Guidelines on the Boycott should now have reached members.
It is important that all members follow these guidelines inorder to make the boycott as effective as possible.
Monitoring, classroom observation and target-setting will bepart of the new appraisal process linked to pay: members shouldnot take part in these processes or provide cover to enable othersto do so.
The only exceptions are:
By now you should have received your ballot paper for the GeneralSecretary election.
VOTE CHRISTINE BLOWER FOR GENERAL SECRETARYThe Officers of this Association all recommend a vote for Christine.She is a primary school teacher and past President of the Unionwith years of experience working on the National Executive. Sheis strongly committed to improving the working conditions forclassroom teachers, as those who saw her recently at the YorkshirePlayhouse will have heard. We know her well enough to know thatshe is not - as Doug McAvoy tries to suggest in his election statement- an extreme left candidate.
This election will determine the shape of the Union for thenext 5 years
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE
Stage 1 of the placement procedure has filled 269 vacanciesin primary and 304 vacancies in secondary. 413 teachers remainto be placed after this round.
Stage 2 starts on Monday June 14th when a list of all remainingvacancies LEA wide will be sent into closing schools.
Teachers who are still seeking a placement will have to returntheir forms by Friday 18th June. The cluster meetings will beheld on Tuesday 29th June for primary and Tuesday 6th and Wednesday7th July for secondary.
The NUT office will be open until at least 5:00pm from Monday14th to Thursday 17th June to give individual advice to members.
General MeetingWe reported in a previous newsletter that Section 11has beenreplaced by the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant, EMAG, whichcomes through the Standards Fund and has, eventually, to be devolvedto schools. Schools will take over the responsibility for thecontracts of the staff working there at the time they receivethe devolved funding. They cannot take the money and not the staff.
In Bradford it was agreed that there should be no change tothe service until at least Sept. ’99. We are arguing thatthe service should continue to be centrally managed until at leastSept. 2000 to allow staff movement from closing schools to bemanaged by the LEA. This is currently being discussed by a workinggroup of headteacher, union and LEA representatives which includesJane Rendle for the unions.
Some schools with small ethnic minority populations, who didnot have Section 11 staff, may gain financially from the changeto EMAG funding. It will be tempting for these schools to tryto demand that the new funding mechanism is brought in rapidly.However, because staffing responsibilities are devolved with themoney, our priority must be a smooth transition between the twofunding systems, with staff experiencing a minimum of insecurityand disruption.
Schools will be consulted on an LEA recommendation during thishalf term. Please make your Head aware of support for a well managedchange, even if it means deferring for a year, access to a small amount of EMAG funding.
Talim teachers in closing schools have not been involved instaff reorganisation up to now while the future management ofthe service has been under discussion. It seems likely that decisionsabout the timescale for devolution will only be finalised latethis term.
Talim teachers in Middle schools are now being asked to indicatewhether they are interested in a placement in a Primary schoolfrom next term, so that the LEA is in a position to transfer staffto meet the needs of the year 5 pupils at short notice.
This is obviously an anxious time for all Talim staff and particularlythose in closing schools. Please contact this office if you arein need of advice. We will be giving a more up to date reporton the situation at the General Meeting on June 22nd (see overfor details).
A CONFERENCE organised by Birmingham NUT addressing ‘Strategiesfor Action’ in relation to the EMAG changes will be heldin Birmingham on Saturday 26th June.
The aim of the conference is to identify strategies for actionand to co-ordinate a Union response to Section11 funds being transferredfrom the Home Office to DfEE under the heading of EMAG.
An Officer of the Association will be attending. If you are interestedin attending, please contact the union office as soon as possible.
Teachers in the proposed EAZ schools in Soth Bradford are remindedthat there is a briefing meeting in the NUT Office on Tuesday15th June at 4:00pm
At our last General Meeting ( April 20th ) we voted to affiliateto the national Cuba Solidarity Campaign and to support the fundraising activities of the local branch.
The next fund-raising event is a 'Meal for Cuba' on Friday, June18th at 7.30 pm at the Fair Trade Café price £8.
(You are advised to book in advance - ring Simon Watson on 01274745002)
If you would like more information about how we can help the Cubanpeople, you can contact the Cuba Solidarity Campaign on 0171 2636452.