All of the Technical High schools are on vacation the week of February 18. Kaynor Tech in Waterbury is the only school in session because they are making up snow days. The SVFT officers will be available most days during the vacation. We will be checking messages and returning phone calls all week. HAVE A RESTFULL, ENJOYABLE WEEK OFF!
Wright Tech Following up on the very well attended meeting in Lt. Governor, Mike Fedeles office, the SVFT is hosting a breakfast meeting on February 26 to continue the dialogue begun on 2/4. The Stamford legislative delegation is invited as well as the other concerned parties present on 2/4. Response has been positive so far.
Labor Management- The Labor-Management team met on Friday, 2/8 at Central Office. Discussion was cordial and agenda topics included: the survey on shortening the exploratory cycles, virtual learning proposals, enrollment data, admissions data and the cut-off scores for each school, the SAIL program and plans for staffing it next year, the status of the remaining 091 certification holders, and Central Offices commitment to Teen Leadership and the Flippen initiatives. Central Office submitted two agenda items, both of which had to do with the SVFT lending support to the CTHSS by promoting a positive image. They cited as an example publishing articles in the Vocational Instructor Newsletter that are positive about the CTHSS initiatives.
Outreach - The committee met on 2/7. Susan Williams, Lobbyist for AFT-CT joined our group. Much discussion took place; a mission statement was adopted and future meetings planned. The committee will meet again in March.
School Visits - Rick and Pat have completed their visits of all of the Title I schools. Teachers are to be commended for their tireless, hard work as they implement all of the Systems initiatives and provide enriching, engaging, and creative lessons.
Budget Committee- will meet on Thursday, 2/27 at 4:00 at the SVFT office. All committee chairs have been asked to submit their requests well in advance of this meeting. A proposed budget for 2008-2009 will be developed at this meeting in time to bring it to the Executive Council for review and approval at the April meeting and then to the membership at the May general membership meeting.
Sabbatical Applications Available - Contact Pat Ciccone at Central Office. Deadline for completed application is March 27, 2008. There is a voluntary technical assistance session scheduled for February 22, 2008; again you must contact Pat Ciccone if you wish to attend.
Survey Committee- The Council approved the formation of a Survey Committee to formulate the topics and questions of future surveys. Members who have volunteered to serve on this committee are Marco Kinsella, Bristol Tech, Ed Leavy, Bullard-Havens and SVFT Treasurer, and Will Arpaia, Wilcox and SVFT Communications Coordinator. The first meeting of this committee has been scheduled for February 28 at 4:00 at the SVFT Office.