Wright Tech - An “eleventh hour” meeting was called by Lt. Governor Michael Fedele to discuss a proposal to restructure Wright Tech. The State Board of Education was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, Nov. 7 to hear a report and recommendation from the V-T subcommittee to restructure Wright Tech. Business leaders in the Stamford area (who are in collaboration with the SVFT leadership) were able to prevail upon Lt. Gov. Fedele to request an emergency meeting with the governor, the commissioner and the superintendent. This meeting took place late Tuesday afternoon (11/6) and as a result the proposal was pulled from the board agenda. Fedele was quoted in the Stamford Advocate as saying, “At the end of the day, we may end up doing what they had planned on doing tomorrow, but clearly it’s important that all the questions are answered”. Expressing fears that the school would not survive once modeled after Bristol Tech, Fedele replied, “I think we’re more concerned about which program is going to be successful
Labor-Management- The next Labor Management meeting will take place on December 14 at the SVFT office. As per previous agreement, the SVFT will be responsible for taking the minutes at that meeting and Commissioner of Education Mark McQuillan will be attending. Commissioner McQuillan’s attendance at this Labor management meeting is a result of our retreat on 10/31/07.
Seniority List- The Seniority list is posted online. click here Union Reps have a copy at each school. Please check the list. Notify Ed Lang at the SVFT office ASAP if you discover errors.
Constitution Language Changes- the language changes recommended by the Constitution & By-Laws committee were reviewed at the 11/7 Executive Council meeting and voted on and approved by the council. They will be brought to the membership for approval at the general membership meeting on 11/15 at Wilcox Tech.
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING- The first of two general membership meetings for the 2007-2008 school year will take place on Thursday, November 15 at 6:30 p.m. at Wilcox Tech in Meriden. As an incentive and attempt to grow capacity the SVFT leadership will conduct a raffle at the end of the meeting.
Health & Safety - The Health & Safety Committee will be at Norwich THS on November 19th.
Outreach - The SVFT has identified a need for our system to reach out to the people who are making labor decisions in Connecticut. SVFT President, Rick Tanasi and Vice President, Pat Keavney will begin this process by meeting with the Commissioner of Labor on November 28 at 2:30. John Olson, CT AFL-CIO President, will also be attending that meeting.