Ipswich Educators Association
May Newsletter
Hello IEA,
At this point in the year, our work days are a bit more frantic and our schedules are a little less predicable. It can be easy to have the weight of all that outshine the pride in student progress and enjoyment of our time together as a school community that's mixed in there too. I hope you all find daily pockets joy in the midst of the endless to do lists and calendar notifications.
This month's newsletter largely focuses on updates to our recent initiatives and actions. The work of the IEA is never done and there's always room for improvement but these incremental steps in the right direction do create a collective change.
-Alicia
Tiger Tour
At the beginning of the meeting Jen Donahue, made a statement I'd like to pass on to all of you: "I'd like to acknowledge that this is Teacher Appreciation Week and coincidentally the School Committee Members have been doing Tiger Tours this week spending time in the school. I'd just like to acknowledge that it is tough working in education. We have seen first hand this week some of just how hard you all work. The schools were a buzz and it was beautiful to see. I want to acknowledge and thank you for showing up and thank you for working hard. Education has changed and pivoted and the pendulum has swung back and forth. It's not an easy field. I think it's a calling to be an educator and to wake up and do that every day. So thank you to IPS educators."
Need for Policy - Harassment & Social Media Targetting
As you may remember from last month's IEA newsletter, we've asked the district to provide protection to staff when it comes to harassment, social media impersonation, and the use of staff images in a derogatory manner.
At their meeting on Thursday the school committee updated several policies to better protect us:
- JICFB Bullying Prevention now includes "Use of school employee or student photos/videos or likeness to harass is prohibited." As well as reference within the policy to the fact that staff may also be a target of bullying
- JICK Harassment was renamed from Harassment of Students to simply Harassment. The policy now includes "Student-to-Employee Harassment" defining it as "conduct of a written, verbal, cyber or physical nature that is designed to embarrass, distress, agitate, disturb or trouble students, when such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an employee’s performance or creating an intimidating or hostile work environment." The policy also specifies "Use of school employee photos/videos or likeness to harass is prohibited."
The District's AI Vision Statement also includes the language "AI may not be used to create content intended to harass, harm, deceive and/or bully any member of the Ipswich Public Schools community. The creation, use, and and/or distribution of deepfakes is expressly prohibited. Any inappropriate use of AI should be immediately reported to an IPS administrator, and anyone using AI in these ways will be subject to disciplinary action as outlined in IPS anti-bullying policies. Please note that AI generated deepfake photos and videos is included in a law that went into effect in Massachusetts on September 18, 2024 “An Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation.”"
A newly revised Wellness Policy was approved by the School Committee Thursday 5/7. Though not perfect, this revision will take the policy in a much more realistic direction. The updated policy should be presented at a future staff meeting in your building.
Thank you so much to teacher representatives on the Wellness Committee: Jen Grenier, Andrea Welch, Theresa Guillaume/Sarah Trotsky, and Hannah Weagle.
The School Committee voted and approved the before Labor Day start option for the 2027-2028 school year. As previously shared, the IEA calendar vote resulted in the before Labor Day option earning 76% of votes.
Ipswich Educators' Association
President: Alicia Thomas
Email: ieapresident.email@gmail.com
Website: https://ipswich.massteacher.org/