Haiti Earthquake Relief

I am pleased to leave you with some good news at this week's end - your local executive met this afternoon and approved a total donation of $2800 (that's $1 per member) for Haiti earthquake relief, to be divided equally between the Canadian Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. It is likely that a further donation will be made in the future to help with rebuilding efforts, with a particular emphasis on rebuilding schools in Haiti.

Clicking on the title of today's post will link you to the Canadian Red Cross website, or you can click here: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=5&tid=003. This link will take you to the Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders website: http://www.msf.ca/ If you've not already made a donation to the Haiti earthquake relief efforts, you may wish to consider a donation to one of those organizations, or another of your choosing (e.g., World Vision, Unicef, etc.).

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Simcoe Hall Settlement House

Your ETFO-Durham Political Action Committee has taken a special interest in anti-poverty initiatives in Durham. Through this blog, it is the Political Action Committee's intention to provide information about various local charities and social organizations in Durham, particularly those that ETFO Durham has traditionally supported (e.g., through donations). These organizations can be supported by individual members, through donations of money or volunteer efforts.

Simcoe Hall Settlement House, in Oshawa, is a not-for-profit community resource centre dedicated, since 1935, to assisting less advantaged children, families and vulnerable adults whose lives are affected by poverty. They believe that less advantaged children should not have a lesser future because of their circumstances, and that they should have the best possible start in life through good nutrition, education support and a safe place to be a child for optimum, healthy development during their childhood years. They believe that families and adults should have adequate nutrition, warm clothing, access to information and community support in a time of need.

Simcoe Hall Settlement House relies on volunteers to care for our community. There are many volunteer opportunities in the children's After School Program and Food Bank, as well as special events and fundraising (i.e., the fall Children's Benefit Dinner Auction). The next big event is the Kiwanis Food Drive in April 2010. This food drive is held in partnership with local Kiwanis clubs, community volunteers and Durham school youth. By March, there will be firm dates for the event. There will be lots to do in preparation for this initiative as this is the largest single day food drive event of the year.

For more information, click on the title of today's post to access the Simcoe Hall website (www.simcoehall.com) or call 905-728-7525.

And the survey says...

Earlier this month, members were asked for feedback on the placement of PA days during the 2010-2011 school year calendar. Results of the 2010-2011 school year calendar survey have been tallied and here are the results that have been submitted to the DDSB:

• Members overwhelmingly chose to have an additional PA day prior to Labour day (Wednesday, September 1 and Thursday, September 2, 2010) in order to free up an additional day to be used on the Friday prior to March break (85% voted for this option);
• Given the choice between parent-teacher interviews on Friday, November 12th OR Friday, November 19th, respondents chose the later date of November 19th for this PA day (the interviews will follow the fall progress report);
• The first report card of the year is to be sent home with students between January 20 and February 20. As per our collective agreement, one PA day for the purpose of assessment and completion of report cards is designated for teachers prior to this first report card. The vast majority of members chose the later January PA day for report card writing - Friday, January 28th was the final choice;
• For the second and final report card, another PA day is designated for report card writing. Members chose Friday, June 3rd, 2011, as their report writing day - this closely mirrors this year's June 4th report writing day.
• The final PA day is typically on June 30th (or the last weekday of June).

The Board will be submitting their proposed 2010-2011 school year calendar to the Ministry of Education shortly. We'll let you know once the calendar is approved (usually late winter/early spring). Thanks again for your input in our annual school year calendar survey!

Thanks for your feedback!!

We appreciate the feedback that we received from MANY worksites regarding the 2010-2011 school year calendar. We will be tabulating the results tomorrow and will share them with you here - remember that the 2010-2011 school year calendar will not be "official" until the Ministry of Education has approved the Board's submission later this winter.

The Edvantage Advantage

What is Edvantage? It's a free savings/discount program that's exclusively for members of the educational community. Using your ETFO membership card (the white one with the apple on it), you can access savings from a wide variety of companies and services, such as:

• The Brick
• Enterprise Rent-a-Car
• Fallsview Indoor Waterpark
• Goodlife Fitness
• Great Wolf Lodge
• H & R Block
• Hakim Optical
• Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (Leafs and Raptors tickets)
• Softmoc
• Young Drivers of Canada
• and many more...

Click on the title of today's post to link to the Edvantage website for more information!

ETFO Awards - Deadline is Approaching!

ETFO is committed to recognizing members for their achievements and contributions to the federation, to education and to their communities. Each year, ETFO presents a number of awards to members and, in some cases, community members for their outstanding work.

February 1st is the deadline for over 20 of these awards. Please see your ETFO bulletin board at your worksite for the poster which provides more information about each of these awards, or click on the title of today's post to link to the awards section of ETFO's website for information and application forms. Note that awards applications do require, at minimum, the signature of the local President, and in some cases require a motion be passed at a local executive meeting - NOT a general meeting (our next local executive meeting is on January 29th). If you wish to nominate someone for an award, please read the application carefully and build in enough time for it to be processed accordingly.

Some of the awards with a February 1st, 2010, deadline:

• Anti-Bias curriculum development award
• Arts and Culture award
• Children's literature award
• Curriculum development award
• Health and Safety Activist award
• Honorary Life membership
• Local leadership award
• Local Website of the Year award
• New Teacher Award
• Outstanding Role Model for Women Award - Women's Program
• Writer's Award
• ....and many more

Full Day Kindergarten Phase One Schools

The much anticipated announcement was made by the provincial government yesterday afternoon - the selection of Phase One schools for the first full-day, every day kindergarten classes for the 2010-2011 school year.

This link will take you to a pdf file of all the Phase One schools in Ontario district school boards:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/earlylearning/PhaseOneSchools.html

Here's the list of DDSB schools that will have full-day, every day kindergarten classes beginning in September 2010:

Oshawa
- Village Union Public School
- Dr CF Cannon Public School
- Glen Street Public School
- Ritson Public School
- Bobby Orr Public School
- Harmony Public School
- Gertrude Colpus Public School
- Mary St. Community School
- Waverly Public School
Ajax
- Bolton C Falby Public School
- Duffin's Bay Public School
Pickering
- Bayview Heights Public School
- Fairport Beach Public School
Beaverton
- Thorah Central Public School
Scugog
- Cartwright Central Public School
Whitby
- Sir William Stephenson Public School

Attitude is everything.

"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning...."

Joseph Priestley, English scientist

Research indicates that those with a positive attitude have lower stress levels, less sickness and live longer. Attitude is a lifestyle choice. Individual people's attitudes can affect the overall morale of the whole staff and the tone of the workplace. We cannot make other people act in a certain way but we can make choices regarding our attitude in a situation...

Eight Steps to Maintaining a Positive Attitude

1. Assume the best in others -- look for the positive side of a situation. Try to find common ground to build to a positive outcome.
2. Actions speak louder than words -- rather than think or talk about a problem, do something about it.
3. Simplify your life -- get rid of unhealthy relationships and maintain contact with positive people.
4. Share your positive approach with others. Make "random acts of kindness" routine.
5. Set reasonable tasks, goals, and expectations for yourself. Celebrate your accomplishments.
6. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
7. Laugh often with others and at yourself.
8. Don’t hesitate to forgive, forget, and move ahead.

The above is excerpted from the ETFO resource "After the Chalk Dust Settles", created to assist teachers in recognizing the importance of maintaining a healthy balance and establishing a sense of wellness.

The Dangers of Electronic Communication

The issue of electronic communication, cyberbullying, defamatory websites, and social networking sites has been the topic of numerous ETFO publications over the past few years. In an effort to be proactive and prevent possible difficulties, ETFO has advised members to be extremely cautious when communicating electronically with students as well as parents. The following information is from a PRS Matters bulletin issued by ETFO last spring. For more information about this topic or to read other PRS Matters bulletins (on a wide variety of topics), click on the title of today's post or on the link at the bottom of today's post.

The following tips regarding electronic communication are provided for members to guide you in your professional practise:

General

• Always maintain a professional demeanor in all interactions with students, parents, colleagues, and administrators.
• Failure to communicate appropriately puts teaches at risk with the employer, College of Teachers, Children’s Aid Society, and police.
• Do not e-mail students or communicate via instant messaging services.
• Always maintain professional boundaries and avoid communications that could be interpreted as personal.
• It may be inadvisable to use your home/personal computer for contact with parents or students.

Communicating with students

• Do not e-mail students for personal reasons.
• Your messages may be forwarded to a much wider audience – deliberately or unintentionally and they may be manipulated.
• Avoid casual, familiar tone that can erode boundaries.
• Watch your language.
• Do not comment on student-parent or student-student relationships or other colleagues.
• Avoid sharing or receiving personal information which might be construed as violating boundaries or “grooming.

Communicating with parents

• Be aware that your e-mail can be used as evidence of your conduct.
• Your messages may be forwarded to a much wider audience – deliberately or unintentionally.
• Avoid lengthy e-mail exchanges that consume a lot of time. In addition to increasing your workload, protracted exchanges may be prone to misinterpretation.
• Respect confidentiality: obtain permission to use e-mail communications.

Protect Yourself

• Refrain from using a personal computer account for school communication purposes and use caution when using school based computers.
• Do not leave a computer unattended when logged into the school board system.
• Protect username and password against identity theft to prevent unauthorized e-mail under your name or access to school documents.
• Where possible, change your password(s) on a regular basis.
• Respond to complex messages from parents by telephone or face-to-face meeting whenever possible.
• Clear the web browser’s cache memory after every session on a computer.

If you do send messages:

• Save a copy of the original message.
• Use spelling and grammar checks on materials that you plan to e-mail or post on a web site.
• Signatures should include your name, assignment title, and school name.
• Avoid unnecessary attachments and/or forwards.
• Do not write e-mails in capital letters (capitals indicate SHOUTING).
• Never forward a message without permission from the sender first.
• Always maintain professional standards when sending e-mails to students, parents, colleagues (including friends), and administrators on board equipment – treat every e-mail as though it is a written letter.
• Do not engage in casual gossip on chat lines as it is unprofessional.

http://www.etfo.ca/AdviceForMembers/PRSMattersBulletins/Pages/default.aspx

Attendance Management Advice

Just prior to the holidays, the DDSB officially announced the launch of an Attendance "Support" Program. We emailed members to give some information about the numerous concerns we have with this program and promised more information would be forthcoming in January. All worksites will receive an all-member memo tomorrow (Friday) about the attendance management program and we ask that you take a few minutes to read it. We have worked together with OSSTF District 13 and CUPE Local 218, so all unionized employee group members are receiving the same information and advice.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please be sure to follow the advice that we have provided!! Most importantly, do NOT attend ANY meeting regarding your attendance without having union representation present from the local office. Any program/process that can potentially end in the termination of your employment should be taken very seriously. No matter how friendly the tone or approach, do not forget that this is a disciplinary process, despite what the DDSB might have you believe. We are there to advocate for you!

2010-2011 School Year Calendar Survey is Coming!

Although we're not quite half way through this school year, thoughts are already turning to the 2010-2011 school year calendar. In the midst of report card writing and holiday hubbub, the DDSB issued its consultation memo to establish dates for next year's PA days and holidays. For the last several years, we at ETFO Durham have conducted our own school year calendar survey each January, in order to directly seek your feedback. The results of this survey help us to provide the Board with clear direction from you, the members.

Stewards will be sent the survey early next week to share with ETFO members at their worksite. This year, we will be seeking feedback on two main issues:

1. Whether you wish to have one or two PA days prior to Labour Day weekend. Having two PA days prior to the first week of school would free up one day in the school year, allowing the Friday before March break to be designated as a holiday. This would also mean that there would be no PA days remaining during the regular school year for school- or system-based professional development (as all the remaining 4 PA days would be pre-determined: interview day, 2 report card writing days, etc.).


2. The placement of PA days will be important this year as it will determine the dates that the two report cards and the fall progress report go home with students. Prior to each of the two report cards, teachers will have available a PA day for their own use, for writing report cards and assessment of student work.

The survey will provide you with some options to address the issues listed above. Please give them some thought as your informed feedback is important!

Happy New Year and Welcome Back!

Happy New Year! We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday and are back to work today feeling rejuvenated!

Now seems as good a time to remind you of the following with respect to your pay:

• Your last pay of 2009 was received on December 30th, and you should have found your paystub awaiting you upon your return to work today.
  
• As the December 30th pay was the third paydate in the month of December, your pay was slightly larger as there are minimal deductions on the 1st and 3rd pays of most months.
  
• Your first pay of 2010 is on January 13th - be prepared for the pinch in your pocketbook! As is the case every January, CPP and EI deductions will resume with the new calendar year. For those at the top of the salary grid, these deductions are typically finished in late June or early fall. As well, the Ontario College of Teachers' annual fee for 2010 ($120) will also be deducted from this first paycheque.
  
• The combination of these deductions can mean potentially hundreds of dollars less on this upcoming pay compared to the December 30th pay. Please budget accordingly each year!