ABCFT Week in Review – December 1, 2017
ABC FEDERATION OF TEACHERS THIS WEEK...
FEDERAL TAX REFORM - GET THE DETAILS
To get the details on how the current tax reforms will impact your household, you can go to the web link below for updated information as negotiations for tax reform develop over the next month. Stay informed about how changes will impact all Americans.
ABCFT GOVERNOR ENDORSEMENT SURVEY RESULTS
Thank you to all those who participated in the Governor Straw Poll that ABCFT sent out on Monday. Your valuable input will help guide the endorsement process for the California Federation of Teachers as the CFT Executive Council decides on a candidate endorsement. Follow the link below to view the survey results.
ABCFT TEACHER LEADERS PROGRAM: Tanya Golden TL Facilitator
In November, the ABCFT TL’s dug deep into the essence of the Teacher Leader Program: Action Research. These fifteen teachers worked in their affinity groups to develop a research question that will be a guide their focus during their action research. Rico Tamayo, the President of the CFT EC/TK-12 Council was a guest speaker at one of the latest TL meetings. Tamayo shared about the union’s vital role in policy making at the state level and how important it is for the union to be a part of the conversation when policy and legislative decisions are being made. In January, the TL’s will be heading to Sacramento for their first experience at lobbying state legislators by attending Lobby Day for the California Federation of Teachers. During the active and crucial day, the TL’s will speak with Legislators about educational issues, preview the CFT legislative and political programs, and end the long day with a legislative reception. ABCFT is excited to provide this opportunity for teachers to be empowered and to let their voice be heard in Sacramento.
CURRICULUM LINK OF THE WEEK
This week we have a great resource for professional development that you can get on your own time. Go to the website called Ditchsummit.com and sign up for their Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit. Just like a teacher conference except its whenever and whenever you want (pajamas and couch optional) The Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit offers you nine great speakers -- one new video interview released per day -- from Dec. 15-23.
The videos will be available until Dec. 31. Like any other conference, when it's over, it's over and the videos will disappear.
Sharing resources and ideas are what keeps our classrooms innovative, interesting, and organized. Each week, ABCFT will highlight an education resource that we heard was great for teachers. If you have a website, book, or training that you found helpful in your classroom let us know at abcft@abcusd.us so we can share it with everyone.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Over this past week I attended/worked with unit members in representations, contract resolutions, email/text/phone call questions, site concerns, and mediations. Here are a couple of highlights from my week:
This week Membership Coordinator Tanya Golden and myself met with teachers in the State Preschool program, Carver Elementary, and Carmenita. At these meetings we were able to listen to teachers as they talked about the status of their classrooms, students, and schools/programs. In return we were able to provide detailed documents illustrating the financial health of the district and the direction of ABCFT salary and contract negotiations.
Throughout the week, I met with district administrators and with teachers discussing student behaviors in the classroom and how extreme behaviors or parent situations can have a broad impact on the students and teachers in a school. In talking with the district administrators, I was reassured that they are well aware of the current spike in these difficult situations and that they are working on a plan that will provide both short and long term solutions to help support teachers, principals and students as situations arise.
This week I also met with the Director of Special Education in ABC, Rochelle Chavez, Assistant Superintendent Valencia (we meet monthly) and with ABCFT VP of Special Education Dawn Heeren. These individuals are key components to a committee called PROP (Pro-Active Problem Solvers). The PROPs committee was one of the first Partnership committees formed and has had a quantifiable impact on improving the special education supports in the ABC District. PROPs provides a forum where district administrators and special education representatives collaboratively work to develop solutions for any developments in special education throughout the district. Over the next six months, ABCFT and ABCUSD will be making an effort to grow the representation of PROPs and to develop structures and practices to facilitate better communication about the successful work they are doing behind the scenes to address changes, challenges, or solutions for special education program.
This Friday and Saturday I will be attending the CFT Executive Board to work on Statewide issues that impact education. I will have a report next week on what was covered. Saturday night I am bowling in my bowling league….what activities to you do to unwind? We are getting a Social Committee Together to explore how ABCFT can provide more opportunities to get together outside of work. If you’re interested in this committee let us know.
As always, have a great weekend and we will see you back here in week.
In Unity!
Ray Gaer
ABCFT President
or
(ABC Federation of Teachers)
Or
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
AFT’s Weingarten on Federal Communications Commission’s Net
Neutrality Changes
WASHINGTON— AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement condemning the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed dismantling of net neutrality rules:
“The principles behind net neutrality are fairness and access—the idea that every American should have equal access to internet resources, regardless of cost or ownership. By proposing to end net neutrality, the Trump administration has once again—as with taxes, education and healthcare—betrayed the interests of the many to serve the wealthy few. Donald Trump campaigned as a populist but is governing as an elitist, and the decision on net neutrality epitomizes his deceit.
“Under the FCC’s proposed changes, students and educators searching for neutral information will be directed to biased corporate websites. Students will be priced out of fast access. High-quality, free teaching resources like Share My Lesson will be pushed aside in favor of for-profit sites. Nurses’ ability to rely on robust broadband for medical imaging and other technologies to treat patients will be subject to the whim of service providers. Graduate employees and adjunct professors will have their research kneecapped. And public employees will be consigned to the internet “slow lane” forever.
“No one asked for this change—besides the major telecommunications companies. Once again, President Trump has attacked the public interest to pad corporations’ bottom lines and pander to those least in need of his largess.”
“The principles behind net neutrality are fairness and access—the idea that every American should have equal access to internet resources, regardless of cost or ownership. By proposing to end net neutrality, the Trump administration has once again—as with taxes, education and healthcare—betrayed the interests of the many to serve the wealthy few. Donald Trump campaigned as a populist but is governing as an elitist, and the decision on net neutrality epitomizes his deceit.
“Under the FCC’s proposed changes, students and educators searching for neutral information will be directed to biased corporate websites. Students will be priced out of fast access. High-quality, free teaching resources like Share My Lesson will be pushed aside in favor of for-profit sites. Nurses’ ability to rely on robust broadband for medical imaging and other technologies to treat patients will be subject to the whim of service providers. Graduate employees and adjunct professors will have their research kneecapped. And public employees will be consigned to the internet “slow lane” forever.
“No one asked for this change—besides the major telecommunications companies. Once again, President Trump has attacked the public interest to pad corporations’ bottom lines and pander to those least in need of his largess.”
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
NATIONAL NEWS
Educator expense deduction at risk
Teachers are currently able to deduct $250 off their taxable income for the extras they for their classrooms, something Congress created in 2002 for teachers who "go above and beyond." Now the educator expense deduction has become a sticking point in the Republican tax debate, with the House and Senate taking it in two different directions. The House republican tax bill would scrap the educator deduction entirely, while the Senate Republican tax plan would double it to $500. "The tax deduction means a lot to teachers," says Brooke Richardson, a teacher who lives and works in Atlanta. "Everything we bring to the classroom, we are doing it for our students. We are doing it because education isn't always properly funded on the state or local level."
Teachers’ licenses suspended if they fall behind loan payments
The New York Times says few people realize that the loans they take out to pay for their education could eventually disrupt their careers. Tabitha McArdle earned $48,000 when she started out as a teacher in Houston, but as a single mother she couldn’t keep up with her monthly $800 student loan payments. Now, the Texas Education Agency has put her on a list of 390 teachers whose certifications cannot be renewed until they make steady payments, and she has no license. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who has worked to overturn the laws that allow situations like this to happen, says such moves are “tantamount to modern-day debtors’ prison.”
The New York Times
USDA halts school lunch reduction plan
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it is pausing enforcement of an Obama-era plan to further reduce the amount of salt in school lunches. The Obama administration had set targets that envisioned school reducing the amount of sodium in school meals each year, but the USDA said that it would keep the current targets for sodium levels reductions unchanged through 2019. Those targets are currently not more than 1,230 mg per meal for elementary, 1,360mg for middle and 1,420 mg for high schools. Margo Wootan, from the Center for Science in the Public interest, criticized the decision, saying that the current high school lunch target represented two-thirds of a child's daily sodium intake and needed to be lowered. "It's too much salt," Wootan said. "This is locking in dangerously high levels of salt in school meals."
DeVos denies rumours she is set to stand down
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has denied reports she is set to resign, saying “I’m not planning to go anywhere.” Mrs DeVos went on to say it was “bad news…for the teacher union bosses, the defenders of the status quo, the ‘education-expert’ bloggers and muckrakers and too many legislators on both sides of the aisle in Congress.” She added: “Allow me to borrow a line from the great American author Mark Twain, ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.’ I’m not planning to go anywhere. In fact, we’re just getting started.”
STATE NEWS
New state law could help low-income parents
A new state law could make access to child care easier for low-income parents taking classes to learn English or complete high school. The law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown last month, applies to subsidized child care and preschool programs funded through the California Department of Education, including the California State Preschool Program and the migrant child care program, and addresses a major obstacle that low-income parents face - how to find or pay for child care while they try to improve the skills they need to succeed in the workplace. The change was necessary to ensure that all child care centers were interpreting eligibility the same way, said Jennifer Greppi, from Parent Voices, a nonprofit that advocates child care policies. Some child care centers accepted English as a second language classes as a type of vocational training, while others did not, she said. This meant that some parents were deemed ineligible for subsidized care.
DISTRICTS
Fresno prepares for teachers strike
Fresno USD is taking advantage of the Thanksgiving break to make sure there is no school disruption in the event of teachers strike. "We do want to be ready to keep schools open safe and functional therefore we need to have substitutes available," human resources director, Maria Mazzoni, said. Special circumstance substitutes are currently going through the new hire orientation teachers are given when starting at the district.
Teachers and district at loggerheads over pay raises
San Mateo-Foster City Elementary SD teachers made their case for higher wages during a board of trustees meeting last week. The meeting was the latest clash between teachers who are growing increasingly angry with frozen contract talks and district officials who claim inadequate funds exist to grant the pay increases. Superintendent Joan Rosas said the district is currently classified as a revenue limit district, funded primarily through the state, but officials are hopeful it may soon be considered basic aid, which would allow it to be funded mostly through local property tax revenue. “I hope this is settled sooner rather than later - our children are depending on it, ” said teacher Samantha Gallegos, who was one of nearly 10 teachers and school community members who shared their concerns about the ongoing contract deadlock during the meeting.
District approves teacher pay raise
Galt Joint Union HSD has unanimously ratified an agreement with the Galt Federation of Teachers for a one-time 2% pay increase and a 1% ongoing raise. The 1% ongoing raise will cost the district $116,000 per year while the one-time check increase will cost $215,000. The three-year agreement includes a memorandum of understanding that blocks other increases.
Oakland USD prepares for cuts
Oakland USD is preparing to make millions of dollars in mid-year budget cuts, ABC 7 says, with up to 300 non-teaching positions to be eliminated in an attempt to head off state receivership. The district says that it needs to make $5.6m in cuts immediately, $15.1m for the current school year, and another $11m next year, with spokesman John Sasaki saying: “Schools simply don't get enough money, to support our students -- to support our staff”. The cuts have faced opposition from parents and teacher’s union the Oakland Education Association. There will be a final December 13th board vote.
Layoffs likely at Oakland schools
Oakland USD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammel has said that layoffs, vacancy freezes and a reduction in professional service contracts are likely to happen in the wake of the district’s $15m budget crisis.
WORKFORCE
Learning Policy Institute on tackling teacher attrition
The Post's Valerie Strauss introduces an in-depth feature on tackling teacher attrition, written by Linda Darling-Hammond, Leib Sutcher and Desiree Carver-Thomas, all of the California-based Learning Policy Institute. Carver-Thomas has worked with schools in Richmond USD and West Contra Costa USD, in Northern California, and also consulted with the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department on strategies for diverting recidivism.
EMPLOYMENT
District seeking solutions for sub shortage
South San Francisco USD is to develop strategies for making the district more attractive to substitute teachers, and raising daily rates and encouraging retired or classified staffers to consider substituting are among the ideas being floated. School board president Daina Lujan said hiring the requisite amount of substitutes is essential to a healthy environment for both teachers and students. “I want everyone to have the opportunity to grow and also stay home when you’re sick, but I also want our kids to have positive school experiences,” she said.
TECHNOLOGY
Laptops and lectures don't mix
Susan Dynarski, a professor of education, public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, writes about a growing body of evidence that suggests college students learn less when they use computers or tablets during lectures. And one student’s use of a laptop also harms the learning of students around them, according to lab experiments conducted by researchers at York University and McMaster University in Canada. This is known by economists as “negative externality” - when one individual’s consumption has negative consequences for the well-being of others.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Harvard’s admissions policy to be investigated
Harvard University’s use of race in admissions is to be investigated by the Justice Department, which has warned the school that it is out of compliance with federal civil rights law because it has not provided documents the department requested. Justice Department officials said that Harvard had not produced “a single document” that had been requested, despite a November 2nd deadline, and that the university’s attorney had tried to “side-step Harvard’s Title VI obligations.”
Republicans proposes dramatic higher education changes
This week, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is to propose sweeping legislation that aims to change where Americans go to college, with the most dramatic element being a radical revamp of the $1.34 trillion federal student-loan program. The plan would put caps on borrowing by parents and students and eliminate some loan-forgiveness programs for students. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said that the proposal was “extremely disappointing,” cutting oversight of predatory for-profit colleges and eliminating federal financial aid for needy students. She said the bill “would put corporations’ bottom lines ahead of students’ best interests,” and called it “another partisan step in the wrong direction.”
LEGAL
Judge backs district over student suspensions
U.S. District Judge James Donato has ruled that Albany USD acted properly when it suspended five students who ‘liked’ or commented on racist images on another student's Instagram account, which included nooses drawn around the necks of a black student and comparisons of African-American women and students to gorillas. Donato rejected arguments that the district violated the students' free speech rights because the offensive posts were on a private account and made off campus. "These cases establish that students have the right to be free of online posts that denigrate their race, ethnicity or physical appearance, or threaten violence," he said. "They have an equivalent right to enjoy an education in a civil, secure, and safe school environment."
OTHER
Teen brains 'not wired for high stakes'
Brain immaturity during adolescence could explain why teenagers fail to respond to incentives such as cash rewards. In a study, Harvard University psychologists found older adolescents were able to boost their performance when the stakes were higher, while younger adolescents performed similarly for low and high stakes outcomes. The researchers said the findings demonstrate brain connectivity continues to develop across adolescence.
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