MINUTES OF THE GENERAL AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS 25th SEPTEMBER, 2001.
Phil Grayston a former member of Bradford NUT who has been working with children in NEPAL spoke about SAFE (see leaflet)
Meeting agreed to donate £300 to SAFE Children's Home in Nepal.
Welcome to teachers new to Bradford. Officers introduced themselves and explained the work they do.
Apologies
Jenny Smith, Lapage; Dennis Farrell, Buttershaw;Hazel Dansen, Exec.
Minutes
Agreed as a true record.
Matters Arising
The ballot for National Officer nominees resulted in the nominations of Mary Crompton, Bernard Regan (Vice Presidents), Ian Murch (Treasurer) and Roger King and Alyson Palmer (Examiner of Accounts). As the last meeting agreed, a donation of £1600 was made to their campaign costs.
National Executive Nominations
Hazel Danson and Ian Murch proposed. Agreed to nominate these 2.
Motions for Annual Conference 2002
Put back to next General Meeting (Nov 6th)
Reports
School reorganisation
Buildings
Miriam reported on the progress of the building program. Some schools had still been building sites at the beginning of term and members had called on the Union for advice and support. Miriam and Stuart have good communication with Bovis who responded to the problems they identified. School opening was delayed in some 'cases' until the sites were safe for teachers to work on them.
People
There are still a small number of NUT members who are supernumerary and we will support them.
Teacher shortage and Cover
Agreement over 'banking' cover - we have asked the Authority to negotiate clear guidelines on how this will work.
The Graduate teachers scheme, which is being used to fill a large number of vacancies in some schools, is problematic. The schools need support which is not yet in place to run the scheme.
Social Harmony
Members reported worrying levels of vandalism, threat and tension in some areas of the city. This is not necessarily inter-racial but seems to stem from the unrest last June and to be exacerbated by the attack of September 11th and the subsequent talk of action against Afganistan. There is no adequate response from the Authority.
The link between these issues and underachievement was noted.
It was decided to call a meeting to discuss these issues for Tuesday 9th October, 22 Edmund Street 4.30 - all members welcome.
The Vacancy for Equal Opportunities Officer was highlighted, and members were encouraged to put themselves forward for this and other positions.
The White Paper
"Schools achieving Success"
Specialist schools, deregulating employment of staff - are among many issues of concern to the Union. It was agreed that in order to help our work to defend comprehensive education we should assist in establishing a branch of CASE (the Campaign for the Advancement of State Education) in Bradford.
Education Bradford
Serco is restructuring services and staff. There have asked for expressions of interest in voluntary severance/early retirement and there are continuing uncertainties about redundancies. We will contact all our members who work for SERCO.
Correspondence
It was agreed to buy 50 copies of Bernard Regan's pamphlet on Privatisation at £2 per copy.
A.O.B.
It was agreed to send the banner with members to the protest against plans for further Privatisation at the Labour Party Conference, and to spend £50 on transport.
Meeting closed at 6.44pm.