Criminal Offence Declarations

Just a reminder to all members that they are due on January 7th, 2008. Your last chance to get the form to them through board mail will probably be as soon as you get in on that first day back. If the board courier picks it up first thing, it will probably make the HR department by day's end.

That said, please endeavour to get the form in board mail by tomorrow (Friday, December 21st) to save any problems. If you receive any calls from HR regarding any problems they have with your declaration, please call the District Office.

Occasional Teachers - Time Sensitive

Please note that numerous postings for 2nd semester LTO positions are currently up on First Class. The deadline date for applications is tomorrow (Friday, December 21st). If you do not have First Class installed on your home computer, you can access it via the web at http://fcinternet.hwdsb.on.ca/

Also, Criminal Offence Declarations are due to the HWDSB Human Resources Department by January 7th. Please call the Human Resources office at the board to arrange a time to pick up and fill in your form.

OCTU Newsletter

Please check the link for the December newsletter.

Have a safe and happy holiday season.

Mary Lou

ALP

Your Annual Learning Plan

It is ALP season in many of our schools. Please remember that your ALP is teacher-authored and directed. Our Board is using the Ministry document, which includes a section for parent and student input. This is strictly voluntary. According to Ministry Guidelines, the ALP is to be done in consultation with the Principal; this does not mean that you are expected to reflect the school plan on your ALP. Choose professional goals that are realistic. The purpose of the TPA process, which includes the ALP, is to assist teachers in professional growth.

For OSSTF guidelines on the ALP, click here.

Teachers' Unit - TGIF

Friday, November 30th, 3:30pm @ Slainte

Click here for map

Hope to see you there!

Branch President Training

On Friday, November 23rd and Saturday the 24th, members of Branch and Unit Executives will be participating in some intensive training and workshops provided by OSSTF District 21.

When you see them on Monday, ask them to share what they've learned.

PAC Workshop

This is your last chance to call in for the Political Action Workshop - "Drowning in Inc."

Members of ALL units are invited to attend. Dinner will be provided.

If you are attending the Branch President's Training on November 23-24, please do not sign up for this workshop as you will be seeing it as part of the activities on Friday afternoon.

To reserve, please call Joanne Stirling at 905-574-8285.

Teachers' Unit - Another Scoop

A hard copy of this semester's second Scoop newsletter should be making its way into your mailboxes soon. If you do not receive a copy, contact your Branch President.

A link to the pdf version can be found in the left column of the webpage under "Scoop 2".

ETFO and OISE Survey

A survey about teacher working conditions may be circulated at your school. The survey is authored by ETFO and OISE. Provincial OSSTF has contacted ETFO in order to prevent this survey from going out to our members; however, it had already been released to several school boards. Should it arrive in your school, OSSTF is advising our members not to fill out this survey. The working conditions of our members are determined by OSSTF, not other unions.

OCTU UNIT MEETING FOR NEW MEMBERS

Just a reminder of the Unit Meeting on Thursday November 15, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. at the District 21 Office - 1423 Upper Ottawa Street, Hamilton.

This meeting will focus on welcoming our new members while sharing information with all.

Join us for the Wine and Cheese festivities.

Hope to see as many of you as we can.

Reminder of TPA Workshop

Just a reminder for those teachers who have signed up for the TPA workshop...it is this Thursday, November 1st, at the District 21 Office. Registration begins at 3:45. If you have signed up and are unable to attend, please contact Joanne at 905-574-8285.

All District 21 Members!

The Political Action Committee is hosting a workshop at the District Office on commercialization and privatization in our schools called "Drowning in Inc." on Thursday, November 22nd at 4:30pm.

Our guest speaker will be Erika Shaker (Director of the Education Project for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives).

Members of ALL units are invited to attend. Space is limited, so please call to reserve your spot. Dinner will be provided.

If you are attending the Branch President's Training on November 23-24, please do not sign up for this workshop as you will be seeing it as part of the activities on Friday afternoon. Encourage fellow members to call and sign up!

To reserve, please call Joanne Stirling at 905-574-8285.

Teachers: Meeting Reminders and Film Night

Tonight (Wednesday, October 24th) is the first meeting of this year's District Health and Safety Committee at 4pm.

Tomorrow (Thursday, October 25th) the Teachers' Unit Benefits Committee meets at 4pm.

Friday night at 6:30 is our Family Film Night. Please call 905-574-8285 and let us know you're coming so we can get the right amount of food. The fun starts at 6:30pm.

Your involvement makes us stronger!

OCTU Benefits

Members can find a complete booklet of benefits in First Class under HR Conferences under Benefit booklets. In addition, through the Internal Board WEB you can get both the summary and booklet under Departments under Human Resources under Benefits.

Employee Satisfaction and Health Survey

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board has indicated to us that they wish to gather information from our members through an online Employee Satisfaction and Health Survey. At this point in time, we do not know when this survey will be administered. However, we are advising our members that they should not fill out this survey.

Our decision is based on the following reasons:
a) The survey asks for extremely personal information, and the Board cannot guarantee anonymity;
b) A number of the questions infringe upon the process of collective bargaining, by asking our members to comment on their salary and benefits;
c) It is unclear how the information gathered will be used, as most of the questions focus on an employee’s personal health and family situation, rather than on workplace and system factors.

Again, we are advising that our members refrain from taking the survey. If you have any further questions, please contact your workplace OSSTF representative, or call your Bargaining Unit President.

Teachers' Unit - Family Film Night

The Teachers' Unit Social/New Members' Committee is hosting a Family Film Night at the District Office on Friday, October 26th at 6:30pm. The festivities should wrap up by 8:30. There will be food, drinks, and giveaways.

Please call Joanne Stirling at 905-574-8285 with approximate numbers in advance.

This is not daycare. Parents are expected to remain with their children at all times.

Direct any questions to the above phone number. We look forward to seeing you all there.

OCTU Newsletter

The October newsletter should be arriving at your school shortly. There is a link to an electronic version on the left of the webpage. There is also an electronic link to the new collective agreement.

WORLD TEACHERS' DAY

WORLD TEACHERS DAY--OCTOBER 5, 2007

Friday is World Teachers' Day, which is sponsored by Education International (EI) and UNESCO. It is celebrated in over 100 countries in the world. The theme of this year's day is 'Quality Teachers for Quality Education'.

The theme is meant to counter an increasing trend of governments to use poorly trained teachers. This fundamentally undermines the quality of education.

Quality education is the key to economic, social, and environmental progress. Quality teachers thus lead the way. October 5th is the day to celebrate teachers worldwide, but also to remind governments that they must continue to support teachers and the essential work that they do.

Happy World Teachers' Day!

Teachers' Unit - TGIF

Our annual New Members TGIF will take place after school on Friday, October 12th at the District Office.

Fliers should be coming around to your schools before week's end.

Please encourage all newer/younger members to attend. (It often helps if you bring them along with you)

This is a great opportunity to meet your Unit Executive and do some face-to-face social networking with teachers from around the district.

All teachers (including occasional) are welcome.

PACfiles: Election Readiness Issue

The PACfiles: Election Readiness Issue will be in your schools next week. Please ask your Political Action representative or Branch President if you haven't received it by Friday, October 5th.

A zip file of all of the PDF pages is available here.

Included in the zip file are the unabridged answers to the survey questions that we sent out to local candidates.

Please feel free to share this document with friends and family members who are concerned with public education in Ontario.

Computerized Attendance

With the implementation of eSIS, the Board is moving towards having teachers enter attendance records on computers rather than scantron sheets. Thus far, this is voluntary. OSSTF believes that this must remain voluntary until all teachers have access to a computer in their classroom in which to enter the attendance. Otherwise, this becomes another task that must be done during unassigned time.

If you have questions about this issue, please call the District Office.

Teachers' Unit - Workshop Notice

The Teachers' Unit and the Active Retired Members are co-hosting a workshop.

THE SMART MONEY will outline financial planning tips for teachers within five years of retiring. There will be representatives from OTG Financial and OTIP to present information and answer questions. A light dinner will be provided.

Thursday, September 27th, 4pm at the District Office.

Please call Joanne Stirling at 905-574-8285 to register. Call early as retirement workshops tend to fill up quickly. A waiting list will be started if attendance gets over 60. Please call if you've reserved a spot, but then found you could not attend.

Hope to see you there.

Teachers' Unit - Meeting Notice

The Social/New Members' Committee will be meeting on September 20th at 4pm. All are welcome. If you enjoy meeting new people and planning events, help us plot out the 2007-2008 school year.

welcome to the new district21.ca

The website has undergone a radical transformation.

Recent news from ALL UNITS will now be found in this space, while executive officers and resource link will be on the left.

Depending on the privacy settings of your computer, you may have to "allow" your browser to run the scripts on this page. A narrow yellow bar appears underneath your address bar to activate this option.

While the text in this panel may not be fancy, it does allow for ALL units to contribute and have their news become part of the dynamically updating webfeed.

If you're used to getting something on the old website and cannot find it now, please email me at osstf21vp1@quickclic.net and I'll let you know where it is.

By clicking on the "district21.ca recent news" link at the top of this column, you will be taken directly to the blog that feeds this page where we'll set up some links to external sites, contact numbers, and the like.

All that said, we hope you enjoy the new layout. Any input is welcome.