WELCOME BACK! This has been a rough summer for so many of you, with bumping, reduction of hours, and layoffs. HR has been very slow in finalizing placements this year, in hopes that there will be openings into which unassigned Classified employees could be placed to avoid layoff. Sadly, the layoff numbers have been tremendously high for our clerical employees this summer….secretaries, clerks, and library assistants have been hit harder than ever, and our Para 1 workforce was decreased dramatically. My heart aches for the predicament this District has left you in as they seemingly, once again, balance the budget on the backs of the Classified employees.

Many unassigned Paraeducators and EAs are still waiting to hear where they will be working this year, with their return-to-work just two weeks away!  Hopefully, you will be receiving phone calls from HR this week. If you are a Para 1, and have been laid off, we will continue to push for your placement into any open Para 2 positions.

If you have been laid off, or have had your hours reduced, please continue to watch the postings on PPS Job Board, and apply to any jobs that seem appropriate.

As we look forward to the next few weeks, here are some news tidbits:

~ It’s official! We are now Portland Federation of School Professionals, or PFSP. When you call our offices, you may hear us stumble through our new acronym, as we’re still getting used to it! We’ll be sending notification letters to all schools and departments to let them know of the change, and you will be seeing PFSP on our letterhead when we contact you. We are still updating our website, which can now be accessed at PFSP111.org. Our email addresses will remain PFTCE.org for the time being, but we’ll let you know when we make that switch, as well! I hope you like our new moniker as much as we do!

~ On August 16th, the District secretaries gathered at the Back-to-School workshop, which was held at the Marshall campus. I was pleased to see so many of you at the training, and want to thank you for dropping by our table at the “Resource Fair”. While we are no longer helping with the organization of this annual event, we are delighted that we could attend, and visit with so many of you!

~ I have discovered, while sending emails to some of you via PPS.net, that the emails from me or Michelle Batten from PFSP (formerly PFTCE) email accounts are being forwarded into your new “Junk Email” boxes. If you have been waiting for a response to an email query to one of us, and have not had a reply, please check your “Junk Email”. These emails would be from: belinda@pftce.org, michelle@pftce.org, or allison@pftce.org.  If you find one of our emails in your “Junk Email”, simply drag it into your “Inbox”, and we will no longer be considered “Junk”! I’ve contacted IT, and they are working on the problem!

~ Our first Union meeting of this school year will occur on Wednesday, September 14th. We haven’t settled on a location yet, but will notify you when we do. We plan to feed you, so mark your calendars, now, so you don’t miss out on this fun evening of friends, food, and Union frivolity!

~ As many of you experienced last year (& in years past), there was an incredible amount of confusion surrounding the PFSP (PFTCE) Career Development Program. After MANY conversations with the District, we are hoping the situation will be resolved this year. The guidelines for accessing these funds can be found on the Accounting Department webpage. The guidelines will link you to the necessary forms, and will include the following information:

• $700 available per Unit Member each contract year
• Total fund amount not to exceed $30,000 per contract year
• Fund will be distributed (according to the contract):
  • $15,000 1st half of the year-July through December
  • $15,000 2nd half of the year-January through June
• Can be used for workshops, seminars, college tuition
• Can not be used for books, supplies or materials
• Unit Member must pay the tuition/fees up front and are reimbursed after completion of the class.
• Funds will be authorized and reserved based on the budgeted amount available when the Pre Travel/Training Authorization form is received by the Accounts Payable Department.

~ Dennis Tune, Director of Security Services, has asked that I remind all of you of the following:

• In an effort to ensure that all Portland Public School District employees wear their PPS ID cards while in a school or district buildings, Security Services would like to remind all employees Security Services is currently open from 9 to 4:30 to update or replace your ID card.
• If your ID card has expired or will expire soon or you have lost it please consider replacing before school starts.
• If you are unable to stop by the BESC and update your ID card during the summer, Security Services will stay open until 6:15 pm for the issuance of ID cards, Tuesday through Thursday, the week of September 6th, and Monday through Thursday, the weeks of September 12th and September 19th.
• You are urged to get your ID card updated prior to the start of school.
• If you have any questions please call the Security office at 503-916-3000

I hope you all experience a smooth start to your school year!  And, please, don’t forget to remove us from your “junk mail” on your new PPS email system!

~B.

These are taxing times for the employees of Portland Public Schools.  For many of you, these last two weeks have brought sad and worrisome tidings of unassignment, reduced hours or days, and displacement.  Receiving a notice telling you that you are unassigned can cause such terrible anguish, regardless of the number of times that you’ve gone through this process in the past.

PFTCE employees are facing another year of major cuts. Last summer saw huge numbers of laid-off Paraeducators and Educational Assistants, as well as smaller numbers of other classified positions.  If the phone calls I have received in the last two weeks are an indication, I anticipate that we will find that a different faction of employees will be most dramatically affected this year, after the dust settles.

We are seeing fewer Paraeducators unassignments this year; most are from Learning Centers.  However, the most staggering blow to our special ed personnel has been to the Paraeducator 1s, who are losing two and a half hours weekly.  Workday reductions have also blindsided our Therapeutic Intervention Coaches (TIC), who will see cuts of one hour per day, taking them from eight hours to seven hours.  These cutbacks are massive…13.5 days of lost wages for Para 1s and 27 days unpaid for the TICs.

Clerical staff members are also experiencing substantial losses.  Several of our year-round administrative secretarial positions are being cut from their 260-day status to 210-days….a painful loss of fifty days per year.  Secretaries and clerks at schools and central offices are being unassigned in seemingly record numbers, as well.

So, where do we go from here?  Towards the end of May, the reassignment and placement process will begin.  Michelle Batten and I will work closely with the staff of Human Resources, who, by the way, have also seen their numbers cut severely in the past month, to assure that placements are found for as many unassigned employees as possible.

This is an incredibly difficult process, for everyone involved.  There are so many layers to the task of reassigning, and some of you—who are not unassigned—may find yourselves affected by these placement procedures, as “bumping” may occur in some smaller classifications.

Step-by-step, unassignments and openings will be assessed, employees will be placed, and, unfortunately, layoffs will occur.  As we proceed through the weeks ahead, please keep in mind that there are hundreds of employees affected by this year’s budget shortfall, and PFTCE and HR are very aware of the pain that you will all be suffering, through these last five weeks of school.   If you have not been personally affected by a cut, you have friends and colleagues who are.

I pledge that you will not be forgotten in all of this uncertainty.  If you are currently unassigned, at some point in the next five weeks, you should hear from an HR staffer who will inform you of your employment status.  Please make certain that Human Resources, (503) 916-3544, has current contact information for you, particularly if you plan to move or be out of town over the summer months.

And, if—and this is a HUGE “IF”—the Operating Levy does not pass on May 17th, then the budget will experience even more slashing—perhaps, even a reduction in the school year.  In this worst-case scenario, I fear that any further reductions to the budget may be written in the blood of our classified employees.  As Portland Public Schools continues to remove the skeleton, piece-by-piece, that holds this District “body” together; I only wonder how long our schools can survive.

~B.