonuses Taxed? According to the IRS bonuses are considered supplemental income therefore they are taxable and held to a higher withholding rate.

The bonuses can be taxed in either two ways. The Percentage Method or the Aggregate Mate.

The Percentage Method: The IRS specifies a flat rate of 25% of any amount should be taxed only to the bonus.

The Aggregate Method: When the employer adds the amount of your bonus to your most recent regular paycheck. Next, they determine the normal withholding amount based on IRS withholding tables for the sum of both amounts, subtract what was already withheld from the last paycheck, and withhold the rest from the bonus amount.

What about state taxes? The state of California also taxes bonuses at 10.23%

Green Dot uses the Percentage Method.

Decision Making Tree

AMU E-Board/Management

AMU E-Board/Management

Evaluation Survey The eboard and management are conducting a survey on the

evaluation system in order to get feedback and input from members.

This results of the survey will be shared with the eboard/management team, evaluation committee and negotiation committee with the goal of implementing changes that represent the interest of our members.

The survey will be sent via Green Dot emails from March 3rd to March 11th

The results of the survey and recommendations will be shared via webinar April-24th

New Evaluation Committee Member

Thank you Leah Gunderson for being about of the evaluation committee!!

Site Rep Shout Outs A special shout out to the site reps at Locke. Thank you for ensuring that the contract is upheld on a

daily basis. We appreciate your hard work

Vice President Angel Maldonado

Counselor Vice President Carol Moreno

Counseling Steering Committee Members

Gabriela Cervantes, MS Counselor, Animo Jefferson Charter Middle School

Porsha Boyd, HS Counselor, Animo Jackie Robinson Charter High School

Stephanie Nunez, HS Counselor, Animo College Prep Academy

Carol Moreno, HS Counselor, Animo Venice Charter High School

Kristin Botello, Principal, Animo Jackie Robinson Janneth Johnson, Director of Counseling and Student

Services Theresa Asuncion, College and Career Success Coordinator Julia Fisher, Coordinator of Educator Effectiveness

Counselor Vice President Carol Moreno

Counseling Steering Committee MeetingsAll meetings are at home office from 11:30-3:00 pm February 24, 2015 March 24, 2015 April 21, 2015 May 26, 2015

Counselor Vice President Carol Moreno

QIT (Quality Improvement Team)Counselors:Team of counselors that will be looking at current counselor evaluation and make recommendations for its improvement shall the pilot counselor evaluation not happen for the 2015-2016 school year.

Laura Gutierrez, Animo Phyllis Wheatley Heidi Davila, Animo Ralph Bunch Tyesha Hemmans, Animo Watts Carol Moreno, Animo Venice Charter

Secretary Danielle Berger

Thank you to all site reps and members that came to the AMU sponsored Happy Hour. A special shout out to APW which had nearly half of its members come out to enjoy happy hour. AMU will sponsor one more happy hour at the end of the year. Open to all members!

TreasurerDanielle Parker

Nothing to report

Committee Reports

Testing Committee

Nothing to report

Membership Committee Report

CTA has not finished processing all of the cards.

Elections Committee ReportStephanie Ronen

Nothing to report.

Benefits Committee ReportBrian Pfeffer

Organizing CommitteeNicole Klanfer, Ben West, Mark Friedman, & Angel Maldonaldo

The Organizing Committee attended a training on relational organizing.

While at the training they developed goals and next steps to help strengthen our union.

Goal: Increase the power of AMU by developing a collective union consciousness and union pride.Objectives: Engage site representatives in relational conversations using one-on-

ones by March 20th, 2015.2. Train site-reps on relational organizing and one-on-ones on April 13th,

2015.3. Site-Reps, the organizing team and the E-board will engage 100% of the membership in one-on-ones by June 6th, 2015.4.

Engage all members in membership involvement events to encourage participation in our union.

Grievance Committee ReportNancy Wang

Locke B Teacher evaluation Grievance (Level 2- scheduled) Submitting Lesson plans (Level 1?) Teacher written warning for “crybaby” comment (resolved?)

GD upheld the written warning at Level 2, and tried to bring in emails from previous years as evidence.

We asked that those email exchanges not be included in the official response.

Grievances Animo Phyllis Wheatley (informal)

Two students were using derogatory and sexual insults towards each other.

Teacher made a sarcastic comment that referred to the sexual content of the insult as a means to reprove the student.

• Teacher received a written reprimand as the comment was considered “egregious”, and as the teacher had been directed earlier this year to use “appropriate language with students.”

Proposed resolution: Teacher receive discipline without skipping steps in the progressive discipline progress (verbal warning or written warning

Bargaining Committee ReportElizabeth Ruff

We received 107 personal emails.

AMU is switching over all email accounts from Gmail to yahoo which has created adelay sending communication out via emails. Problem should be settled this week.

Last bargaining session the following articles were discussed: Article 6.2- Professional Work Day Green Dot would like to implement some sort of standard sign-in policy for safety reasons. This is comparable to other districts. AMU wants to ensure that the professional working day language is implemented at all school sites and that on minimum days members may leave if students and all other school site responsibilities are completed. Article 21 Development Plan Discussed various options for ensuring that there is teacher growth within the Classroom. How do we provide support for teachers that score between a 2.0-2.5 yearafter year?

Bargaining Committee Report cont…

Article IV- AMU Time: Green Dot would like to discuss providing differentiated AMU

time. Are there times during the year when AMU time could be shortened or lengthened depending on needs of school and AMU?

Article IV- President Release time: AMU is seeking for Green Dot to contribute more financially to president release time salary and health benefits. AMU negotiating team is working on bringing standards to the to compare Green Dot to other districts.

Article XXVIII Layoffs: Green Dot would like to conduct lay-offs during the first 30 days if necessary. The current language states that AMU and Green Dot must agree. Green Dot would like to take language out that requires it to be mutual agreement.

Article XXIV: Negotiations : Green Dot would like to limit the amount of reopeners for negotiations. Standard practice is to limit reopeners anywhere from 3-5 articles, in addition to salary and benefits.

Old Business

None

New Business Teacher and Counselor Stipend Positions 2015-2016- A motion

to pass the teacher and counselor stipend positions for the 2015-2016 school year was pot forth and passed. Look on connect to apply for positions

Resolution to support UTLA strike- Site Reps passed a resolution to support UTLA during their impasse on negotiations. In an effort to show union soladarity AMU put forth the following message:

AMU supports UTLA in its efforts to win a decent, fair and just contract that puts the needs of its members and students at the

forefront. As a unionized charter we understand that we face similar issues in our negotiations.

That this resolution and motivation be distributed to all AMU members, media, CTA and UTLA. The Asociacíon de Maestros

Unidos (AMU- Teachers and Counselors union at LA’s 21 Green Dot public schools) applauds the tens of thousands across LA who have

mobilized at city hall and at their schools to defend the rights of educators and the students of Los Angeles.

Have a restful spring breakYou Deserve It!!!