General Chapter Meeting
May & June 2007 meetings

The last General Chapter meeting will be held June 5, at 4:30 p.m. in the Tower Room at the Education Center . Please come join us while we honor our Classified employees who have chosen to retire this year.

We will also be presenting our Chapter 1 Scholarship to Iris Briand. Iris is a senior at Churchill High School and the daughter of Roger Briand and Carol Bergsma. Iris will receive $1,000 to further her education at a college to be determined. OSEA represents classified employees throughout the State of Oregon and this scholarship supports a graduating senior of Eugene District 4J classified employees.

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

Your negotiations team continues to meet with the school district team. We have been working on solving the workload issue of office clerical staff providing serious medical services to medically fragile students during the course of their normal work day. We have several possible options on the board and will work towards a final solution on this topic. We have also been having discussions around Retiree Insurance Premium payments.

We will be receiving costing information on some of the options that have been presented regarding compensation packages. If you as a member of this chapter can arrange your schedule to come sit in (even for a short while) as we work through some of this information your team would greatly appreciate it. We will be meeting at the Education Center in the Mozart Room. We will start at 1:00 p.m. and go until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the 6th of June. Remember, these are public meetings and ANYONE has the right to come sit in and observe.

PERS MATTERS

PERS has mailed the 2006 Tier One/Tier Two, Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan (OPSRP), and Individual Account Program (IAP) annual statements to members. If you have not received your statement by the end of May, call PERS at 1-888-320-7377.

FULL TIME PRESIDENT RELEASE BEGINS

This is a reminder to our Chapter members that beginning July 1, 2007 your Chapter President will be on a full time release representing our interests throughout our district. You will notice an additional $3.00 per month coming from your check to help support this release beginning on your July 31st paycheck. This was the dues increase that was presented to our members in Chapter 1, then voted on and passed by our members after our March 15th General Chapter meeting was concluded.

It is my intent to begin contact with each Building Steward to arrange schedules so that I can come visit with our members during a time that is convenient for them. I look forward to this great opportunity to fully commit my time and energy to the needs of our membership here in the Eugene Chapter.

CONGRATULATIONS

Recently Eugene School District Food Service workers participated in a Culinary competition in Roseburg Oregon . The employees were Patty Rigsby (Catering), Dawna Sheldon (Chavez), Susie Paeschke (Sheldon High), Leanne Morris ( Opportunity Center ) and Janna Wicks (McCornack).

Other teams from around the state were from Three Rivers , Medford , Lincoln & Roseburg . They were judged on Best Entree Presentation, Best Salad Presentation, Team Spirit, Food Safety and the Grand Prize Winner - People's Choice Award.

Our Eugene teams menu was Coffee Smoked Rib-Eye with Smokey Tomato Salsa, Grilled Asparagus with Quinoa Salad and Grilled Corn on the Cob with Queso Fresco. Their theme was "All American." Eugene won the Best Salad Presentation and the Grand Prize Winner - People's Choice Award! Congratulations ladies!!