SAS Staff News

BEWARE Smartbuy

Schoolsbuy is soon to be replaced by Smartbuy. The PSA advises members not to use Smartbuy as it creates additional work. It does not link with OASIS which means orders placed using Smartbuy have to also be entered into OASIS - double work!!

We have informed the Department that until discussions are held with the PSA and until Smartbuy links to OASIS our members will not use it.

You will remember that a similar problem existed when Schoolsbuy was first introduced. By effectively placing a ban on Schoolsbuy until it was compatible with OASIS the PSA were able to get Schoolsbuy integrated to OASIS quickly. DO NOT use Smartbuy until the PSA and the Department have met to resolve these issues.

School Support Officer positions

Many schools are using the School Support Officer position to do more complex work than was intended. A number of schools have employed someone in the School Support Officer position who at other times works in a School Administrative Officer Grade 2 position. However, School Support Officers are not being paid to do Grade 2 work. They are employed to perform lower competency tasks as identified and included in the duty statement for School Support Officers. This allows Grade 2 Admin. Officers to carry out more complex work. School Support Officers should not perform Administrative Officers' duties, because they are not being paid to do so.

If you are a School Support Officer and are being required to perform outside your statement of duties, please contact the PSA on 9290 1555 and ask for the Schools Team.

Online Data Collections for Schools

The PSA has not agreed to any change in the way that student absences are processed i.e. primary schools do not enter this information on OASIS. Secondary Schools currently enter student absences on OASIS.

The new on-line method allows high schools to extract data from OASIS and send it online to the Department of Education and Training. In the majority of Primary Schools class rolls are maintained by the class teacher. In previous years the Student Absences Return would have been collated from the class rolls by a member of the school executive.

This task remains the responsibility of a member of the teaching staff.

Small schools - Staff increases

The Education Minister, Carmel Tebbutt has announced that all schools of 25 students or less will now have two (2) adults on duty at any time from next year. The PSA has welcomed this announcement, which states that these extra resources will usually be in the form of a teacher's aide or an administrative staff member. The additional staff will address resource issues and child protection issues.

The PSA will be having discussions with the Department on a process for allocation of staff to those small schools. The PSA will update you in future newsletters.

Your Rights @ Work Rallies

Congratulations to all those who attended the YourRights@Work rallies across the State on Wednesday. The ACTU and Unions NSW were very impressed with the strong support shown by PSA members in opposition to Howard's WorkChoices. Well done! We must maintain our strong position and continue to participate in the campaign.

Sue Walsh
President

Kris Cruden
Senior Industrial Officer