Political Action-On Monday, March 10, Rick and Pat spent the day at the Legislative Office Building with Susan Williams, our AFT-Ct Lobbyist. We sat in on the Education Committee hearings and listened to testimony. One of our concerns was the proposed bill to allow each vocational-technical school to hire a development officer or dedicate an existing employee to such a role . The role of this employee would be to promote the school throughout the middle schools in the region that the vocational-technical school serves . This bill was introduced by Representatives Cafero (Norwalk), Klarides (Derby), and Hamzy (Terryville). Representative Sean Williams (Watertown) spoke in favor of the bill but Senator Gaffey, House Chair of the committee questioned the logic of such an expenditure stating that he understood that the current V-T teachers and students are doing a very successful job of recruiting. Its interesting that the Connecticut Legislature continues to refer to us as the Vocational-Technical schools. So much for a name change!
Labor Management-will meet again on May 9, 2008 at the SVFT offices. If you have strong opinions about something or a question or concern, please let us know and we may consider adding it to our L.M. agenda.
Outreach-met on 3/6. The work of this committee continues in earnest. The next meeting is scheduled for March 19.
School Visits -The schedule for school visits is being prepared and will be published shortly.
Budget Committee-met on Thursday, 2/27 at 4:00 at the SVFT office. A comprehensive budget for the 2008 2009 school year was prepared and the Executive Council reviewed it on Wednesday, 3/5. The changes to the budget were explained by Treasurer Ed Leavy and the council voted to accept the proposed budget for 2008-2009. The budget will be printed in the April Vocational Instructor and it will be voted on at the General Membership meeting on May 15. (Click here to view the budget proposal.)
Scholarship Applications Available - the applications for the nine (9) students and the teacher grant(s) are available on the SVFT web site. Deadline for completed applications is May 15, 2008
Survey Committee- the survey committee met on Thursday, February 28. Ed Leavy was elected to chair this committee. If you are interested in serving on this committee please contact the union office.