SAVE THE DATE!!

We need to ratify our new contract agreement.

Date: Tuesday, April 02, 2024
When: 4 pm (should be out by 5 pm)
Where: 630 Huronia Road, Unit #4 (sharing with Simcoe County Elementary Occasional Teachers right next to the Simcoe Shores School)
Why: To ratify our negotiated agreement
Snacks will be provided 

RSVP - Please send an email to [email protected] to let us know you are coming.

We've had major problems with our web site this year, so apologies to all for the lack of Blogs! It was a Pop Up blocker problem for those in the know.

As you well know the end of the year is closing in on us real soon. Just think, major sleep-in time is ahead. We will no doubt have tremendous troubles with Doug Ford's attack on Education and many other Public Services. Negotiations are going to be nothing short of horrific this round. Sorry to be so negative, but please try and stay somewhat positive.

In the meantime, try and rest up for the fall and enjoy the heck out of your summer-time activities. 

Happy fall folks! We have recently had some new hires to the main list, but this has not had a negative impact on the number of calls members are receiving for casual occasional work. Calls are up 9% since last year this time. Currently, there are over 100 people working in LTOs.

We have added a Certification link on our main page for you to get information on making changes to your grid placement. Also, the newest newsletter can be found in the Archives.

We realize it is a gloomy time of year, and a long stretch to the holidays, but hang in there. Christmas is right around the corner!

Well, we are indeed back in the thick of the teaching game everyone. Welcome back!

This is our first blog of the school year.
I'm hoping all of you had a terrific summer and enjoyed the no stress time to the max.

Things have started off smoothly from a Union perspective, so let's hope that continues.
 
The Fall Newsletter will go out within the next week, so look for it in your inbox.

Don't forget about the Emergency On Call (duties) sheet and use it every-time you get an unexpected on call of some sort. Details are in the newsletter.

Good luck and holler at any of us if you need assistance at any time.

Well, it's finally arrived, heat & humidity have been abundant starting the summer season off. Hopefully most of you have put memories of rowdy classes behind you and you're enjoying summer activities to the hilt.

Our school year saw a drop in job offers of -5% in both casual and LTO positions. Paralleled with that were in tremendous increase in unfilled jobs, a bit of an anomaly but it did occur. Talking about $ is the fact that EI procedures have changed this year and they are no longer issuing reference numbers, so be cognizant of that.

Hope your school year was a satisfying one; rest up September will be here before you know it.

We have worked out most of the bugs regarding the new call out system EasyConnect implemented by the Board last October 4. It has not been a smooth transition with Apply to Educate's software.  Even more changes are coming with ease of use in mind.

Work is down -5% in casual assignments and -7% in LTO days worked. We are actually very surprised as unfilled jobs are way up (7 times more than last year at this time) which is a reverse correlation between the 2 stats.

On a good note, May is the busiest Supply month of the entire school year.

Once again, get out to our AGM.

It's that time of year again folks! Please come on out to our Annual General Meeting on May 17th. We will be starting at 4:30 pm sharp followed by din dins at the Reg Lobster. It will be held as usual at our office here in Barrie (Unit #6 - 51 King Street)
You are an active OSSTF Occasional member if you have worked once in the last 95 days, so plan on attending so we can get a good cross section of ideas from those present.

It's been a long time since I last blogged so welcome back to info-land. March Break is fast approaching and I'm sure we are all longing for it to get here quickly. There seems to be more stress in our teaching careers than I can ever remember, so it will certainly be a needed break.

ATE EasyConnect has been a troublesome start up for all Union groups, but significantly more of a problem for Occasional teachers, Elementary and Secondary. We have held their feet to the fire per say for coding fixes (patches) and they have complied, albeit, not at a rapid pace whatsoever. We have been sending out data on changes throughout the year and info is in the newsletter that went out the week of Feb. 18. Hopefully you are getting used to it by now, but there are still embedded problems. Hopefully ATE will resolve these sooner than later.

Work has been fairly steady and LTOs are up +9% over last year at this time. Casual day assignments remain about the same as last year.

Reg 274 has been adhered to with fewer hiring issues than ever this year.

Remember, spring is in the air, so we at least can look forward to longer days and more sunshine ahead.

Here are some FAQs regarding the new call out system from Apply to Educate.
It has not been an easy roll out, but we continually asking for changes to better its operation.

ATE EasyConnect FAQs
(as put together by Amy Chevis – SCEOT President
with input by all other SCDSB Union Presidents)

• How does the Easy Connect System Work? This is available in the employee manuals and can be found on the staff website under board (top right) and then ATE EasyConnect (left hand side) and you will find it on the right of that page.
• How do requests work? This information is available in the employee manuals.  Please be advised that due to a large number of unfilled positions (both in teaching and non-teaching) the Board needs to make some temporary changes to the call out system (until ATE develops some new programming changes for mid-December).  We are temporarily changing this to calling one person/night until 2 nights before the assignment at which time it contacts anyone who is available.  This will mean that if a person is requested 2 days prior to the assignment (or less), the requested person will only have 3 minutes to accept the position if a call is missed before others are contacted.  Once the new programming has been developed, requested individuals will have substantially more time to accept the vacancy and vacancies without a requested person will call multiple people on the first call out.    
• What time does the system start calling? This is available in the occasional manual for EasyConnect and can be found on the staff website under board (top right) and then ATE EasyConnect (left hand side) and you will find it on the right of the page. Each employee group is different.
• 3 minutes isn’t enough to pick up a missed call?  This issue will be addressed and rectified in mid-December with the new programming regarding requests when they are entered and prior to the call out period.
• Why can I see jobs on the job board outside of ‘the day of’ timeline?  The job board should not be in use outside of ‘the day of’ timeline and this feature will be disabled in the new-year so that jobs are only available on the job board on the day of the assignment.
• If I cancel an assignment in one panel (ex. Elementary), am I blocked from the job board for secondary as well? Yes, however, you are still eligible to receive calls to accept (as long as that is not a violation of the collective agreement (SCEOT)). They are working on correcting this issue, if possible.
• How far in advance can I accept an assignment?  Jobs will begin calling out 21 calendar days in advance of the assignment.
• I have concerns with the amount of information on absence emails.                            - Occasional teacher’s phone number is included in filled absence emails. The intent of this is only in the case of an administrator needing to contact the OT.   Reasons/details for absence – this is an open ended text box and members should be careful as to what they include as it will be able to be viewed by everyone who receives the absence email.
• Pay percentages (%) - This is regarding Secondary Occasional teacher’s pay only and is not always reliable as to what you will be paid for an assignment. They are going to see if this piece can be simply be removed.
• Members cannot make themselves unavailable or change their phone number with ATE via phone, only online.  At this time, ATE is focused on the mobile/web site as this, they say, is the direction users and technology are going.  If members wish to change their phone number via phone, rather than online, they can contact the ATE help desk to revise their phone number. 
• Why can’t I pick up a request as soon as it is entered? This will/should go live December 11th , 2017.  Once it’s live, you would get a call or text message and an email and be the only one who can accept the assignment for up to 48 hours (the equivalent of 2 call-out periods) before contacting other members.
• Why can’t we cancel assignments?  Once in place permanent employees will be able to cancel filled assignments once it has been implemented on __?______
• Why don’t I get a call if an assignment is cancelled?  We created a ticket to notify via phone or text if an absence is cancelled. This is a big feature so it will take time to code (months). This feature is presently scheduled for Apply To Education’s Q1 of 2018, so by the end of March.
• Why can’t teachers see that I am already booked for an assignment when they try to request me?  This has been a frustration zone for all involved. The Board has created a ticket to track this feature request and it is scheduled for release in late December or January. 
• Why can’t I see if jobs have been validated? This feature is scheduled for Q1 2018, so probably by the end of March.
• Have the start times for schools changed from last year?  Yes, the start times for each school include fifteen (15) minutes prior to the bell in the morning (Education Act) and zero (0) minutes prior to start time in the afternoon. The end-time of assignments are attached to the end of the school day.
• Why can’t I enter a ‘do not call time?’  This feature is not available in ATE.
• FSL and EFSL assignments now include the division of the assignment in the call out.

 
Prepared by
Amy Chevis
President, 
SCEOT