During the 2016-17 school year, PAT members helped 30 colleagues in need thanks to contributions to the PAT Sick Leave Bank.  These colleagues had exhausted their accumulated leave balances, but were unable to work due to extended or recurring personal illness. But thanks to our contributions to the Sick Leave Bank, they were able to avoid the additional hardships of lost salary and lost insurance coverage.

Mt. Tabor Middle School teacher Matthew Bacon-Brenes is Oregon’s 2018 Teacher of the Year! We are so excited to have a PAT member represent us at the state and national level.

We are also proud of all the Mt. Tabor staff who wore their 2nd Year, No Contract buttons when Oregon Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Salam Noor came to honor Matthew!

Read more about Matthew’s extraordinary commitment to students here.

If you have earned enough credit to advance to another column on the salary schedule, our contract requires the District to pay you at this new level within twenty (20) days of the time you supplied the transcripts or other required verification to the District.  The salary advancements will not be retroactive. However credits verified by October 31st will be retroactive to the beginning of the school year. Check to make sure that PPS has received your verification and get an email, a receipt, or some other written confirmation from PPS that they have received the verification. 

The PAT contract has a $1,500 annual stipend for National Board certified teachers.  We expect this to be increased to $2,500 when our next contract is finalized.  Come learn how you can become National Board certified.  Find out about opportunities at the state level to get reimbursed for certification fees and how to waive Oregon licensure fees.  Find out how OEA supports you with a four-day Jump Start Seminar so you start the process on the right foot. The workshop will be held Thursday October 5^th, 5:00-6:00 PM at the PAT office. 

Free for OEA members. Register online at:  http://www.oregoned.org/stay-informed/nbct-workshops

Join classroom educators from around the state for the Oregon Education Association’s Advocacy Conference. Workshops include a broad range of issues, from how to build alliances with special education parents through the IEP process to how to get colleagues in your building involved in the union. OEA will cover travel and lodging costs for participating members. For more details, or to register, visit the OEA website.

PPS Continues to Submit Incomplete and Inaccurate Bargaining Proposals

After months of exchanging bargaining proposals, Laird Cusack, the PPS bargaining chair, continues to submit inaccurate and incomplete bargaining proposals. The PPS proposals do not consistently employ standard contract writing processes which would show when current contract language is deleted or when new language is added. Therefore, your PAT team has been forced to review every word submitted in each PPS proposal. We have found random words missing inside paragraphs of contract language that are not being amended or discussed. We have also found whole sections of the current contract that simply disappeared without any notation that the language was eliminated. Additionally, PPS has failed to track past interest based bargaining consensus agreements and include them in the PPS proposals. Finally, PPS routinely deletes its past proposals including areas where we have moved to agreement. Laird routinely has failed to remember past conversations and proposals that have resolved certain portions of the contract. This forces PAT to research the bargaining history around these lost agreements and/or restart the conversations that led to the original solutions. All of this has stalled the bargaining process.

• Agenda
• Complete Slides from the RA
• Engage! Sign up to be a Listener
• Bargaining Fact Sheet: Compensation
• PAT T-Shirt Order Form
• Sick Leave Bank Contribution Form
• Sick Leave Bank Flyer
• October Checklist
• Slides for you 10-Minute Meeting

Today your Bargaining Team met with the district for our fourth day of mediation since the district ended the IBB process.

At the end of the day, we are wondering, did we take steps forward, or just fewer steps backward than we have become accustomed to?

The Advocate - September 20, 2017

• President's Message: Stronger Together
• What's Up With My Paycheck
• Salary Placement Problems
• Salary Placement for New Hires
• Advancing On the Salary Schedule – October 31^st Deadline
• Remembering PAT Leader Vangie Shaw
• National Board Certification Workshop – October 5^th
• OEA Advocacy Conference - October 6^th and 7^th
• My Experience Serving On the Governor’s Council for Educator Advancement
• Licensure Workshop - September 23^rd

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We know there is power in numbers and that we’re stronger when we stand together. But with all the challenges we face, from our current bargain to the looming threats from the Supreme Court, we need to get concrete about what that means. 

I believe our union is only as strong as the number of members who we can inspire to take action. Now more than ever we need every member to step up and get involved.

Because our contract is still not settled, we are starting our second year without any increase to the salary schedule. I know just how difficult this is. Both the District and PAT have proposals that include retroactive increases.

Because our contract is “status quo”, the salary schedule remains the same as last year. However, you do get step increases and credit advancement if you're eligible. Also, due to staffing cuts, we are not working the extra two days we agreed to last year. This means we aren't being paid for those extra two days and your paychecks will reflect this shorter school year on the September 29^th paycheck. 

The past two years we’ve seen a marked increase in the number of members having problems with their placement on the salary schedule.  If you believe you should be on a different step or column on the salary schedule, please let us know by completing this form. 

Salary placement for new hires is based on prior work experience and educational credit, but will only be made after official verification.  Make sure your previous employer(s) and all relevant colleges/universities submit the required verification to PPS Human Resources.  Salary adjustments based on eligible education or experience credit will become effective in the payroll period in which approved. The adjustments will not be retroactive. However experience verified within sixty (60) days of the start of your employment will be retroactive to the first day of employment. Get an email, receipt, or some other written confirmation from PPS that it has received the verification.  Review Article 9 of the PAT/PPS contract to see what experience is eligible.

If you think PPS has put you on the wrong place on the Salary Schedule, fill out this form ASAP. 

If you have earned enough credit to advance to another column on the salary schedule, our contract requires the District to pay you at this new level within twenty (20) days of the time you supplied the transcripts or other required verification to the District.  The salary advancements will not be retroactive. However credits verified by October 31st will be retroactive to the beginning of the school year. Check to make sure that PPS has received your verification and get an email, a receipt, or some other written confirmation from PPS that they have received the verification. 

Vangie Shaw, a longtime educator and PAT activist, lost her battle with pancreatic cancer on Monday, August 21^st. A service for Vangie will be held on Saturday, September 30^th, at 9:30 AM in the gym at Concordia University (2811 NE Holman St, Portland 97211). In lieu of flowers, the Shaw family would like donations to be made in Vangie’s name to Black Lives Matter, the Black United Fund of Portland, or Chess for Success.

The PAT contract has a $1,500 annual stipend for National Board certified teachers.  We expect this to be increased to $2,500 when our next contract is finalized.  Come learn how you can become National Board certified.  Find out about opportunities at the state level to get reimbursed for certification fees and how to waive Oregon licensure fees.  Find out how OEA supports you with a four-day Jump Start Seminar so you start the process on the right foot. The workshop will be held Thursday October 5^th, 5:00-6:00 PM at the PAT office. 

Free for OEA members. Register online at:  http://www.oregoned.org/stay-informed/nbct-workshops

Join classroom educators from around the state for the Oregon Education Association’s Advocacy Conference. Workshops include a broad range of issues, from how to build alliances with special education parents through the IEP process to how to get colleagues in your building involved in the union. OEA will cover travel and lodging costs for participating members. For more details, or to register, visit the OEA website.

Educators in the state of Oregon must know that I take great pride in the work I do at the district, state, and local levels, especially within my primary role as teacher. It must be noted that my passion in providing students and colleagues the best, and nothing but the best, remains at the forefront of my agenda. 

Find out the latest in licensure redesign in Oregon and get valuable information about all aspects of licensure for K-12 educators. You will walk away with answers to your specific licensure questions and materials that are comprehensive and user-friendly.  The workshop is Saturday September 23^rd, from 9:30-11:30 AM, at the PAT office. Free for OEA members.  Register online here.

Your bargaining team finally met with our counterparts from the District for face-to-face mediation today.

The Advocate - September 6, 2017

• STILL Fighting for the Schools Portland Students Deserve
• Personnel Investigations and Paid Administrative Leave
• Whats Up With My Paycheck?
• Salary Placement Problems
• Give Your Schedule a Check-Up
• Labor History for Labor Activists
• Licensure Updates Workshop - September 23rd
• Help Strengthen PAT's Membership!
• National Board Certification Workshop - October 5th

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Welcome back! This is the second year in a row we’re starting the year without a contract and I know it’s really tough. I hope you were proudly wearing your “2^nd Year, No Contract” button when the students arrived last week. This is just one of the many activities we’ve got planned to show the District we’re serious about settling a fair contract.

PPS officials are unfortunately making headlines again, this time for the District’s dysfunctional approach to personnel complaints, investigations, and paid administrative leave. PAT has been pushing the District to fix these problems for years.

Given the frequent media mischaracterizations of the role of our union, its important to stress that only PPS can fire its employees, or initiate and pursue investigations. We believe that it’s in everyone’s interest for the District to conduct timely, thorough, and objective investigations of personnel complaints—something we’ve spelled out repeatedly in bargaining. For example, in our last round of negotiations we secured new language requiring the District to conduct prompt investigations, and to provide a reason for putting any educator on administrative leave for more than 10 days. Unfortunately, PPS has repeatedly ignored these requirements, and just like the lead crisis two years ago, administrators continue sweeping problems under the rug.

The PAT/PPS contract has language to insure a fair work schedule that allows you to support your students.  Please review the contract and your schedule, and use the Schedule Check worksheet on the PAT website that is appropriate for your assignment (grade level/building and full-time or part-time).

• Elementary School - Full-Time
• Elementary School - Part-Time
• K-8 - Full-Time
• K-8 - Part-Time
• Middle School - Full-Time
• Middle School - Part-Time
• High School - Full-Time
• High School - Part-Time

It is important that you do this now.  If changes or corrections need to be made, they must be done now, at the beginning of the year.  If you have concerns about your schedule, talk to your PAT Building Representative.