Good Morning,
I hope you are all enjoying your summer break. I have a few quick updates for you.
Personal Day Payout: I have had a handful of you reach out to me in regards to the payout of personal days. (Posting on the Underground does not count as reaching out. The Underground is not REA endorsed, nor am I a member of the group.) This is currently a two-fold issue as it effects our current members as well as our 2020 retirees. I have discussed the issue in both regards with Central admin and am waiting to hear back. The language is gray in regards to the actual pay-out of days, and honestly very few members ever held 5 personal days at the end of a school year. Please know depending on how the district comes back to the Association in regards to this, a grievance can be filed when we return as the summer technically counts as 1 “school day.” Again, I will keep you up to date as I have more information.
2020-2021 Re-Opening: I received an email from Central Admin today in regards to the re-opening plan for the district.
“In terms of timelines, the administration will have ready for review a draft plan that will be shared with Union and Association Leadership on Wednesday July 22.”
A meeting will be held with all Union leadership and Cabinet members. I am sure you have a million “what-if” questions right now. I do not have those answers. Once this meeting is held and the preliminary draft is shared with leadership, you will be the first to know. Additionally, I am in constant contact with the Presidents of Bethlehem, Allentown, and Easton, as they are the other large urban districts in our region and will have the most similar re-opening plans. Depending on what those plans look like, PSEA sent this link to help with your personal decision making process: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-employee-paid-leave
Email: The president@readingea.com email is back up and running. If you do not hear back from me within 48 hrs, please check your junk/spam email. I will be out of the offie July 25-Aug 1 and will have limited email access.
Be Well,
Rebecca