Quolke Corners

David Quolke, President of the Cleveland Teachers Union

 Speech at the Board Meeting

Q Corner…The Return of CMSD Doublespeak

CMSD Doublespeak

Please Read and come to the next board meeting.

Thank you,

Yours in Union

Quolke’s Corner

CMSD Board Meeting, Cleveland Plan, SBB

I want to thank our CTU members who showed up in force at the March 26 CBOE meeting at Collinwood.  What a tremendous showing, and our message rang loud and clear to all those in attendance.   Whether it was the lack of investment we are seeing from SBB, the broken promises in our evaluation and compensation system, or the amount of over testing occurring in this district, our members, our retirees, and our friends in the community stepped up and were incredible advocates.  WE CANNOT STOP HERE…while the turnout was great, we need to

 David Quolke Board Meeting Speech

Good Evening Board Members, CEO Gordon, Chairperson Link.  I am proud to be joined here this evening by the hundreds of dedicated CTU members, community leaders, parents and students all of whom are so passionate about their profession, their schools, our families and our students.  Two weeks ago, I spoke of my concerns regarding SBB and asked you to send the CEO and CFO back to the drawing board so you could tell our community, our parents, our educators and our students that the funding in each school's budget reflects what you value for our students.

Since

Quolke’s Corner

SBB Rally at Collinwood     Thursday, March 26th

     Thanks to all of our members who attended the board work session on March 10th to show our anger with SBB and lack of investment we are seeing in far to many of our schools.  As I said in my speech to the board: 

“The saying goes…show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.  Last year, this Board of Education did the right thing and sent your CEO and CFO back to the drawing board because you had a greater value for our children in Cleveland.  I urge you to do the same thing and make sure what you value is what is

QUOLKE’S CORNER

WHEN IT’S BROKE DON’T FIX IT – THE RETURN OF SBB

(pdf file)

QUOLKE’S CORNER

THE ATTENDANCE LETTER (pdf file)

Please read. Very important information.

QUOLKE’S CORNER

SLO ARBITRATION RULING

Early yesterday morning all members received a joint email from Eric Gordon and myself regarding SLOs and changes made to SLOs for this school year.  The basis for this change is an Arbitrator’s ruling that was issued last week by Arbitrator, Robert Vana.

When a grievance is taken to Arbitration, the Arbitrator’s ruling becomes the rule.  Period.  No more discussion and it remains the rule in perpetuity.  Here is an example.  A member files a Grievance that the staff lounges in CMSD should all have Coke machines and not Pepsi machines.  The district denies

QUOLKE’S CORNER

OPEN ENROLLMENT 2014 & CHARITIES OF CHOICE

Just a reminder to everyone that November is Open Enrollment month.  Our Open Enrollment period this year will be from Monday, November 3 – Tuesday, December 2 (so that the enrollment will not begin and end on a weekend).  Pin numbers were emailed to each member on October 31.  If you are currently enrolled in the medical, drug, vision, or life insurance plans are satisfied with your benefit coverage you DO NOT need to take any action.  However, I strongly recommend that you go online to verify what is listed in the computer for you is

The actions of the Philadelphia Reform Commission and related information that we need to know:

As the November elections approach, we all know the politics of education never seem to improve.  Union bashing is still alive and well in Ohio.  However, a quick look to our east shows just how prevalent and outrageous this is across the nation.  

Last week in Philadelphia, the School Reform Commission held an emergency meeting on a Monday morning with no notice and very few people in the room---and voided the entire Philadelphia Federation of Teachers collective bargaining agreement. 

Yes, it is an