9-24-07
ST. JOHN DECIDES TO REMAIN ON HEALTHCHOICE

At 8:09 this morning, TCTA received an e-mail from Paul King with the State Insurance Group. His e-mail is as follows:

OEA also sent out a message indicting that St. John’s rescinded their termination notice and will remain in the network.

TCTA thanks all of those who made phone calls to St. John urging them to remain in network.

Remember that open enrollment for the state plan is from September 24 to October 12. Please review the Superintendent’s Bulletin for specifics.

 

9-21-07
PERFORMANCE PAY: YOUR OPINION IS NEEDED!

Lance Cargill, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Tad Jones, House Education Committee Chairman would like your opinion on the issue of performance pay for teachers. They are currently conducting an interim study on the topic of performance pay and they are hearing testimony from many experts who are sharing their experiences and knowledge on the subject. They would also like to hear from you. Please click on the link below and give them your opinions.

http://www.okhouse.gov/survey/index.aspx

9-18-07
HEALTHCHOICE CHANGES REGARDING ST. JOHN

We received news late Friday that St. John Hospital and ancillary facilities are not renewing their contract with HealthChoice. We immediately called the State Health Insurance Group to discuss the impact on our members.

Beginning October 10, anyone on HealthChoice who uses a St. John’s facility or physician will be considered out of network. Using a non Network facility or doctor results in the user paying 50% of actual costs versus 20% of allowable charges, which is what they have paid in the past. This is a significant increase to the user.

It is imperative that you call your physician and determine whether or not they have privileges at other hospitals. If so, you can continue to use that physician at an alternate hospital under the current provisions, which requires the employee to pay only 20% of the allowable charges after meeting their deductible. If your physician only practices at St. Johns, you will need to decide if you want to continue using your current providers at the increased rate or change to another in network provider.

As of this time, we are told this does not impact any of the HMO providers, only those on HealthChoice.

In the meantime, the State Insurance Group is continuing to pursue another contract with St. John’s and will contact us in the event they are successful.

The State Health Insurance Group has provided us with a list of ancillary facilities and physicians that will now be considered non Network providers. Please check our website at www.tulsateachers.org for this list.

TCTA will continue to update you on this issue. Remember to check the website for current information.

 

See a current list of St. John Providers here.

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2007-2008 Superintendent’s Coffee Schedule

Dr. Zolkoski has decided to hold his community coffees at 6:00 p.m. in order to give patrons a chance to attend who could notmake it to his morning coffees last year.

The schedule for this year is as follows:

September 27 - Area IV: Memorial 5840 South Hudson Avenue

November 29 - Area III: Skelly 2940 South 90 East Avenue

January 31 - Area II: Webster 1919 West 40 Street

March 27 - Area I: (site to be announced)

May 22 - Area V: Tulsa Learning Academy Promenade Mall 41st & Yale

 

Changes at the Helm

Over the summer, TCTA experienced some important personnel changes. Long-time President Steve Stockley decided to return to his counseling gig at Lewis and Clark Middle School, so following TCTA by-laws, Vice President Denzel Kesterson stepped up to fulfill the rest of Steve’s term and Patti Ferguson, formerly 2nd Vice President, was appointed by the TCTA Board of Directors to fulfill Denzel’s term as Vice-President.

Denzel had served as Vice-President since 2004. Before that, he spent many years teaching math at Cleveland, Edison, and most recently at Byrd. Patti comes into the TCTA Office after spending the last 16 years at Hale High School where she taught English, Arts Alive, Drama, and Speech. Denzel and Patti are both kindergarten-through-graduation products of Tulsa Public Schools. Denzel attended Cherokee, Monroe, and McLain and Patti attended MacArthur, Whitney, and Hale. They are both at the TCTA office full-time to assist members with their questions and concerns.

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