March 23, 2016

CEA

• Membership – members can log onto www.cea.org to update their own information. If your information is inaccurate on your CEA card, please update it.
• CEA RA meeting May 6th and 7th . If you are interested in attending please email Lori Cebelius.
• Be sure to READ your CEA Advisor! There is lots of valuable information in this newspaper.

BOE Meeting.

• Durham Bus Company won the transportation bid for busses. The contract begins July 1st.
• Budget has been approved by the BOE. It has now been passed to the town council.
• Our town charter dates have changed, negotiations will begin in August.
• Fuel account is in good shape because cost of fuel is down.
• New intermediate school (grades 4 & 5) plan approved by BOE. It will be set up like GMS with Pods for each grade. Moser will be torn down and they will rebuild on the site. There will be a STEM classroom per Pod, world language classes, a bus loop and a separate parent pick up loop. This will need be approved by the town council and also go to referendum.
• The district had a good year financially for health insurance.
• 3rd grade strings program has been eliminated. Most districts begin the program in grade 4.

INSURANCE

• Everyone will need to fill out forms during open enrollment, it is a “POSITIVE ENROLLMENT” which means every eligible employee, whether you are changing plans or not, will need to complete an enrollment form with their dependents dates of birth and their dependents social security numbers.
• All three plans (OAP, POS and HSA) are available. The insurance rates are posted on the rhta.org website.
• If switching to the HSA, try to time out your prescription, get a 90 day prescription filled around June 15th.

457 Account vs 403B

• Both are pre-tax accounts. You can contribute to both accounts now.
• The maximum you can contribute to the 457 depends on your age. The maximum you can contribute to a 403B is set by the IRS, currently approximately $20,000-22,000 per year.
• The difference – you can withdraw from the 457 account before the age of 59 ½ without penalty.

PAYSTUB

• Be sure to check your paystub for accuracies! If there is a mistake or you are not sure of something, contact Jo-Anne Turcotte at central office.

General Concerns

• RHHS temperature and air quality. Dave and Doug will ask about getting thermometers in classrooms so we can collect specific data.

Certification

• It is your responsibility to know when your certification expires and to complete the necessary paperwork to keep it current.

RHTA Website

• www.rhta.org please continue to check the website for up to date information regarding RHTA. Soon we will ask that you “opt in” so that any new announcements will be emailed directly to you. This will keep you up to date with the latest RHTA information.

NEXT MEETING:

Wednesday April 27, 2016

GMS Media Center

3:45PM

PLEASE JOIN US!