In the Express-Times it was reported:
A negotiator for the teachers union said the coverage cutbacks began after 1987 when the district switched to Employee Benefit Trust of Eastern Pennsylvania, a self-insured program that serves public school system employees.And that:
Paul K. Blunt said the reductions have significantly impacted the quality and cost of health care teachers and their families receive.
"Unilaterally, the district just gutted that plan," he told about 40 people gathered at Nazareth Area Middle School for a Parent Teacher Student Association meeting.This quote was also attributed to Blunt, who went on to say that the Districts actions were illegal and the Union would win in a slam dunk if the grievance were heard.
The Union noted they were unaware of the changes and naively accepted the District's word that no changes were taking place through three contract negotiations.
What do you think? I can't imagine no one noticed until now. There are enough teachers that someone over the past 20 years must have run across a situation that would have led them to question why something wasn't covered when it previously was.
7 comments:
I do not know if this makes much sense, kind of like a snowball effect or blind trust in the whole system. but here is my take on the
questions that were asked a few times at the meeting as to why this went on without knowing so. The replies from the the teachers union rep was that slowly over the time as teachers began to realize they did not get covered what they thought was covered they quesitoned such to the teachers union rep and they went to district and ins company which is a trust ins based. And later to find out coverage was not always there and then the teachers would go thru the appeal process and it would be rejected by the ins and told by the that there was not coverage as such, as they happened more so, the teachers union rep looked into matters and was told by the ins it was the admin at the nasd and take it up with them. In the beginning of all this, much was not question and the teachers kind of went with it again out of trust while it was only those ind who situation would arise that medically would need treatment, seem like for what was mention plan books were hard to come by at times and not throughly read by many and not update, as I can say ours it not either. Although because the trust of the teachers and the quote like a family here, well when basically most people working in the nasd went to school in nasd and basically neighbors, a good ole buddy system developed throughout with trust. As this began to unravel the teachers looked more into matters and here we are, a district where you begin to wondering who is truly presents all the facts of matter straight out. Now it is almost a time line is needed. Seems main point of the dealing last night with ins was any changes by law need be nego by the union and district officials equally and this was not done.
It is like the they somewhat dozed off at the wheel, the car was stolen and the passengers kids might be left stranded.
Anonymous, ever hear of punctuation? Just kidding (sort of).
I have multiple problems with this entire subject.
1) The NASD made this change in 1987!! You mean to tell me that it took 20 years for the NAEA to notice a change? I don't buy that they didn't notice it over time. I hope they are more observant when they are teaching their students!
2) The NASD went to the Employee Benefit Trust of Eastern Pennsylvania to handle health care coverage. The EBTEP has coverage for schools in Pike, Monroe and Northampton counties. Northampton county schools covered by EBTEP include Nazareth, IU20, Pen Argyl and Northampton among others. I assume that these schools have similar coverage to Nazareth. So how can Nazareth's coverage be "the worst in PA" if other local schools are utilizing it?
3) The PSEA is using Nazareth to draw a line in the sand as to $$ and benefits. Go to the PSEA website (www.psea.org) and look around. See if you can tell what their utlimate goals are.
I could go on and on, but these recent developements have me more than a little discouraged...
Hopefully someone can confirm this, but I believe ALL school district employees have the same plan. I think there are four basic groups: the teachers, administrators, support staff, and buildings/grounds (don't recall exact name).
If they are all included and they all have the same plan then it is many more than two or three contracts and if the administration took things away they took them from themselves as well.
Again, I can't confirm this, I hope someone will.
Regarding the teachers being unaware that the benefits were disappearing, I'd be shocked if Jerry Treon who was long in the leadership of the NAEA would have missed it. He was at the school until around 2000 and I don't think he missed a thing in that regard. He constantly questioned at meetings and checked into everything. My father worked with him for probably 30 years at the school and if there was ever a question regarding benefits or issues related to the contract and benefits Jerry had the answer. Again, I don't think he missed it while he was around.
There may be something the Union found that may be technically an issue, but we've gone from Gutted to we want a flat payment instead of a percent and now back to gutted. It seems like they are grasping on this one.
Any help in terms of the questions above would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I think the link on the PSEA site you are referring to is the one I posted today about Coordinated Bargaining.
In business it is illegal and called Price Fixing, but the PSEA advocates it for teacher salary and benefits.
I attended last nights meeting and it upsets me to hear of parents who "blindly" support the teachers.
There is no doubt that there are good teachers in Nazareth, but I will not support those who openly comment, "I support the teachers give them whatever they want!" Yes, they are a valuable recourse in this district, but so are we as parents and taxpayers!
That kind of blind support is what is hurting this district. People have blindly supported school board members, administration and teachers in the past. They are afraid to ask questions, in fear that they will hurt their children’s education. We live in a country that gives us the right to ask questions and seek answers.
There is not a teacher in this district who would support a student who claimed to not want to take a test and ask the teacher to trust them, when asked if they know the information. They would not accept a students response, “Trust me I know the information, just do not ask me any questions.” A teacher challenges a student via a test, essay or open discussion to answer questions on a particular subject. The student must prove that he/she is studied, prepared and educated.
Why would we demand anything different from our teachers or school board? We as taxpayers in this district have a right to question both side and ask for the facts.
Those of you, who are "blindly" supporting either side of this issue, please become informed!
I am confident that there are representatives on both sides who are willing to sit down and present their side. (Note, that some are better than others and those who are in the forefront of the public, may not be your best option).
Each taxpayer in this district has a right/obligation to seek the truth from both sides. If you do not care that is your right, but please do not ridicule those of us who are trying to seek the truth.
If the teacher's health care has been "gutted", I would love to have seen what their coverage was before then, being that it is pretty darn good by todays standards.
Just like political campaigns (of which I am particulary sick of these days), both sides are using the media to sway public opinion, and each are clearly bending the story to make themselves look like they are taking the higher road.
However, one needs only look at the raw data point, not individually, but as a whole, and the true story starts to emerge. The problem here is that the vast majority refuse to take this basic analytical approach and opt to follow the emotion of the situation.
If you have ever spent any time in management or have run a business (your own or someone elses), you learn to look at these basic analytical facts and use those to draw your conclusion as opposed to blindly throwing your support behind one of the competing arguments, and the later is what has been happening here.
Some basic facts:
-The current health care package the teachers have is one of the best and their current out of pocket contributions are a fraction of what is out there in the rest of the working world.
-Our district has one of the shortest school days of all the surrounding districts. Go to the other district web sites, do a little digging (as I did) and you will find that across the board the Nazareth school day is 30 minutes to an hour shorter than those schools, yet their pay is darn near the same and in some cases, more, than those districts. So the pay for an hour of work is within a few pennies of those districts. Again, do the calculations for yourself breaking it down to an hourly rate, you will be surprised.
-Our administrators were given a very large raise. Pure stupidity in my opinion being that they board knew they were going into negotiations with the teachers union. Even dumber when you take into account that the district has done nothing more than "study" how we can ease the overcrowding problem with the huge growth in enrollment.
From a pure business standpoint, I think the offer from the board for a new contract is more than good as it gaurantees pay increases that are far above the national average and keeps benefits contributions way below the national average. Also, I would take back a large portion of the increase recently given to the administrators as they have proven they really don't deserve it, and personally, I think it would go a long way to resolving the issues with the union.
Divorce yourself from the emotion, look at the facts, do a little simple analysis. Don't blindly throw your support behind one side because you "think" they are right.
Wow, someone really has been doing their homework!
Good information, and again if anyone can confirm or deny my thought that all of the district employees regardless of which contract they are under receive the same benefit package (assuming they have full benefits) it would be appreciated.
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