Teachers press board for full-time on-site techs; union flags contract concern over calendar change
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Summary
During public comment, a teacher described recurring classroom-technology failures and urged full-time on-site techs; Janet Moody of the Osceola County Education Association said the union 'disagrees' with a calendar change that could convert contract-guaranteed work days into emergency makeup days and said the union would seek bargaining if necessary.
Two public-comment speakers raised staffing and contract concerns at the School District of Osceola County board meeting on Feb. 10.
Lori Macy, a classroom teacher, described repeated technology failures in instruction and urged the district to provide a full-time technology specialist at every school. Macy said on-site techs would prevent instructional disruptions and highlighted a recent repair that saved the district the cost of a replacement computer: "We saved you guys money of getting me a new computer by this little 2 to $4 thing," she said, and urged the board to 'pretend you don't have a tech team' to understand classroom impacts.
Janet Moody of the Osceola County Education Association noted the union "disagrees with this decision to change" the calendar without bargaining. Moody said the contract guarantees a teacher workday at the end of each quarter to work on grades; if those days are reallocated as emergency makeup days, the union would seek to bargain the impact. "I just wanna enter into the record that the union disagrees with this decision," Moody said.
District staff responded during the agenda item discussion by saying the district has two built-in makeup days for most schools and would be willing to bargain if the number of makeup days rose to a level that affected contractual protections.
Neither public-comment speaker asked for a formal board vote; the comments were entered for the record and staff described available calendar safeguards.