Hi Everyone;
This is an update for the Board, but feel free to share if anyone is asking you about what has happened since Friday.
We WILL be meeting in Boston at the MTA office – Ashburton Place – at 10:00 am on September 21. Katie will follow up with instructions.
Several of us communicated with local reps (I got email and calls from a few reps outside of my District and had several conversations)
Those legislators who took time to contact, have a much better understanding of what, historically, constitutes the understanding of “parameters”. They appear to be actively communicating with their resources surrounding the governor and his administration.
The MTA is putting out the Action Network call today – through an email from Max and Merrie to get support from our K-12 colleagues to pressure the governor to honor the contracts.
I know many of you have now had conversations with your Senators and Reps. I have been trying to send a thank you to those who have responded (a “shout out” like I did for Julian Cyr) and I think it is important to them and us to recognize their help. Please send me any names I do not have for Legislators who have stepped up and responded so I can thank them.
Per some of the suggestions from Legislators, I am now working on contacting Rep. John Scibak and the members of the Join Committee on Higher Education. They are Michael Moore, Harriet Chandler, Sean Garballey and John Scibak. Here is the full committee – https://malegislature.gov/Committees/Detail/J29
I’ll send out what I send to them, so if you or anyone wants to target them, that would be great.
I am going to reiterate what I believe to be true, despite the statements being made by Jim Cox, about what will be back on the table if this contract is returned to us. As far as I am concerned, the entire MOA is back up for negotiations if the governor does not approve funding. What i cannot answer is where the language stands if we renegotiate – i.e., is it “evergreened” under the 2014-16 Contract or is there simply nothing? That is what we need to figure out.
Jim Cox did not respond to the letter from Katie and I about NOT participating in evaluations…but you are off the hook on this…just say I told you to do it! I met with FSU President Lapidus prior to the CoP meeting on Friday and told him we were sticking to it at this point. He said he understood, and since Jim has not responded, I assume that no news means they are going to look the other way for now.
I’ll try to let you know more as I hear more.
Thanks,
Sherry
