New Rochelle FUSE President Martin Daly sent out an update on May 13th to members on contract negotiations and the deficit in instructional hours at the two middle schools:
Negotiations Update
The school board and the FUSE will finally sit down to begin contract negotiations on May 13. Our first meeting will be at the FUSE office. That will leave the school board and the union approximately 25 days to reach a settlement in order to present our members with the a proposed agreement prior to the end of the school year. However, despite the suggestion from the FUSE to limit the scope and number of proposals for discussion given our tight time frame, the school board’s attorney informed Cheryl Smith, Negotiations Committee chairperson, last week that the board planned to submit 10 “substantive proposals” and additional items for clarification or editorial review. Read the newsletter or more detailed information.
Middle School Instructional Hours
FUSE has met several times with the district administrators and the attorney for the school board to resolve the state mandated minimum instructional hours. At this time, the instructional day (excluding extra help) will have classes beginning, depending on building and grade level, between 8:20 and 8:35. The last instructional class, Period 8, will dismiss between 2:54 and 3:16, depending on the building and/or grade level. Extra help will be following these dismissal times within the current contractual day. Currently, there has been no change to the contractual building teacher “check in” times, nor the contractual end of the day. Please note, that although FUSE has met regarding instructional hours, the negotiations team is set to begin negotiations with the district and thus this information may change subject to upcoming negotiations.