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 Home Campaign Bulletins Schools
SAS Staff News, 1 July01 July 2004Pay increases for School Assistants and Senior School AssistantsIncreases for school assistants and senior school assistants will be paid on 29 July, with back pay to 2 July.
The increases Permanent Staff are:
School Assistant year 5 -- $63.13 per fortnight The above increases are gross (before tax). Long Term Temporary and Short Term Temporary school assistants and senior school assistants will receive similar increases. The new classifications will also be in place, i.e. School Assistants will be Grade 2, Administrative Officer, Laboratory Officer, Technology and Applied Science or Library Officer as appropriate, and Senior School Assistants level 1-4 will be Grade 3 Administrative Manager level 1-4. PLEASE NOTE YOU WILL MOVE DIRECTLY TO THE NEW CLASSIFICATION AT YOUR EXISTING LEVEL e.g. If you are now a Senior School Assistant level 3 you will be Administrative Manager level 3.
Implementation of the AgreementNegotiations on the implementation of the Agreement have commenced. The first issue was the payment of the increases as outlined above. PSA representatives have asked the Department to provide details on the provision of additional hours to schools. Once this information has been made available the PSA and DET will look at the most advantageous way to convert these hours to permanent hours. Until this decision has been finalised schools will continue to receive funding for GST, Corporate Data and additional staffing hours, which can be utilised in the way that the school has previously utilised them.
Salaries AwardThe PSA is continuing with its application to the Industrial Relations Commission for salary increases for public sector workers. All classification of SAS Staff and General Assistants are included in this application. Hearing dates have been set for later in the year.
Training and Development
eLAPSPrincipals have been advised that eLAPS will be introduced progressively from the beginning of Term 3. This should not have an impact on SAS Staff workload as each staff member will have an individual password which must not be divulged. Teachers and Executive members of staff cannot ask SAS Staff to access the system on their behalf.
Report from the Schools Departmental CommitteePrevious newsletters have given details of DET's offer to School Assistants and Senior School Assistants and at the Sky Channel meetings at which the offer was overwhelmingly accepted by SAS Staff members.
Distance Education Staffing ReviewA review examining staffing in Distance Education Centres (DECs) has been undertaken by DET offices in the Audit Directorate. In conducting the review DET consulted with "representatives of key areas" but failed to consult with the PSA. The options for SAS Staffing outlined in the review include:
The review acknowledged it did not examine in depth SAS Staffing in Distance Education Centres and suggested that it may be appropriate to undertake a detailed review of the tasks and associated staffing resources before effecting change to the current staffing levels. However informal information indicates that some form of implementation of the review is already taken place. The General Secretary wrote to DET requesting a meeting to give details of the intent of the review and any implementation which is taking place or will take place in the foreseeable future. If SASS is to be adversely affected, a dispute will be lodged in the Industrial Relations Commission.
National Recognition Week 23-27 August 2004A meeting of our national union, CPSU, was held on 19th and 20th of May to pool ideas and nationally coordinate action for Schools Recognition Week. The objectives of National Recognition Week were identified as
Suggested Recognition activities included morning teas/barbecues/breakfasts to build solidarity amongst members across schools, communication with members, a launch to promote the theme and/or a dinner. Other suggested activities were contacting career counsellors with information about SASS as a career, wearing an identical ribbon to create an identity as SAS Staff, setting up an ACTU work site for schools to promote SAS Staffing as a career, putting a notice on school welcome boards. Each State will be able to choose from these activities or undertake any other activities that it wants to do. Consideration was given to a poster to be produced by CPSU. The PSA sub-committee's suggestion of "the vital link" will be used together with the slogan "Respect, Recognition, Rights". A timetable has been established to make sure preparation is on target.
Web ServicesIn March 2004 Premier Bob Carr announced the roll out of the new e-learning system. This will provide students and staff with their own email address. Phase one of the roll out will see at the commencement of Term 2 200 schools in the South Western Sydney Region come on line. A further 600 schools in Term 3 and Term 4 will follow. The full roll out will take approximately 18 months at around 600 schools per term coming on line. TAFE will begin roll out in 2005. The Association participated in the Web Services Committee which for some time now has discussed many issues regarding this new product. Currently there are 45 schools involved in the pilot of web services. This pilot has yet to be concluded and evaluated. As a result of this it has been very difficult to ensure the outstanding issues with this product have been addressed. Issues still to be resolved are:
As these issues are unresolved the Association does not support the roll out. SAS Staff are not to take on the roles of site manager or systems administrator nor any functions attached to these roles. Currently the Teachers Federation have a ban on the Web Services, so as in the past we encourage members to support the teachers by not performing tasks normally carried out by them.
School Student Transport SchemeThe NSW Government is committed to supporting students' access to education through the School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS). This scheme provides subsidised travel to and from school for eligible students and is managed by Transport NSW. A new initiative of Transport NSW is the introduction of a smart card. This will eventually replace the current bus pass system with potential benefits to SAS Staff in the handling/distribution of bus passes. The smart card will capture actual trips made by students and bus companies will only be paid for these actual trips. The new smart card is to be trialled commencing July at 4 schools (2 Primary and 2 High Schools) in the North Shore/Hornsby area. Following trials will commence September in the Liverpool area (9 schools) and early Term 4 in the Penrith area (2 schools). The Association continues to meet with DET and Transport NSW to monitor these trials and discuss/negotiate issues as they arise. Schools involved in the trial are advised to carry out the duties they currently perform in relation to student bus passes. The Association also encourages members to use the SSTS Website to advise Transport NSW of student address changes and when a student leaves the school, as this will mean schools will no longer be required to complete bus company audits as it will be their responsibility to gather the information off the website database.
Review of Aboriginal Education Working GroupOn 20 May 2004 Mal Cochrane, PSA Aboriginal Liaison Office, and Fran Collins, Principal Industrial Officer, attended a meeting of the Aboriginal Education Personnel Working Group. The meeting considered a report on the evaluation of the ACLO/ASLO role. The report recommended the abolition of ACLOs and ASLOs positions and an increase in the number of AEAs. (ACLOs are Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers, ASLOs are Aboriginal Student Liaison Officers.) The PSA representatives did not support the report, in particular because the recommendations would involve AEAs having to do ACLOs and ASLOs work on the cheap. We also considered that the report had been poorly researched and that there would be insufficient funding for an increase in AEA positions and monetary recognition for more complex duties. It seems doubtful that the Working Group will adopt the recommendation. Its report should be finalised in two weeks.
Teachers Aides SpecialTeachers Aides Special have recently received a separate newsletter.
Sue Walsh,PSA President
Contact Details Fran Collins Ph: 02 9220 0976 Fax: 02 9262 1623 fcollins@psa.asn.au  
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