Cerritos, Artesia leaders endorse Fil-Am

POSTED BY THEPINOYWEEKLY ⋅ OCTOBER 2, 2011 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

Cerritos Councilman Mark Pulido, Candidate Lynda Johnson, Artesia Councilman-Elect Miguel Canales and President of the ABC Federation of Teachers (ABCFT) Ray Gaer.

CERRITOS, California — Long-time Cerritos resident, parent leader, volunteer coach, ABC School Board candidate, Lynda Johnson, held a special press conference on Friday, September 9, at OR Global Avanti Business Center, located at 17215 Studebaker Road, Suite 120, Cerritos, CA 90703.

Johnson rolled out the announcement of her major backing and endorsements from former ABC School Board President and new Cerritos Councilman Mark Pulido, Artesia Councilman-Elect Miguel Canales and President of the ABC Federation of Teachers (ABCFT) Ray Gaer.

Each officially announced their endorsement of Johnson and praised her years of leadership and service in the community. Artesia Councilman-Elect Canales emphasized Johnson’s local roots as a product of ABC schools and as an active parent leader.

“Lynda Johnson is by far the best prepared candidate to take on the tough issues and financial challenges that face our public schools today,” emphasized Councilman Pulido.

Representing thousands of classroom teachers, ABCFT President Ray Gaer presented a check in the amount of $2,500 as a contribution from the teachers union to help Johnson in her grassroots campaign.

Major endorsements from numerous Cerritos city officials and parent leaders were also announced, including: Fine Arts Commissioner Nora Benzon, Economic Development Commissioner Leslie Machado, Planning Commissioner Frank Yokoyama, former Fine Arts Commission Chair Maria Skiles, Let Freedom Ring Committee members Carmelita Lampino and Charlotte Vera-Quarles, and former Miss Cerritos Princess Marissa Sunio.

Johnson is a 40-year resident of Cerritos and graduated with highest honors from Artesia High School. She is the proud parent of three adult children who all graduated from Cerritos High school — Lauren (UCLA graduate), Roy Jr. (Whittier College student) and Ryan (U.S. Naval Academy midshipman).

Professionally, Johnson has 25+ years of experience in law enforcement as a paralegal with the District Attorney’s Office and the Los Cerritos Municipal Court.

As the former three-time president of the Cerritos High School PTSA, Johnson established the highly successful annual Cerritos High School Golf Tournament, raising thousands of dollars in funding for school improvement projects and scholarships. Johnson is running for the ABC Board of Education.

The 2-year term expires in December 2013. Election Day is Tuesday, November 8, 2011.

Site Rep Meeting today.

Haskell Middle School 3:30

Summary to follow the meeting.

"Can I have more than 28 students in my kindergarten class?"

Dear Teachers,


The Union office is getting calls about class sizes for kindergartens and previously 20:1 grade levels and I would like to clarify this issue. The Union will be putting out a flyer concerning this issue at the end of the week that should be on your union bulletin board on Friday or Monday. 


For staffing purposes the District has used 28 students per class in grades K-3; however, per the contract, class sizes may go higher than 28.  If students enroll in our schools the District has a policy of "not turning parents and their students away." 


The District has said that it will respect the contract language of 32 for K, 30 for grades 1-3 and 32 for grades 4-6.   If unexpectedly a school has a surge in enrollment and a class goes over contract language, District administrators will work with the school to quickly address the class size issue. For clarification, class sizes during CSR have never been included in our salary agreement because they fall under class maximums.


The class size of 28 falls under the Class Size Reduction (CSR - 20:1) program and is less than the class maximums in our contract, therefore, the District can staff up to the class maximums without having to negotiate with the teachers union. It was the school board that voted on staffing class sizes at 28 in the Spring of 2011 and it is not part of the certificated salary agreement dated June 7th of 2011. Having the ABC School Board vote for a staffing ratio lower than the contract maximums is not typical for California school boards or District administrators. Most school districts are pink slipping teachers and negotiating to raise their class sizes over their current class maximums. In MOST districts the CSR program is long gone and teachers are now forced to increase their contract maximums to save the jobs of those who have been pink slipped.  The ABC District Administrators have been exceptional in understanding that the current fiscal disaster California schools are facing is not a time to use heavy handed negotiating tactics which are common practice in Education. 


For example, LAUSD gave out 5000 pink slips and have not hired back over 1,450 teachers and health and human services professionals. Your ABCFT Union doesn't think that pink slips are good for morale and the lives of teachers and we will do what we can to save as many jobs as possible. We are fortunate that our District office doesn't use pink slips as a way to get concessions from teachers at the bargaining table. That is a dirty way to do school business and only results in disrupting the learning environment for teachers and students. Who is suffering in LAUSD? I think it's the teachers and the students who show the scars of bad administrative decisions.


Have a good week!


In Solidarity,




Ray Gaer
President ABC Federation of Teachers

Go See: American Teacher: A Documentary

Many of you may have heard about a movie American Teacher: A Documentary (narrated by Matt Damon) being released today in NYC and Los Angelestoday. Indeed today there was a review in the LA Times http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-american-teacher-20110930,0,7613779.story. The AFT is encouraging AFT members –and they to encourage others---to see the movie if you can for the LA premier week and at an additional screening for those in San Francisco area at the Roxie theater (October 7-13). Please forward this information to your friends and allies students and any other social media you may utilize. For more detailed information on screenings, please go to Teacher Salary Project, including locations of community screenings and ways for others to host a screening in their communities in the near future.


American Teacher: A Documentary

Narrated by Matt Damon

Los Angeles theatrical release with filmmakers and film stars on opening nights

Oscar winner Matt Damon narrates this eye-opening look at the American education system, as viewed from the perspective of four dedicated teachers and seeks to counteract popular misconceptions about the teaching profession by showing, in a style of close-up realism, what teachers actually do and what their lives are really like—and how continued neglect of the profession may be jeopardizing the nation's future.

Directed by Academy Award winner Vanessa Roth and produced by Dave Eggers and Ninive Caligari, American Teacher: A Documentary aims to address the difficult questions about the broken public school system through honest dialogue with the people who strive to give our children a proper education. The film is part of the Teacher Salary Project and is based on the book “Teachers Have it Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers.”

The film portrays five K-12 public school educators from across the country as they navigate the daily challenges of balancing their teaching career with their personal lives. Every day, Jamie Fidler, Jonathan Dearman, Erik Benner, and Rhena Jasey each preside over a classroom full of children with unbound potential. But due to the fact that funds are in short supply and the hours can be grueling, it's a constant uphill battle. Perhaps even more troubling is the revelation that over three million American teachers will be eligible for retirement in the next decade, and that the current crop of college graduates are turning away from the profession in droves due to minuscule wages and a complete lack of prestige. Realizing that quality teachers are the key to a good education, Roth profiles four educators who have devoted their careers to the betterment of today's youth but recognize that the entire system could collapse at any moment.

The screener for the movie can be seen at www.theteachersalaryproject.org.


AMC Loews Broadway 4

1441 Third Street Promenade

Santa Monica, California 90401



September: 30: 1:00 pm and 7:15pm (with filmmakers at 7:15 showing)

October 1: 2:10 pm and 7:15 pm

October 2: 1:00 pm and 7:15 pm

October 4: 1:00 pm and 7:15 pm

October 5: 1:00 pm and 7:15 pm

October 6: 1:00 pm and 7:15 pm



An additional theatrical release will be held in San Francisco



San Francisco theatrical release October 7-13 only.

with filmmakers and film stars on opening nights

Roxie Theater

3117 16th Street

San Francisco, California 94110

October 8:  4:45 pm; 6:30 pm 8:45 pm

October 9:  3:00 pm  4:45 pm  6:30 pm  8:45 pm

October 10:  6:30 pm  8:45 pm

October 12:  8:45 pm


Reviews


The Washington Post’s Michael Chandler described the film’s timing as “At a moment when bad teachers have been targeted as the biggest problem in public education and lawmakers are scrambling to find different ways to evaluate and fire them, a new movie now being shown in previews and premiering later this year takes a less punishing view of our 3.2 million public school teachers, focusing instead on the need to support and pay them better.”

The Education Week review of The American Teacher can be found at: http://bit.ly/kHRhmc. 

Also check out The New York Times opinion piece by the film’s producers Ninive Caligari and Dave Eggars at: http://nyti.ms/mnkccj .

Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post story on the movie that can be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/a-film-on-education-that-gets-it-right/2011/09/27/gIQA1JyH3K_blog.html#pagebreak 

And, finally, here are links to three great reviews of the film from yesterday.

A film on education that gets it right by Mark Phillips, Washington Post, Answer Sheet blog



Film Review: American Teacher by Kristina Rizga, Mother Jones



Matt Damon Will School You: In Praise of Educators in American Teacher by Ernest Hardy, The Village Voice



Below is a link to AFT president Randi Weingarten and NEA president Dennis Van Roekel introducing the “American Teacher: A Documentary” at Ed Nation on MSNBC earlier this week. Then there is a panel discussion with the producers, stars, etc.

http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=BF4DC20D-E865-11E0-B00E000C296BA163&aka=0 



The producers on Talk of the Nation yesterday on NPR. http://www.npr.org/programs/talk-of-the-nation/