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MAEA congratulates our partners in education at MAESP for getting a tentative agreement for a contract with the Mars Area School District on June 7th, 2021. We need professional and caring paraprofessionals, secretaries, and custodians now, more than ever. We hope this contract is fair and respects the commitment of these hard working residents of our district.
As you may be aware, our paraprofessional partners, secretaries, and custodians (MAESP) are still without a contract. Having gone through this uncertainty and frustration as teachers, we can’t help but empathize. However, with over 15 posted vacancies for paraprofessionals as we get ready to go into a new school year, we are terrified of implications for being able to successfully educate all of our students.
We remember how encouraging it was to find out that parents and members of MAESP had made a strong showing of support on behalf of teachers during our fraught negotiations. It meant a lot to us, personally, to know that so many members of this community supported a high quality public education. Now we have a chance to show our support for our paraprofessionals, secretaries, and custodians who are in the same position we were. Please take an hour out of your Tuesday evening to stand with teachers on behalf of MAESP as board members are entering for the MASD Regular Board Meeting this Tuesday, 6/8/2021. Let the board members see the large number of people in this educational community who care about quality public education. WHAT: show of support for MAESP before June 8th regular MASD board member WHERE: outside of Administrative Offices WHEN: Tuesday, June 8, 2021 6:15 pm so we are in place as board members arrive If you are so inclined, PLEASE consider signing up to speak in person (sign up available near the entrance to the boardroom) or by Zoom Meet (sign up by emailing to [email protected]). To access the meeting virtually, call (301) 715-8592 or visit https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89081556134?pwd=c2pNVjZxcHFtSy9QUkpncGdmUjhRZz09. (Webinar ID: 890 8155 6134; Passcode: 372187) Agenda https://4.files.edl.io/2b2b/06/05/21/154213-0d00b4ed-03c6-49f1-9aa6-368d00f15998.pdf The Mars Planet Foundation is a local, nonprofit organization that began in 2009 with the goal of developing and promoting educational programs in the Mars Area School District. Since that time, this foundation has supported endeavors in project based learning activities, STEM activities, recognition of outstanding students, and many other programs in our district. The foundation has created a bridge between community businesses, teachers, and students, encouraging innovative programming and opportunities.
To bolster funding, the Mars Planet Foundation is sponsoring the “Walk Around Mars” event. This virtual walk will be held from March 29 through May 10. The goal is for at least 500 people to walk 26.2 miles within the timeframe of the event. These combined steps would roughly equal the distance around the planet Mars. Participants will receive a t-shirt and a Martian swag bag. The event is open to individuals and to teams of walkers. Please check out https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/WalkAroundMars for all the registration and event information. Find some teammates and your pedometer, lace up those shoes, and walk around Mars to help our students and teachers! On the next to last day of negotiations, MAEA and the Mars Area School Board reached a tentative agreement. They jointly released the following announcement:
MAEA continues to express our gratitude to the parents and community members who have continued to support teachers and thereby support their children’s education.
Please feel free to ask questions of us by going to http://www.marsplanets.com/contact.html. MAEA cares! MAEA felt the love last Tuesday night (February 9) from parents who came out to the school board meeting to support our teachers. Thank you for actively standing with us as we all work towards positive change in our district. Additionally, we are thankful for the parents who spoke out during the meeting itself. They requested clarification & transparency of the board in regards to several concerns such as student programming and district financing. We also appreciate the words of respect and acknowledgement spoken by several school board members at the end of the meeting last Tuesday. This is the culture of professional respect we would like to continue presently and into the future.
We are poised for a week of movement in one direction or another. The MAEA negotiating team will be meeting with the Mars Area School District school board and administration in the coming days. We are hopeful for continued movement and cordial negotiations. Again, we extend an abundance of appreciation to parents and community members who are also desiring the best for our students and residents living in the Mars Area School District. Please continue to visit this site and our social media posts for highlights and updates. Have a great week! The MAEA negotiations team has been working diligently over the past months in meeting together and then likewise meeting with the Board to hopefully arrive at a fair contract. Two hundred and eight days have passed without a contract. Thankfully, the negotiations team and the board have been meeting more regularly, striving for this goal. Both parties met on Thursday, January 21st and will be meeting and negotiating again on January 26th. We thank all individuals involved for their dedication in working towards this goal, Countless hours have been spent discussing and planning, researching and analyzing, and the efforts of these MAEA members are greatly appreciated. If you are interested in supporting MAEA or simply would like more information, we encourage you to visit http://www.marsplanets.com/ and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily updates. Have a great week!
January is designated as School Board Recognition Month in the state of Pennsylvania, and so we would like to take this opportunity to thank our board members for their tireless service to our students, our district, and our community. We acknowledge the time and dedication that it takes for school board members to make decisions on a regular basis for the benefit of the Mars Area School District. We extend to these leaders our appreciation and thanks! John Kennedy - President - [email protected] Kevin Hagen - Vice-President - [email protected] Gordon Marburger - Treasurer - [email protected] Dayle Ferguson - [email protected] Christine Valenta - [email protected] Rita Dorsch - [email protected] Sallie Wick - [email protected] Anthony Depretis - [email protected] Megan Lenz - [email protected]  |
