[StBernard] Bad news from Fr. Maestri on unemployment for teachers

[Westley Annis]

Anna,

Yours is the second story I am hearing of this.  I had received another
email about this, but was waiting on verification before I sent it out.

Luckily Erica has been able to get hired by the Terrebonne Parish School
Board, so we do not need to rely on any unemployment for her.

Personally, I think Katrina has now caught the Archdiocese of New Orleans
business office with its pants down.

While they were probably all happy to take advantage of different loopholes
within current business and tax law, it is now turning around to bite them.
Besides the fact that there is no unemployment for teachers, there is no
COBRA to give you the option of continuing your health insurance.  Although,
the Archdiocese is making arrangements to still give you some method of
continuing your insurance, the numbers I've heard don't add up.  Just on our
own personal insurance, it sounds like the premiums would jump up yet
another $150 or so above what we were paying combined with what the school
was kicking in.

It is very difficult right now, even though it is now a month later, to just
sit tight and wait a couple of days before jumping to any conclusions, but I
do believe it is best to wait until you receive something in writing before
reacting to it.

I truly believe what Ricky said about the unemployment insurance, and
although it is helpful it would only amount to around $3300 over a six month
period.  With luck, and a little prayer, perhaps the Archdiocese will see
fit to give teachers a lump-sum severance package.  

I don't know of one teacher that taught at a Catholic school for the money.
They all did it for the love of children and to teach the ways of the Lord.

Sharon often said those who worked at St. Mark would be taken care of later.
Perhaps later came sooner than expected. Hopefully the Archdiocese will
recognise this and fix the problem that they have created for themselves.

If you have not done so already, please be sure you have called the
Archdiocese Employee Hotline at 888-366-5024 by Monday, October 3.  The way
I read the annoucement, even teachers should get at least two weeks
severance pay.  

I did just try calling the number for Erica and an answering service
answers. The lady told me to call back on Monday, after 9:00 AM, at
504-834-5592.  I don't know if the 888 number normally points to the
Metairie number, but you can certainly try that first on Monday if you want
to try to avoid long-distance charges.

Westley

-----Original Message-----
From: stbernard-bounces at da-parish.com
[mailto:stbernard-bounces at da-parish.com] On Behalf Of Westley Annis
Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2005 10:00 AM
To: stbernard at da-parish.com; stmark-coop at stmarkschool.net
Subject: [StBernard] Bad news from Fr. Maestri on unemployment for teachers

Not all emails sent through this list reflect 
the opinion of da-parish.com or Westley Annis
-----------------------------------------------------
 I am sitting here writing this memo in disbelief.  My
husband, Ricky, just called to give me this bit of
info.  He went to work this morning to do the am news
and ran into Fr. Maestri.  He felt he would take the
opportunity to question Fr. about why my unemployment
might have been denied.  Fr. told him that teachers
can't get unemployment since the Archdiocese DID NOT
payment unemployment ins for TEACHERS!!!!  However,
for other staff (I guess office and maintainance
workers) members they did pay for unemployment and
will be able to collect.  But NOT TEACHERS.  Don't get
me wrong, I'm happy for those who are able to collect,
but who is it really that is the body of the school? I
always thought it was the teachers.  And still think
it is.  So why were we not given the same treatment
when it came to being "taken care of" as the
secretaries and the maintainance staff?????
Fr. also said that they (meaning teachers) know that
they can't collect. Ricky's reply was "no they do
not."  Fr went on to say that teachers can collect
from FEMA.  Is FEMA really going to pay loss of
wages????   It certainly is puzzling to me that the
Archdiocese didn't carry unemployment insurance for
their employees. However, when I spoke to Kim
Duplantier she told me they carry unemployment ins as
well as some sort of uninterruption of wages insurance
also. And Kim's is a business that takes care of
people's pets whereas we are educating children.

I had been teaching at SMS for the last 14 years and
was NEVER made aware of the fact re: NO unemployment
ins. I can't believe that the archdiocese would not
afford us such a thing after the dedicated service
that has been put in by myself and many others.  I can
also say that I have received help from the Baptist
churches here in Baton Rouge from day one.  We were
given new mattresses, blankets, sheets,
towels,clothing, food, toiletries, a sofa, and some
furniture. Of course it was mostly used things but
nice things. Matter of fact, one gentleman from the
church that has been such a blessing to our family,
called me 2 days ago just to find out how we were
doing and asked "Is there anything else you need?"  I
am still waiting to receive help from the Catholic
church but haven't heard anything yet. 

Lastly, if anyone have any info to correct me on this
please do so.  I would love to be corrected and proven
wrong. However, since this information came directly
from Fr Maestri to my husband's ears on 10/01/05 at
about 8am (ish), any correction if not from a reliable
source (namely Maestri himself) is going to be very
hard to believe.  Even the article in this morning's
paper never says "teachers" it continuously states
"employees".  I am certainly very disheartened at this
new bit of news and feel very let down by the
Archdiocese and the Catholic church.

 Sincerely,

 Anna Meyers
 (4th gr teacher at SMS since '92)


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