Hi everyone,

Welcome back from your break. I hope you had time to recharge from a very busy and productive start of the school year. Hopefully you thumbed through the latest CFT California Teacher that came to your home. ABC was mentioned on page four along with multiple pictures from our campaign for the ABCFT endorsed candidates for the ABC School Board. This article is a testament of our success during the last school board election. Thanks to all of those who supported our effort. Having Union Friendly School Board Members is by far the most important piece in the puzzle when it comes to creating a district culture of collaboration as we work together to do what is right for teachers and kids.

If you didn't catch the article here is the not so pretty version of page 4.

If you want to see the real deal you can download the California Teacher @ http://www.cft.org/index.php/publications.html

Have a good week!

Ray

ABCFT President

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Union members step up to elect education-friendly candidates in November board races

Life in the small North Monterey County Unified School District had become increasingly difficult. Things finally hit a boiling point after a largely appointed school board and an out-of-touch superintendent imposed the largest K-3 class sizes in the region and forced the faculty to accept furlough days even as the district rolled up a record ending balance.

According to Kelly Moore, president of the North Monterey Federation of Teachers, the “deteriorating conditions were related to our detachment for the last 15 years.” So the faculty decided to act. Under Moore’s leadership, the union recruited a popular teacher who worked in a neighboring district but lived in the community to run for the school board.

Teacher candidate Mike Deckelmann enthusiastically reached out to voters in the largely rural district. He spoke with voters in coffee shops, at their doors, and over the phone. Parents and the faculty members added their voices to the growing chorus for fundamental change in the district’s operation.

The faculty became so motivated that a quarter of the union’s 200 members phoned voters, some volunteering repeatedly for phone bank duty. The candidate and the union augmented this personal touch with campaign mailers. The union also worked with its local labor council as a way to reach union voters who worked for other government bodies and in a variety of industries.

@ a fundraiser for Lynda's Campaign for ABC School Board
Left to Right Emma Gaer, Ray Gaer (ABCFT President), Lynda Johnson (candidate)
Richard Hathaway (ABCFT Treasurer) , Ruth Gaer, Lily Gaer

“The anger was palpable,” said Moore, and on election day the district officials got the message. Deckelmann, the teacher, came in first place out of five candidates for two seats in an at-large election. While he would be only one vote on a five-person board, the unambiguous sentiment for change led the superintendent to offer his resignation.

In Los Angeles County, a number of small and medium-sized local unions likewise experienced 
big wins.

Ray Gaer, president of the ABC Federation of Teachers, described his union’s sweep of five seats on the district’s seven-member board as “a huge win.”

The four-way race to fill an unexpired term on the ABC board was very close, as Lynda Johnson, the union-endorsed candidate won by 
22 votes. This victory was a result of a strong campaign and coalition politics. The AFT members distributed election flyers together with the support staff represented by CSEA and AFSCME.

“We earned the respect” of political figures at city hall who thought they could impose their candidate on the education community, according to Gaer.

The Culver City Federation of Teachers knocked out an incumbent as it helped elect its two endorsed candidates, Nancy Goldberg and Laura Chardiet. Chardiet won by some three dozen votes.

The El Rancho Federation of Teachers supported the reelection of school board member Delia Alvidrez. This enabled her to finish first in a multi-candidate field.

Local political activity is always important because governing boards oversee district operations, including the hiring of administrators and negotiating of contracts. Political action becomes even more important in times of fiscal austerity. Successful union-supported campaigns that elect committed candidates to governing boards go far to solve the problem of managing existing funds.

— By Kenneth Burt, CFT Political Director

The Jury is Still Out on State Waivers for ESEA (Elementary & Secondary Ed. ACT

FYI - At the California State level there is still a debate about whether California should apply for a State Waiver for ESEA formerly NCLB. Here is a fact sheet put out by AFT in December. Please note the highlighted parts in red as they pertain to collective bargaining and school improvement requirements.

ESEA Flexibility Fact Sheet

States can request waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—the Elementary and Secondary Education

Act (ESEA)—in exchange for meeting certain requirements. For approved states, waivers will be offered

from several areas of ESEA, including adequate yearly progress and school improvement requirements.

Timing of Applications and Awards

The dates by which states have to submit applications are Nov. 14, 2011, for December peer review, and

mid-February 2012 for spring 2012 peer review. (FYI - California has missed the first deadline but still has time to submit an application)

Proposed Eligibility Requirements

To receive flexibility, a state education agency (SEA) must submit an application that addresses the

following principles and is consistent with definitions and timelines prescribed.

1. College- and Career-Ready Expectations for All Students

An SEA must demonstrate that it has college- and career-ready expectations for all students

(including for English language learners ) in the state by adopting college- and career-ready

standards in at least reading/language arts and mathematics, transitioning to and implementing

such standards statewide for all students and schools, and developing and administering annual,

statewide, aligned, high-quality assessments, and corresponding academic achievement

standards, that measure student growth in at least grades 3-8 and at least once in high school.

2. State-Developed Differentiated Recognition, Accountability and Support for Schools

An SEA must develop and implement a system of differentiated recognition, accountability and

support for all local education agencies (LEAs) in the state and for all Title I schools in these LEAs.

Systems must look at student achievement in at least reading/language arts and mathematics for

all students and all student subgroups identified in ESEA/NCLB; graduation rates for all students

and all subgroups; and school performance and progress over time, including the performance

and progress of all subgroups. They may also look at student achievement in subjects other than

reading/language arts and mathematics and, once an SEA has adopted high-quality assessments,

must take into account student growth.

Accountability systems must create incentives and include differentiated interventions and

support to improve student achievement and graduation rates and to close achievement gaps for

all subgroups, including interventions specifically focused on improving the performance of

English learners and students with disabilities.

3. Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership

States and LEAs must commit to develop, adopt, pilot and implement, with the involvement of

teachers and principals, teacher and principal evaluation and support systems that will be used for

continual improvement of instruction; meaningfully differentiate performance using at least three

performance levels; use multiple valid measures in determining performance levels, including as

significant factors data on student growth for all students (including English learners and students

with disabilities) and other measures of professional practice (which may be gathered through

multiple formats and sources, such as observations based on rigorous teacher performance

standards, teacher portfolios, and student and parent surveys); evaluate teachers and principals on

a regular basis; and provide clear, timely and useful feedback, including feedback that identifies

needs, guides professional development and will be used to inform personnel decisions.

4. Reducing Duplication and Unnecessary Burden

SEAs should remove duplicative and burdensome reporting requirements that have little or no

impact on student outcomes.

Conditions

Collective Bargaining Protections/Teacher Involvement

There is language covering all the requirements below that stipulates: “Nothing in these principles shall be

construed to alter or otherwise affect the rights, remedies, and procedures afforded school or school district

employees under Federal, State, or local laws (including applicable regulations or court orders) or under

the terms of collective bargaining agreements, memoranda of understanding, or other agreements between

such employees and their employer.”

There is also language requiring states to explain in their application how they have received input from

various stakeholders, including teachers and their representatives.

Flexibility Offered

If states meet the above criteria, they may request flexibility through waivers of the following ESEA

provisions:

• the 2013–2014 timeline for determining adequate yearly progress (AYP)

• implementation of school improvement requirements

• implementation of LEA improvement requirements

• rural LEAs

• schoolwide programs

• support school improvement

• reward schools

• highly qualified teacher (HQT) improvement plans

• transfer certain funds

• use of school improvement grant (SIG) funds to support priority schools

• use of Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program funds