HEA - Hesperia Education Association

H.E.A. Newsletter

H.E.A.is here for you because you deserve the best.
Volume 2 - Issue 4 - May 2002

Executive Board

Jim Pace
President

Gordon Williamson
Vice-President

Jose Madera
Treasurer

Betsy Patridge
Secretary

Vernon Johns
Secondary Director

Scott Johnson
Elementary Director

Fran McCullough
Director At Large

Rep Council

Catherine Aure
Karen Barkley
Dean Blackburn
Kathy Brauche
Joan Case
Pat Cook
Norma Egzer
Claudia Ethun
Jim Garrett
Susan Gaus
Valeria Gilmore
Darrin Grebel
Glenn Houston
Barbara Jacobs
Selena Kakuda
Margaret Kennedy
Jon Lee
Jackie Marsh
Terry McGrath
John Mchenry
Kathryn Mustain
Gwynneth Morin
Sara Pifer
Diana Pruiett
Linda Rector
Yolette Rios
Cheryl Roberts
Cheryl Rutledge
Deborah K. Thomas
Jeanne Triska
Mike Watesworth
Dick Westerhoff
Kathryn Wetsch

IBB UPDATE

President's Message
By Jim Pace, H.E.A President

On May 16, 2002 the Rep Council had the last meeting of the year. During this meeting, the question was brought to the Reps concerning the use of Interest Based Bargaining (IBB)in negotiations. The issue was discussed and the Rep Council gave their direction to the Executive Board. The council voted unanimously to abandon the use of IBB.

On May 20, 2002 the Executive Board attended an LMC(Labor Management Council)Meeting. The HUSD Board of Education and District Management as well as some site managers were also in attendance. During this meeting HEA announced our decision to not use the IBB process in future negotiations. HEA is hopeful that a more traditional or issue based negotiations will yield more fruitful results.

HEA agreed to meet with the LMC during the Summer for the purpose of determining if we will continue to be a part of that body.

Secretary's Report By Betsy Patridge,
On May 16, during our last Rep Council Meeting for the year, the ballots were counted for the two Executive Board Positions. Jeanne Triska will be our new Director at Large, replacing Fran McCullough who declined to run for the position. Scott Johnson will continue as Elementary Director. Congratulations to both of them.	On May 18 the High Desert Service Center Council met with all the Executive Boards of our Region. The purpose of the meeting was to honor selected members from each Association with the W.H.O. Award. Our own Fran McCullough and Gordon Williamson were honored with this award on behalf of Hesperia Education Association. Congratulations Fran and Gordon!

Wayne Johnson blasts Governor Davis and NEA!!!

CTA - NEA Link
By Scott Johnson

At the recent CTA State Council meeting, 4/20/02, in Los Angeles, CTA president Wayne Johnson gave a speech to the representatives. Below are several quotes from that speech. "We don't want Bill Simon under any circumstances. But CTA should only fund and actively support people that actively support our legislative issues." "My feeling is that Governor Davis doesn't like CTA but he needs us." "As far as contributions, we won't give him, (Davis) a nickel until you tell us to!"

"Win or lose on our bargaining bill, (AB21760), we will be back to fight another day!" "It is time for teachers to come out of the dark ages and assume our rightful place in making decisions that affect our classrooms!" "NEA has to stop rolling over every time they face a tough issue" U.S. Congressman speaking to a CTA board member. "The NEA must develop a national strategy to aggressively protect and defend America's public schools."

Contract Highlights
By Vern Johns

Recently, at one of the elementary schools, there was an open house scheduled for a Thursday after regular school hours during the time set aside for HEA Rep Council meetings. It caused some members to miss out on important information about our medical insurance. This brought to light once again the fact that we need to remind our site leaders about the fact that the contract says that the "District shall refrain from scheduling District-called or principal-called meetings involving the teaching staff on Thursdays after the regular school day,

making this day available for HEA meetings."
This contractual information is found in an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) dated September 1997. It is important to set aside this time to present information about contractual issues such as medical insurance and salary to the Reps. In turn, the Site Reps take the information to each site and share it with the teachers at their sites. Through this exchange of information, all of the unit members can keep up to date on important contractual issues affecting all of us.

INSURANCE
By Fran McCullough

I would like to thank the unit members for the opportunity to serve as Director at Large and for allowing me to represent Labor on the SCSEBA Board of Directors, the district's Insurance Committee and the Labor and Management Council.

As you know I did not run for the Executive Board this time. However, I have full confidence in the existing board and I know they will continue to do everything possible to represent us well. I plan to continue my work on the Newsletter and Web Site.

I would like to remind everyone that we continue
to have exactly the same health insurance benefits for the 2002-2003 as we did in the 2001-2002 school year.

As in the past, if you have a problem with any of the insurance providers that you can not resolve, you can contact Tina Kahklen from Aon Consulting on the SCSEBA Service Team at
(800) 678-6110. It is her job to contact the providers and work through the issues with us.

She has helped many members with different situations.

If you have questions on insurance coverage or problems with providers, Diana Canchola and Karen Cooper at the District Office are always willing to help us out with insurance issues.

AON has promised that we will have our Evidence of Coverage Books very soon. These books will detail our specific plan coverage, which will answer a lot of the questions that members have.

Our web site www.hesperiateachers.com can help with insurance information and to access current and previous newsletters. You can link directly to Blue Cross and the other providers through our web site. Members can use the site to order their prescriptions on line or to find participating providers.

Every teacher needs to attend an Insurance Enrollment Meeting, which are being held at each site and at the District Office during May.

By the #'s
Jose Madera

Now that we have decided to remain with our current benefits package, some of you might be interested in how the premium was calculated. The formula is in an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) to our contract under Article X Health and Welfare (www.hesperiateachers.com)

(A) The annual premium life, vision, dental, and medical)= $8,583.60 x 660 (insurance participants 2001-2002)=$5,665,176

(B) 52 individuals who opted out of district-paid insurance x $2,000 = $104,000

(A)+(B)= $5,769,176

(C) Less Equity Distribution from SCSEBA = $27,831 + Savings from this year's annual premium being under the $7,200 cap = $87,748.
Total Savings $27,831 + $87,748 = $115,579

(D) Total Premium cost =
$5,769,176 - $115,579 = $5,653,597

(E) Total Premium cost $5,653,597 divided by the total insurance participants 660 + 52 = 712=
$7,940.45 Insurance Premium per participant

(F) Insurance Premium per participant $7,940.45 (less district contribution) $7,200 = $740.45

(G) Annual Employee Contribution = $740.45 divided tenthly = $74.05

NOTE!!!!!The above figure was calculated with this year's numbers of 660 insurance participants and 52 opt outs.

If you recalculate the above formula with the following numbers for 2002-2003 (This is only an example. We won't know the true numbers until the end of May) : 642 insurance participants and 70 opt outs, you get an annual employee contribution of $574.01 tenthly, i.e., the more opt outs, the lower the premium!