1975-01-20-SC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 18 January 20, 1975 Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Welch presented a Class Action Grievance at Level elative to a change in the school calendar in December. At that time the School ,ommittee voted to change the calendar after requests for reconsideration were made by teachers, students and parents, The new calendar specified that four days would be added to the end of the school year to make up for time lost during Christmas and New Year's vacation. Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Welch presented the grievance contending the changes made in the calendar by one party to the Agreement caused friction, frustration and lost opportunities and is achange in the working conditions of the other party, the LEA. It was the contention of the LEA that working conditions have been unilaterally changed and that this is a violation of the contract. LEA GRIEVANCE PSC 74-75-10 Mr. Goodwin read a statement further describing the LEA position on School Year - this matter. Mr. Rotberg asked if names of the teachers who would be Calendar disadvantaged by the change could be made available to the committee. He wished to know what the impact would be and how many teachers would be involved. Mr. Welch said that the number involved didn't make a difference and felt the issue was broad enough to be brought before the committee. Mr. Rotberg replied that he could not appreciate the broadness of the issue unless he could have specific information on which to build an option. Mrs. Swanson told Mr. Goodwin that pressure from teachers, parents and students was the reason that the school committee reconsidered the calendar 'est fall. She stressed the fact that Dr. Fobert did not do it on his own. _ urthermore, student and parent frustration, as Mr. Goodwin mentioned earlier, hadn't anything to do with the LEA contract. Dr. Fobert said it would have been easier to leave the calendar in its original state and to treat the few requests for time off individually. Mrs. Davison said that until it is specified in the contract, the School Committee has the right to set the school calendar. Mr. Goodwin said that prevention of the disruption of plans, lost income, and lost opportunities due to a changing of the working conditions is the desire and aim of this grievance. In order to prevent any recurrence of this unfortunate experience, the LEA wished to eliminate the present informal procedure of calen- dar selection which had no formal ties to either the LEA or LSC and substitute instead a mutually acceptable alternative (such as a joint LEA/LSC committee) that would be responsible to and represent the contractual parties and present the best possible school calendar educationally, socially, and economically feasible. Mrs. Berchtold said the committee would take the grievance under advisement and render a decision as soon as possible. At the request of the School Committee, the Science and Math Specialists presented a report describing their roles, responsibilities and functions in the Lexington School System. SCIENCE & MATH SPEC. Mr. Edward Jacobus, Chairperson for the Elementary Science REPORT Specialists, said there are 4 1/2 specialists serving 923 students in the system. All specialists have multi-school assignments. He described the format which the specialists would follow this evening.