Important Information

Officers for 2009-2011:

Al Bero, President
Sue Rauscher, 1st Vice President
Penny Cormier, Secretary
Daliah Brown, Treasurer
Bette Anne Stevenson, PL Chair
Roberte Rivard, Goodwill/Awards, Social and Status Chair
Cecile Leach, Health and Safety and Communications Chair

Pay Scale:

Starting in September 2010 our daily rate will be $215.92 and the half day rate will be $107.96

Constitutional Amendments for Spring Annual Meeting, May 2010

The amendments to the HEOT Constitution were presented to the membership at our Spring Annual Meeting. The membership passed all of the amendments en bloc. The updated copy of the Constitution will be available in the Secure Section of this website soon.

The 10 DAYS Rule:

As per our Collective Agreement 12.08 the board requires that all Occasional Teachers work at least 10 days per school year in order to stay on our list. This is to inform all members that the board will remove any member from our list who does not complete 10 FULL days of work in the 2009-10 school year.

Get Your QECO Rating

Yes, that is correct - GET YOUR QECO rating now, before it becomes an issue. You must have a QECO rating in Program 4 or 5 in order for it to be valid. Currently QECO is using Program 5 to do their assessments and ratings. If you had your rating done a few years back then it is time for you to get a new rating.

To get your rating you should download an application from the QECO website at www.qeco.on.ca . There are 2 forms - one for first ratings and one for a rerating. Download the appropriate form, fill it in, and send it to QECO along with all docuamentation. It is free and it is relatively easy so don't delay.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Well, if you look carefully at your Collective Agreement (Article 28, especially clauses 28.02 and 28.04) then you will see that it is absolutley vital that you get your rating, especially if you wantto do LTO work or find yourself in an LTO position.

Once you have proof of work ( ie your first pay stubb) then you can apply for your QECO rating. Do it now, do not delay. A rating can take some time ( up to 12 weeks) once all documentation is received by QECO. There are timelines in our agreement that need to be met and if you do not meet those timelines you will find yourself being underpaid for your LTO work.

Survive & Thrive - A Virtual Conference and On-line Conference

For Beginning Teachers, Occasional Teachers and Teacher Candidates!This on-line conference is available free to any interested member of OTF.

Resources, on-line discussions and ressources are available . The conference opens this month and runs until November. Such topics as Literacy, Occasional Teaching, Special Education, Assessment and Reporting, Relationships - Appropriate and Professional, Working with Parents and Families, Working with Adolescents, Reflective Practice, Managing Stree, Professional Issues and Classroom Management will be dealt with on this conference over the next few month. New information will appear between now and November.

To register you can go to www.etfo.ca and click on the Survive & Thrive link. Once registered you will have full access to all areas of the conference. You can also visit the site and register as a guest. In this case you will not be granted full access to all areas of the conference.

A Great Resource for all Occasional Teachers , new to OT work or not

Applying for LTO Contracts:

Our current Collective Agreement requires the board to hire LTO's from our OT List. To make this issue possible I have had a request from HEPA (Halton Elementary Principal's Association) that all members who apply for an LTO or a Probationary job should mark clearly on their Resume and their Cover Letter that they are current members of the Halton Elementary OT list. This would enable Principals to screen applications and interview the appropriate people.

Tutoring & Conflict of Interest Guidelines for ETFO Members:

Professional Relations staff of ETFO Provincial receive many calls from members asking whether they can engage in private tutoring on their own time. The following message has been developed by Provincial staff and should be considered when you make a decision about tutoring.

ETFO believes that every student in the public system should have access to the resources, services and support needed to experience success.

Although ETFO does not support privately funded tutoring, members are legally able to engage in tutoring on their own time. It is important that members familiarize themselves with the Ontario Teachers' Federation policy on tutoring which requires adherence to the following two rules: First, in engaging in private tutoring, the teacher must NOT tutor their own students for remuneration. Second, if the teacher accepts a student for tutoring, the teacher should consult the student's regular teacher. In any private tutoring arrangement, the teacher will be in violation of the Code of Ethics if her or she makes adverse comments about the student's regular teacher, or if the teacher interferes in an unwarranted manner between the student and the student's regular teacher.

Teachers are also bound by the Professional Misconduct Regulations 437/97 under the Ontario College of Teachers Act. Section 26 states that a teacher is guilty of professional misconduct when practicing the profession while in a conflict of interest. While the Regulation does not define what constitutes a conflict of interest, arbitrators and courts have frequently commented on this issue in the context of assessing disciplinary penalties imposed on employees who place themselves in a conflict of interest. Public servants, such as teachers, are held to a higher standards than other employees in conflict of interest situations.Teachers should be guided by the following rules which have been held to apply to public servants:

They must not advance their own agendas, financial or otherwise, that might prejudice their employer's interests or reputation.
They must not seek for private gain to make use of information not available to the general public to which they have access by reason of their official duties.
They must not place themselves in situations where their judgment could, even unconsciously, be affected by their private business.
Their interest in their private financial affairs must not clash, or appear to clash with their employer's interest.

Members should follow the following guidelines when engaging in private tutoring:

Some school boards have policies on tutoring and if a teacher breaches the policy, he or she may be disciplined and/or reported to the College of Teachers.

Here are some specific guidelines which should be considered before engaging in tutoring:

Find out whether the board has a policy about tutoring and follow it.
Private tutoring should not take place on school property or during the instructional day.
Members should not tutor their own students for financial gain.
Members should not advertise private tutoring through connections at the school, through school or board publications, or through the board's computer network.
Regular communication should occur with the student's own teacher so as not to work at cross purposes or outside the regular classroom curriculum.
Members tutor students do so at their own risk, and may not be eligible for ETFO support should problems arise from the private tutoring situation.

GOOD Will - A Gift to Halton Schools:

In order to develop a positive relationship with our schools the Halton Elementary Occasional Teachers' Local sends an annual gift to each school in our board. This past year the gift was a $20 gift card to Chapters/Indigo book store. We have asked each school to present that certificate to a student in their school who displays positive citizenship skills.

HARRI Problems?:

If you have any problems related to HARRI ( the Halton call out system) then you should send your queries to Lily O'Brien at the J.W. Singleton Centre. Lily is in charge of HARRI.

She can be reached through e-mail at o'brienl@hdsb.ca or by phone 905-335-3665 x 3239.

ETFO Advisory to Members:

ETFO Provincial has once again issued an Advisory to Members about EQAO Marking. It states quite clearly: MEMBERS ARE ADVISED NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY EQAO MARKING EXERCISE.

The Federation views province-wide testing of every student at grades 3 and 6 as both a misuse of student time, and an ineffective use of funds that should be redirected to support student learning. The consistent trend within the media of ranking schools by assessment results has been unfair to students and is potentially destructive to the education system.

HEOT has its own Constitution!

Log into the Secure Section and click on Constitution