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Steven
F. Smith
President |
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Message From the President
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Welcome to the Providence Teachers Union, Local 958! You are a member of a professional
organization that is over 2000 members strong and growing. Our membership includes all regularly appointed teachers, long term substitutes
and long term substitutes in pool. You are also a member of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals (RIFTHP), the
AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Providence Central Labor Council.
Can you imagine your working hours being at the whim of administration? Can you
imagine that marriage would be cause to terminate your employment if you were female? Can you imagine that pregnancy would be cause for termination?
Can you imagine no duty-free lunch or unassigned time? Before teachers gained the right to collective bargaining under the Michaelson Act,
teachers worked under these and many other adverse conditions.
Today, the Union continues its tradition of working to improve your salaries,
benefits and working conditions. For example, teachers' compensation for work done outside of the regular school day has increased and, in
some instances, this compensation is applicable toward a teacher's retirement benefit. Teachers who use fewer than five sick days in one school
year are entitled to cash in up to five days at their daily rate of pay. Teachers experiencing severe illness may acquire additional full
pay sick leave time by joining the Emergency Sick Leave Bank.
Additionally, the Providence Teachers Union continues to work to improve and
expand the professional opportunities available to our members. For example, two professional development days have been added to the school
year and teachers are paid for these days at their daily rate. A new evaluation process based upon the National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards is in place for both probationary and tenured teachers. This process provides for an evaluation procedure that is teacher directed
and also provides teachers who may eventually consider national certification with a basic understanding of and experience in the process.
The opportunity for teachers to be part of a designing and implementing a site managed school is also provided by the contract.
In addition to contract provisions to support professional development, the Providence
Teachers Union is providing professional development through its own Educational Research and Dissemination (ER&D) program. These programs
include research-based instructional strategies such as Effective Classroom Management and Characteristics of Effective Teachers as well as
research based content area strategies such as Beginning Reading and Thinking Math. The Mentor Program, another ER&D program, provides
individualized guidance and support for teachers wishing to improve their practice.
Today's Providence Teacher Union is progressive and reform-minded as well as
steadfast in its commitment to teachers' rights.
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