Check-In, Monday, March 9th

Good morning, County! Happy Monday!

Last week saw a marked up-tick in e-mails about the CoVid-19 virus here at the office. Many teachers may be travelling on the break, and they have some legitimate concerns. I had everything from “Will I get paid if I get quarantined?” to “Should I stay home if I have a compromised immune system”?

To start with, our contract has very specific language around quarantine, which reads :

31.03 No teacher on a permanent, probationary or term contract shall suffer a loss of salary when absent:
(i) because the teacher has been placed in quarantine by a medical officer or other person authorized by law,

So, yes, in the unlikely event that you arrive back from your travels and require quarantine, we would expect you to be paid.

The other questions are a bit more tricky, and would need to be dealt with on a case by case basis. Should CoVid 19 eventually arrive on our shores (which is likely) then the instructions on how to proceed will essentially be “Follow the advice of your physician”. 

Obviously, if this situation develops into something more concerning, there will be more information coming out from sources much more reliable than your local president 🙂 However, I am happy to do my best to answer your questions should you have any specifics. Just drop me a line.

I did have a chance to meet with HRCE last week to discuss the re-alignment of schools that is impacting some of you, and it looks like the process will, once again, be relatively straight forward. Each school will be handled by their individual HR manager, and we will be coming out to your buildings in the weeks following March Break to walk you through the process, and answer any questions that you may have. There are only one or two small details left to be ironed out (time, which locations etc) but I will try my best to get that sorted out before the break. Again, I ask for you patience, and will advise as soon as I know.

Just to clarify report cards for elementary and junior high do not have to be submitted prior to THURSDAY, MARCH 25th. That is the day after the assessment and evaluation day, which has been provided to complete this work. 

We have a few information sessions coming up as well for your calendars. On Thursday, April 30th, there will be another retirement information session at 3106 Joseph Howe Drive at 4:30 pm. Contact taraarseneau@nstu.ca to register.

As well, on May 14th there will be a Contract Information Session at Joseph Howe, again at 4:30 pm. If you have questions about how to navigate how to secure a contract with the HRCE, contact sehanifen@nstu.ca to find out more.

Finally, nominations are now open for the election of a Provincial Executive member. PE serve two year terms, and may only serve for a total of four years (in most cases.) One of our current members (Shaun Doyle) is at the end of his first two year term, so the seat is open to being contested. 

The Provincial Executive position is one of the most important in our organization. The Provincial Executive members are the upper chamber of decision making in the NSTU, and have a direct say in everything from NSTU structure to policy and governance. If you are interested in putting your name forward,  simply click on the link on the right hand side of this page.

That’s it for this week, County. Best of luck in this final week, and enjoy your March Break.

 

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