Spring, 2015

Volume 9, Issue 1

Groton Dunstable Educators Association Retiree’s Newsletter

Index Page

FYI 1 - 2

In Memorium 2

District News 3-4

Where are They now? 5

Winter Lunch Review 6

Who is Doing What Now 7

High School Graduation

May 29, 6:00 pm

Rain date

May 30, 12:00 pm

Retirees picnic

Kimball’s in Westford

Sept. 10, 2015 11:30 am

Greetings to All,

As I’m writing this letter I can’t help but reminisce about the awful winter those of us who refuse to go to warmer climes went through. It seems that all I did was move snow and bring in firewood. It was quite depressing to go through that week after week. But now the sun is out, flowers are blooming, the grass is green, and the mosquitoes are here.

New Englanders are truly a hardy bunch to stay year round and see nature at its best and worst.

Those of you who go south for the winter aren’t true New Englanders, but if you have room for two more next year, please let me know!

The GDEA has finally settled contracts for all units and it was a long and diffi-cult task. Unit A, after almost a year of getting nowhere, finally filed for medi-ation and had positive results within four or five meetings with the mediator. As in the past, the School Committee had no interest in changing our insur-ance split, which I think shows that they are appreciative of all we did. There are still a few outstanding issues that are being addressed by committees, but the majority on the contract has been accepted by both sides and signed.

You probably have noticed that teachers retiring this year are each having their own retirement party. This started a few years ago and seems to be the thing to do. I like the way we used to do it with each of us buying one ticket and getting to congratulate all those retiring instead trying to get to each one individually. I’m sure it’s hard for some retirees to afford to go to everyone’s party, but things change, like it or not.

I attended the MTA Annual Meeting on the 8th and 9th and found that with our new leadership we have changed course for the better. We are now act-ing as a unit rather than a sometimes dysfunctional union as we were in the past. With Barbara Mandeloni as President sending weekly updates and en-couraging us to use our collective voices to institute change and fight against those who would like to bring teachers to their knees and acquiesce to the mandates of those who don’t teach but think they have the intelligence to change education for the better.

Spring is naure's way of saying, 'Let's party!'” - Robin Williams

For Your Information

By Brian LeBlanc

(Continued on page 2)

ALERTS Contact Glenda Kovaliv at GKovaliv@hotmail.com to ALERT members of time sensitive information

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(FYI continued from p. 1.)

A case in point is that the new Commissioner of Education thought that teacher licensure should some-how be tied to student MCAS scores! A notice went out to teachers and retirees to contact the Commis-sioner and voice their opposition. During the comment period for this proposal the emails to the Commission-er were so emphatically against the proposal that he dropped the idea! If you aren’t on the MTA email list, consid-er doing so. In this way you can very easily voice your opinions and hopefully help those “in the trenches”! Today I attended an MTA retirement breakfast with speakers talking mainly about Social Security and Insurance. The GPO/WEP issue is again being proposed in Congress with many legislators signing on to make this go away and return the lost SS benefits to those affected. Maybe this will be the year.

As far as our insurance is concerned, I had an easier time understanding my undergraduate Biochemistry course! I can tell you that the GIC costs will be going up on July 1st. and Tufts will no longer offer PPO coverage. There will be an increase in copays and rates in general. However, gasoline price are still down as is fuel oil prices! In the long run, health insurance will in general continue to increase which is why we all must manage our financial resources to offset these increases.

The MTA has again proposed legislation to raise the base that our COLA is based on to

$16,000. This is in addition to other proposals to lessen the number of high stake tests being given, early child-hood education, and State financing of teacher fingerprinting.

Believe me when I tell you that you would not want to be teaching in today’s social climate!

After this wordy report its time to say good-by until the Fall. As always, this Newsletter would not be possible without a dedicated staff. May you all enjoy good health and happy times.

In Memory

Emily Katherine Yeadon, 23, became one of God’s angels, after a struggle

with heart disease, on Thursday, May 7, 2015 at the Lahey Hospital in Bur-

lington, Massachusetts, surrounded by family and friends.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut on March 9, 1992, Emily grew up in Groton,

Massachusetts. She was a 2010 graduate of Groton-Dunstable Regional

High School and attended the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North

Adams.

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Political Education

On Friday, March 8, students in the high school Gov-

ernment class travelled to Joey’s Diner in Amherst,

New Hampshire for a breakfast Q & A with possible

2016 Presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor

Chris Christie.

According to the high school website, “when in-

formed by his staff about the students’ presence at the

diner, Governor Christie took time to speak with our

students about their areas of concern in front of local

and national media, such as WBUR, NJTV, and

CNN.”

The students have been studying a unit on Presidential election cycle and campaigning. GDRHS Government

and Civics teacher Jay Villagomez is hoping students can attend future Presidential candidate visits in order

to broaden their political education.

Volume 9, Issue 1

(School News continued on page 3)

Schools News by Jane Mingolelli

High School

Poetry Out Loud Competition GDRHS student David Fitzpatrick advanced to the state finals of the Poetry Out Loud competition. David

is one of 24 who competed on March 8 in the Massachusetts State Finals at the Old South Meeting House in

Boston. The incredible talent at the four regional semi-final competitions presented stiff competition. Poetry

Out Loud is in its tenth year. Its mission is to perpetuate our nation’s legacy, enhancing public speaking skills

and building self-confidence

Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts hosted the annual Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards competition.

GDRHS students were recognized with eight gold keys, six silver keys, and six honorable mentions on March

7.

Middle School

New technology tool: MakerSpace

In February, middle school technology integration teacher Julie Spang announced that thanks to two generous

grants via Donors Choose and the Groton Dunstable Education Foundation (GDEF), middle school students

will have access to an exciting place for hands-on exploration called a MakerSpace.

The concept behind MakerSpace is to provide students a variety of high and low tech tools along with sup-

plies to learn how to make things.With schools trending away from home economics and shop classes, young

people are not learning these valuable skills at home either.

Some items such as 3D printer, sewing machine and lego kits are currently at the MS. Newer items have been

added such as hands on tool kits that teach students about electrical circuitry, and a green screen station which

is a combination of an Apple iPad, a green background and an app that allows students to create interesting

and creative videos.

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(School News continued from page 3)

Florence Roche

In December, the staff and students at Florence Roche got into the spirit of giving by participating in a couple

of charitable events. One was delivering "Happy Holidays" gift baskets to 10 senior citizens in Groton. Also

participating were the Groton Commissioners of Trust Funds, the Council on Aging and the Groton Police

Department.

The FRS Student Council members coordinated another holiday event in which the FRS community donated

almost 400 gifts to the Department of Children and Families in Lowell to support children in the surrounding

area and make their holidays a little brighter.

Swallow Union

Fourth graders presented their annual play in April. This year’s was “The Great Fairy Tale Robbery” directed

by Dan Markum. Twenty four students were involved in the show.

In February, students participated in the second annual Groton-Dunstable Elementary Science Fair. This vol-

untary event was open to all students from both schools and was held at GD North Middle School. Trophies

and prizes were awarded to the top three presentations in each grade level and all students (about 90) received

a Recognition Award for completing their projects and presenting them to the judges.

Tarbell School Building Destined for Residential Use

“The former Tarbell school building in West Groton appears to be destined to become residential housing after

Town Meeting voters approved two articles, the first authorizing Selectmen to sell the building and a second

rezoning the building from public use [P] to residential [R-A]. Selectmen have received two responses to their

RFP: one offering $75,000 for the building with the plan to convert it to three units of residential housing; the

other offering $30,000 for the structure and proposing to use the building for office space.” (The Groton Her-

ald)

The voters sent a message to the Selectmen that residential was the preferred use of the building when they

voted authorization to rezone from public to residential. Selectmen are pleased because it will put the building

onto the tax rolls.

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Dave Bisceglia In January 2015, Dave Bisceglia, 27, was selected as one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Games – “rising stars who are leading a technological and artistic revolution in the

industry.”

Dave cofounded The Tap Lab in 2009, a Cambridge-based mobile game

startup. The company won MassChallenge in 2011 and graduated from

TechStars Boston that same year. Currently, The Tap Lab works alongside

other awesome independent game developers at Intrepid Labs in Cambridge,

MA.

In 2013, The Tap Lab released Tiny Tycoons at PAX East, a vendor show ex-

clusively for gaming. PAX originated in 2004 in Bellevue, Washington, with a

small 4,500 person event that focused on the culture and community that is

gaming. From there, it has doubled in size with shows in Seattle and Boston

representing the two largest gaming events in North America. Dave’s studio Tap Lab has raised over $2 million to make innovative location-

aware mobile games, and the release of Bigfoot Hunter won the Innovation

Showdown at GamesBeat 2014 in San Francisco. Bigfoot Hunter is described

as “a fast-paced camera adventure game that takes you to exciting new worlds

to track down the fabled Sasquatch!”

According to Dave, “We make ambitious games that explore the latest opportunities in mobile in fun and unexpected ways.”

Dave graduated from GDRHS in 2005 and is the son of Vincent and Susan Bisceglia of Groton.

Erin Keaney

Erin Keaney (GD 2009) is Co-Founder of Nonspec a startup company es-

tablished by UMass Lowell engineering-students-turned-entrepreneurs to

design and mass-produce affordable prosthetic limbs for children in devel-

oping countries. These limbs are totally customizable.

In 2014, Nonspec won the top prize of $25,000 during the eighth annual American

Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Innovation Showcase, held in Washington,

D.C. Erin and three other members of the UML team faced tough competition and beat

eight other entries from seven schools, namely Johns Hopkins University, the Univer-

sity of Virginia, Rice University, George Washington University, the University of

Hawaii, the University of Michigan and Western New England University. The prize

money helped sustain the company and enabled the team to continue the project.

Erin received her Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in Plastics Engineering at UML, and is currently pursuing a Doctor

of Philosophy (PhD), Plastics Engineering while participating in India: UMass Lowell/B.V.B. Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Program. She is the daughter of Steve and Diana Keaney of Groton.

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Retiree Luncheon January Retiree Luncheon January

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Retiree Luncheon Retiree Luncheon

What a treat! Celebrating the New Year together in a lovely new venue: The Greenhouse at Bailey’s Bar and Grill where there is plenty of room for our expanding attendance (same building). We welcomed our new retirees and a new aspect to our meeting by Carolyn Scafidi which we hope she will explain in some detail for us. 23 people attended coming from afar in that very cold and unpredictable weather. But we made it between the storms. We even had a lovely lady join us. No one recognized her and she finally realized she was to meet another group. I hope she had a nice time with us.

Brenda

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I officially retired on June 30, 2013 and on July 1, 2013 I began my part-time job in the Grassroots Campaign Division of MTA as

a Senate District Coordinator (SDC).

LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD! This is my new opening line as I send emails to all the MTA members living in Senator Eileen

Donoghue’s District. Her district includes the towns of Groton, Dunstable, Tyngsboro, Westford and Lowell. As an SDC, my ma-

jor responsibility is to “coordinate” activities of the Legislative Political Action Team (LPAT). The LPAT consists of MTA mem-

bers from each of those five towns who are interested in political and legislative action. These members are the ones I contact

when I need to meet with legislators from those towns to forward an MTA agenda. The activities include meetings with mem-

bers and meetings with members and the representatives of their respective districts to discuss the legislative bills that were

developed by MTA. When it’s an election year, members of the LPAT are asked to participate in phone banking, canvassing and

holding signs.

For the first time, under the new leadership of President Barbara Madeloni, forums were held throughout the Commonwealth

and the legislative package was developed from the issues that were brought forward by members. As a result, the following

bills were filed:

Moratorium on High-Stakes Testing and PARCC An Act Relative to a Moratorium on High Stakes Testing and PARCC (Rep. Marjorie Decker (D-Cambridge) Moratorium on Charters and Licensure Requirement An Act Relative to Charter Schools - Sen. Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) Language Acquisition Programs An Act for Language Opportunities for Our Kids (LOOK) - Sen. Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett) & Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez (D-Jamaica Plain) Universal Pre-K and Mandatory Full-Day Kindergarten An Act for Universal Early Education and Full-Day Kindergarten - Sen. Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett) Invest in Higher Education Faculty and Staff An Act to Invest in Higher Education Faculty - Rep. Paul Mark (D-Peru) Unfunded Mandates An Act Establishing an Educational Mandate Task Force - Rep. Alice Peisch (D-Wellesley) Unfunded Mandates An Act Related to Unfunded Mandates on Public Schools - Reps. Carolyn Dykema (D-Holliston) & Dan Donahue (D-Worcester) Educator Seats on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education An Act Relative to the Composition of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education - Sen. Ken Donnelly (D-Arlington) Protection for Public Employees from Workplace Bullying An Act to Protect Public Employees from Bullying - Rep. Peter Kocot (D-Northampton) Restoration of Just Cause Standard for Terminations of Teachers An Act Related to Just Cause Terminations - Sen. Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) Protection of Collective Bargaining Rights An Act Promoting Collaboration at Level 4/5 Schools - Rep. Michael Brady (D-Brockton) Eliminate the Fee for Fingerprinting An Act Relative to National Background Check Fees - Rep. Tom Stanley (D-Waltham) Public Employee Right to Strike An Act to Further Regulate the Right to Strike of Public Employees - Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston) Living Wage for State Employees and State Contractors An Act Creating a Living Wage for Employees and Contracted Employees of the Commonwealth - Rep. Dave Rogers (D-Cambridge) Increase the Cost of Living (COLA) for Retirees An Act Relative to Increasing the COLA Base - Rep. Sean Garballey (D-Arlington) The great luxury about being retired is that I have the TIME that active members don’t to attend hearings on bills at the State House and giving testimony on bills that affect teaching and learning. If you would like to join me for any such events or would like to attend one of my LPAT meetings just send me an email at cscafidi@massteacher.org and I will add you to my contact list.