On Friday, April 19th, the Vermont State Colleges' Administration announced a plan to close at the end of this semester:

New Mexico expects a peak in COVID-19 cases in May.[1] So New Mexicans are sacrificing, to slow the virus down and flatten the curve. You know who’s not sacrificing? Hospital executives. Across our state, they’re reducing hours and laying off hospital workers by the hundreds, just when we need them most. 

https://www.texasaft.org/releases/governor-is-on-board-with-texas-aft-with-order-to-end-the-school-year-for-on-site-instruction/?fbclid=IwAR1-WTyFGcvYWTeop2JbijpzutLbf4v9zNFAg4eqgpxQdvZyKnl8l

From:

Kathy Chavez, President, Albuquerque Federation of Certified Professionals 

Todd Torgerson Chief Human Resources & Legal Support Services 

Valerie Hoose, Executive Director of Labor Relations & Staffing

Re:  Joint Memo Regarding Essential Duties for Educational Assistants, Health Assistants, Behavior Redirectors, Library Assistants, Family Liaisons, Bus Drivers, and Bus Attendants

To whom it may concern,

Normally, the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine (PATFA) arranges its Annual Meeting for a Saturday a week or so after spring commencements. Well, 2020 is certainly not normal.

Your Executive Council – the president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary – have decided to move this year’s Annual Meeting to Saturday, Sept. 26. The pandemic and related restrictions make this seem the wiser course.

And the location? Stay tuned. We might try Zooming the meeting, which would enable part-time faculty from all over to participate. We will decide that later.

Thank you to every member who voted in the 2020 A&R Elections and to those who encouraged others to vote as well!  The voting has closed and the results are in:

Uncontested Seats:

1st Vice President:  Mike Myles
2nd Vice President:  Janet Andrews
Secretary:  Lauren Hangland

Today's reminder from A&R...

Today is Wednesday, 4/15 (normally Tax Day, but not this year as Tax Day has been delayed). 

Today is however "National Take A Wild Guess Day"...

So in honor of a National Take A Wild Guess Day, we will fill a jar with jelly beans and we want A&R members to guess how many Jelly Beans are in the jar

-one guess per person (first guess will be counted if more than one is received)
-"closest to" will be the winner (NOT closest to without going over)
-winner must be an A&R member
-...it is Take A Wild Guess Day, so we won't tell you what kind of jar or what type of Jelly Bean...it is a "Wild Guess".....
-guessing ends 4/15 at 4:30...winner will be sent a modest Gift Card by mail.

TAKE A GUESS

Congrats to Mike Conway from DOE...he is our winner!

A&R's 37th Annual Convention will be held this Thursday, April 16th at the A&R offices.  Please note the change of venue.  The meeting will be held at 805 Brook Street, Building 4, Rocky Hill, CT.  The change of venue is due to the pandemic.

Two items are on the agenda for consideration by the membership.  The first item is the organization's annual budget, as presented by the Treasurer and having received prior approval of the Representative Assembly.  The second item is a member submitted resolution pertaining to dissemination of election rules and related documents.  Any member registered at the Convention may speak to these items.

Only formal business will be conducted.  No food or drink will be served.

It is anticipated that the Annual Convention will be relatively brief, with only two actionable items on the agenda.

In order to achieve social distancing requirements, the meeting will be held in the A&R parking lot and it is expected that no one needs to exit their vehicle to conduct business.

All active A&R members are welcome to attend.  A form of identification is needed to participate. 

The meeting begins promptly at 6:00pm.  Registration begins at 4:30pm.  To participate members must register prior to 6pm.

While cool weather is forecast, dry conditions are anticipated.

If weather conditions or crowd density warrant it, a plan is in place to allow members to participate in the democratic process from their vehicles.

The A&R Scholarship Awards Ceremony, normally a celebratory part of the Annual Convention, will not take place this year.  While foregoing the formal ceremony due to the pandemic, we are proud of our scholarship winners and their names will be posted here on the website.

If you missed the zoom meeting yesterday, which was a tutorial on the proposed new Constitution and Bylaws, you can see it at this link: https://floridaea.zoom.us/rec/play/7MIpfr-vqzw3HtCXsQSDVqAtW47vJvqs03NI8_MJmhrkAnYDOlDzYLtDNrCkaLFim6qZc4dHgSzSAhfB?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=sAI5pDUdSMunUXj_njIPlg.1588858624556.6528d6d9b82e0c12a93646

Alliance-AFT member Yolanda Fisher with makes the cover of Time for her team’s work providing meals to Dallas ISD students.

“I’m still going to work because we’re still feeding the kids—it’s not just kids that attend my school, it’s any child that stayed in Dallas and they need a meal. And if a family is really in need, we give the adults a meal as well. When it first started we would come in from 6:30 in the morning until 5 in the evening, working weekends and stuff, but now it’s leveling off. I’m loving it because I miss [the kids’] faces. You miss hearing their noise. We are feeding our community, and I love that.”