ABCFT Week in Review – December 8, 2017
ABC FEDERATION OF TEACHERS THIS WEEK...
FEDERAL TAX REFORM - GET THE DETAILS (link updated regularly)
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.
How will your taxes be impacted. ←----click this link
Tax bill ‘will hurt public education’
The National Education Association has released a state-by-state analysis of how the Republican tax bill would affect public schools, and it concludes that in the next decade, $370bn worth of state and local revenue and 370,000 education jobs are at risk. Meanwhile, commenting on the forthcoming bill, Sasha Pudelski, assistant director for policy and advocacy at the American Association of School Administrators, said: “We have provisions that are incentivizing parents to keep students in private schools or send them to private schools. If there’s going to be tax breaks in the bill, giving it to the parents in the private education system over the public education system doesn’t make any sense.”
CAASPP Stakeholder’s Meeting: Tanya Golden
Each month I participate in the California Department of Education CAASPP Stakeholder’s meeting as a representative of CFT which represent thousands of teachers and nurses across California. One feature we discussed this month was how teachers could best utilize the Digital Library and Interim assessments resources. Currently, California educators are the exclusive users of the Interim reporting system. The IAB’s (Interim Assessment Block) and ICA’s (Interim Comprehensive Assessment) are resources to be used in the classroom. The short assessments can be used to help student get comfortable with the format of SBAC or be used to evaluate their understanding of specific domains within ELA and math CCSS standards. All teachers have access to the Interims, but the assessments focus on grades 3-12. ABCFT’s presence at the table is yet another example of how we help shape policy and practices at the state level. For additional information, click this link: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/
Protecting Our Students: Gaby Ibarra - V.P. Elementary
No matter where you stand on immigration, schools should be safe havens, sanctuary places of learning that embrace all students and families, regardless of citizenship and national origin. The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe ruled that undocumented children have a constitutional right to receive a free public K-12 education, which provides the means to becoming a “self-reliant and self-sufficient participant in society,” the court wrote, and instills the “fundamental values necessary to the maintenance of a democratic political system.”
However, today’s increased enforcement measures by the Department of Homeland Security threatens the right for thousands of undocumented youth and the 4.1 million U.S.-born children who live in mixed-status households with at least one parent or family member who is undocumented.
AFT understands that educators want the knowledge and confidence to stand up for their students, but they may need some guidance. To help, the AFT has developed various resources for educators.
ABCFT will be providing resources to you as they are presented at the Rep Council meetings. We hope that this material will give you the knowledge and confidence to Protect Our Students.
Featured Resource #1: Know Your Rights
- All children have a right to a public education
- What the law says about deportation and schools
- What the law says about sharing student information with immigration authorities
- Schools must be safe havens, welcoming places of learning, and free from racism, discrimination, and the threat of deportation.
A more-detailed PDF can be found here under Featured Resources:
ABCFT TEACHER LEADERS PROGRAM: Tanya Golden TL Facilitator
Conference Call with AFT National President Randi Weingarten
This Saturday Randi Weingarten will be on a conference call with ABCFT Teacher Leaders so she can hear first hand stories about ABC teachers and how the Union is providing leadership opportunities. Below is a transcript of the conversation happening this Saturday.
ABCFT’s Story
Hi, Randi, this is Rachel Jimenez from ABC Federation of Teachers in sunny southern California. I teach middle school special education and this is my first year in the program. ABCFT is special because it has shown me the importance and hard work that unions provide for teachers and students. I previously worked in a different district for eight years where the union had a difficult time providing support for its teachers. Many of my colleagues in that district were dissatisfied and wanted to opt out due to the lack of support and understanding of the purpose of teacher unions. My experience in that district made me very skeptical of unions.
At my new teacher orientation for ABC, our president, Ray Gaer spoke and gave us information regarding the union's purpose and how the union works in collaboration with the district. This was already a new experience for me. However I was still wary about unions. When the teacher leader program began this year I decided I would like to be part of it. Through the the teacher leader program our group has learned about policy making and the importance of unions. It also gives us the tools to become a voice for teachers. The Teacher Leader Program has not only taken away my doubts about unions but has now inspired me to be a active advocate for unions.
This is ABC first time being a part of the Teacher Leader Program and we are confident that this program will continue to inspire teachers throughout ABC and allow others to recognize the strength of our union.
CURRICULUM LINK OF THE WEEK - Last chance to sign up.
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.
ELECTION OF THE ABC SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT
Each year in December the school board trustees reconfigure the job positions held among the different school board trustees. Last Tuesday, there were presentations to the outgoing school board President, Chris Apodaca. Elected officials, ABC Employee Unions, and community members honored outgoing President Apodaca with awards and tokens of thanks for his service as President of the board for 2017. At Tuesday night's Board of Education Reorganizational Meeting, re-elected Board Member Soo Yoo (Trustee Area 2) and newly elected Board Members Ernie Nishii (Trustee Area 3) and Dr. Olga Rios (Trustee Area 6) were sworn in. Lastly, Soo Yoo was elected by the board trustees to be the President of the Board for 2018 along side Letty Mendoza as her acting Vice President and Olga Rios as the Board Clerk.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Ray Gaer
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:
Last Monday I helped facilitate the Budget General Meeting. About a dozen members were in attendance. We were able to provide detailed documents illustrating the financial health of the district and the direction of ABCFT salary and contract negotiations. We appreciate the thought provoking questions and so you know, ABCFT is making significant changes in how we are plan on delivering more budget and negotiating information to members throughout the year. ABCFT will have another Budget General Meeting next Tuesday December 12th from 3:30-4:30 at the Union Hall (19444 Norwalk Blvd, Cerritos). Please attend if you have questions, concerns, or need more information about the ABC School District Budget or ABCFT Negotiations.
On Tuesday I attended the ABC School Board Meeting and was able to thank outgoing board president Chris Apodaca for his tenure as president. Next week we will highlight a few moments from the evening with links so you can watch them. On Thursday I attended the Risk Management Safety Committee. Risk management has quarterly meetings with the employee representatives to discuss safety concerns, trends, and process information. A full report will be highlighted in the talking points in next week’s Review. Also on
Thursday, the ABCFT Monthly Rep Council was held where we had a guest speaker LaQuisha Anderson who is the ABC District PTA President. Mrs. Anderson discussed the structure of PTA, highlighted areas of activism for PTA, and discussed possibilities for more collaboration between the ABCFT teachers and nurses and the ABC PTA parents and community members.
Look at the CFT section below if you have a child who would be eligible for the CFT Raoul Teilhet Scholarship. ABCFT will have a special email out to the unit members next week to spotlight this scholarship opportunity. I have a lot more information on what ABCFT’s been doing over this past week but we are going to save some of it for next week’s Review to spread it out a little.
As always, have a great weekend and we will see you back here next week.
OH, and my apologies for spelling Carmenita wrong last week...missed it.
In Unity!
Ray Gaer
ABCFT President
or
(ABC Federation of Teachers)
Or
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Raoul Teilhet Scholarship for CFT Members
The Federation is pleased to announce that we are celebrating 20 proud years of our Raoul Teilhet Scholarship Program. This program has produced an enduring benefit of membership and remains a fitting tribute to former CFT President Raoul Teilhet.
The union is now accepting applications for the 2018 Scholarship Program. Since the program was established in 1997, the CFT has helped hundreds of students achieve their higher education goals by awarding them Raoul Teilhet Scholarships.
High school seniors and continuing college students who are children or dependents of CFT members in good standing are eligible to apply. Scholarships in the amounts of $3000 or $1000 are awarded for any one year of higher education.
Applications can be downloaded from our website, and members may call any of our offices to request that an application be mailed to them. Please take a few minutes to read the application so that you know the type of information applicants are asked to provide. Members will be asking the local union president to sign the Member Verification Form to confirm that the parent or guardian of the applicant is a union member. (See page 7 in the applications.)
There are two applications and two deadlines
High school senior applications are due January 10, 2018
Continuing college student applications are due July 1, 2018
Share these flyers with your members
Despite regular notices in California Teacher, we urge you to publish scholarship information in your newsletters and on your websites so that those who are interested can take advantage of this opportunity and excellent member benefit.
In Unity,
------------------------------
Dear CFT Members
This past weekend the CFT Executive Council voted overwhelmingly to endorse Gavin Newsom for Governor of California. In his questionnaire submitted to CFT and in his interview with the Executive Council, Newsom presented a strong progressive vision for our state anchored by fully funded and supported public schools. He also has a strong track record of public service as Lieutenant Governor of California and former mayor of San Francisco.
In the process of making the endorsement, the Executive Council carefully reviewed questionnaires submitted by the major candidates for the office, and interviewed the top four Democratic candidates: Newsom, Chiang, Eastin, and Villaraigosa. Executive Council members also reviewed the CFT member straw poll conducted over the last eight weeks and an official CFT research poll of the members.
The Executive Council drew upon the substantial support for Newsom found in the member straw poll CFT. In the straw poll, Newsom received support from 48% of respondents, the highest of any candidate, followed by Chiang at 22%, Eastin at 12%, and Villaraigosa at 6%. The straw poll results mirror results of a recent opinion poll conducted by EMC Research for CFT, which found strong support for Newsom over the other candidates.
In addition to the governor’s race, this weekend the CFT Executive Committee also made several endorsements for other statewide elected offices based on the candidates’ strong support for public education and workers’ rights. Those endorsements include:
Attorney General: Dave Jones
Lieutenant Governor: Ed Hernandez and Eleni Kounalakis (dual endorsement)
Treasurer: Fiona Ma
Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara
Board of Equalization District 2: Malia Cohen
Previous endorsements by the CFT Executive Council include:
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond
Secretary of State: Alex Padilla (incumbent)
Controller: Betty Yee (incumbent)
In Unity,
Josh
Josh Pechthalt, President
California Federation of Teachers
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
AFT's Weingarten on Douglas County (Colo.) School Board's Rejection of Private School Vouchers
WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after the Douglas County, Colo., school board voted 6-0 (with one abstention) to end its Choice Scholarship Program and cease defending it in court. The decision has national implications for the public funding of private schools:
“Tonight's unanimous decision of the Douglas County school board to end its voucher program is a resounding victory for every child, parent and teacher in America who believes in the promise of public education. The voters of Douglas County, by overwhelmingly electing public school champions to the board last month, sent a clear message that privatization doesn't work and unfair handouts for private schools must end. Elections have consequences. Tonight, the board sided with public schools and public school students and their families over those who would seek to destabilize, disrupt and defund them to serve their own ends. The privatizers' argument before the Colorado Supreme Court is now moot."
AFT President Randi Weingarten, AFT Leaders Participate in Civil Disobedience Action Urging Congress to Pass a Clean Dream Act
WASHINGTON— AFT President Randi Weingarten, AFT local leaders from Florida and Texas, and AFT educators protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program participated in a civil disobedience action at the U.S. Capitol today to call on Congress to pass a clean Dream Act.
Weingarten made the following remarks from the stage before getting arrested with hundreds of other leaders and activists:
“What makes America great are the people who are standing behind me—the leaders, the teachers—who every single day are in schools helping children—the DACAmented teachers who are standing right here behind me.
“This is about Areli Zarate, who at age 8 escaped grinding poverty in Mexico and is now a high school teacher. Lee-Ann Graham, who was 14 years old when she moved to this country from Trinidad and Tobago, is now a paraprofessional in New York City. Jessica Esparza, whose parents brought her to the United States from Mexico without proper documentation when she was 11 years old, started in seventh grade to learn English, and thanks to the DACA program, she is now a registered nurse. I could go on and on, but we are here for Areli, for Jessica, for Lee-Ann, for the 800,000 DACAmented students who have done nothing wrong, who came to this country because their parents wanted a dream, who came here, did everything we asked them to do, and are now saving lives teaching kids and growing our economy. It is quite horrible for this president to basically take and strip away the pathway they used to have to citizenship. That is why we are standing here together to say we need a clean Dream Act right now.”
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
NATIONAL NEWS
Graduation rates in U.S. reach new high
According to data released by the U.S. Department of Education, the nation’s graduation rate rose again to a record high, with more than 84% of students graduating on time in 2016. All minority groups saw a rise in on-time graduation rates in 2016, though 76% of black students and 79% of Hispanic students graduated on time, compared to 88% of white students and 91% of Asian/Pacific Islander students. John B. King Jr., who served as education secretary from 2016 to 2017, said: “Although students of color and low-income students are graduating at higher rates, we must be mindful that there are still significant gaps for historically underserved students which translate into lost potential for our communities and our country.” California had a total graduation rate of 83.0% (White 88.0%, Black 73.0%,Hispanic 80.0%, Asian 93.0%, Students with Disabilities 66.0%).
STATE NEWS
California sued over child literacy
Lawyers representing teachers and students from poor performing schools are suing the state of California, arguing that it has done nothing about the high number of schoolchildren who are unable to read. Advocacy law firm Public Counsel filed the lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court, calling on the California Department of Education to address its "literacy crisis," and claiming the state has not followed suggestions from its own report on the problem five years ago. "When it comes to literacy and the delivery of basic education, California is dragging down the nation," said lawyer Mark Rosenbaum. Department of Education spokesman Bill Ainsworth said officials could not comment because the state had not yet been served with the lawsuit, but added that "California has one of the most ambitious programs in the nation to serve low-income students." National education data shows that California is one of 14 U.S. states that performed significantly lower than national averages on a 2015 reading assessment.
Latest school dashboard unveiled
The California Department of Education (CDE) has launched the fall edition of the California School Dashboard, an online report card that measures how schools and districts are doing in six different areas: chronic absenteeism, suspension rate, English-learner progress, graduation rate, college and career readiness, and academic performance. Administrators said unlike the old system, the new dashboard will give parents a more complete picture of how schools are doing. “Our position on that is that schools are much more than a single number which we had under a previous system,” said Keric Ashley, deputy superintendent of public instruction at the CDE. “A single number may make help you make a decision, but it may not be the right decision.”
One in 10 students in California chronically absent
Data released by the California Department of Education shows that last year more than 1 in 10 students were chronically absent, defined as missing at least 10% of school days for any reason. Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that aims to advance student success by reducing chronic absences, called the release of the data “groundbreaking,” because it is publicly available and searchable. “Only a handful of other states maintain it that way,” Chang said. “California is 10% of the country and this is huge.”
DISTRICTS
Novato warns of big budget cuts
Novato USD has said it needs to come up with about $2m in annual cuts for the next three years to plug a hole in its general fund budget. “There’s not really a fixed number,” said superintendent Jim Hogeboom. “We’re deficit spending every year, and our ending fund balance is going down by $2m or $3m a year, so we’re kind of shooting for $2m.” Assistant superintendent Yancy Hawkins said at least three factors were affecting the district’s $80m spending plan: steeply rising pension costs, declining enrollment and lagging state funding. Teacher layoffs are also a possibility, Hawkins said, although Hogeboom said the district was hoping to avoid that option by not filling vacancies when people leave or retire.
Absenteeism costing district millions, taskforce says
According to the L.A. Unified Advisory Task Force, improving student attendance could save Los Angeles USD millions of dollars. In the 2016-2017 school year, the district lost about $20m in revenue because it has not reduced the number of chronically absent students to 11%. During that school year, more than 80,000 students, or about 14%, were chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 15 days of school. “We are encouraging the district to focus better on how to spend its resources more effectively,” said Austin Beutner from the task force. “If every child attended one more day of school, the district would have $30m more in revenue.”
San Marcos bracing for deepening school deficits
San Marcos USD has said its schools could see deepening deficits over the next three years unless California hands out more money for education. The district, which serves about 20,000 students in North County, says it expects to be in the red by more than $13m this school year, and could face a shortfall of $23m by school year 2019-20. “The basic dollars they give us to run our schools are insufficient for what it costs to run our schools,” San Marcos superintendent Melissa Hunt said. Meanwhile, Oceanside USD, which serves 18,500 students, is forecasting budget shortfalls of $13m this school year, and $11m the following year, while in June, San Diego USD sent layoff notices to hundreds of employees in order to balance its budget.
District and teachers return to negotiating table
Santa Rosa City Schools is set meet with teachers union representatives this week in the hope of settling a labor dispute after teachers rejected a tentative contract agreement earlier this fall. Some teachers have complained the tentative agreement doesn’t go far enough to resolve an “attract and retain” problem. Will Lyon, president of the Santa Rosa Teachers Association, which represents nearly 1,000 educators, said a fact-finding report released this past week validates their concerns the district is losing young teachers to neighboring districts that offer more competitive salaries and health care benefits. However, Jenni Klose, the school board president, said: “Even with our tentative agreement, we were going to have to make cuts to make it happen.”
EARLY EDUCATION
Fewer toys makes kids more creative
Researchers at the University of Toledo in Ohio have found that children are far more creative when they have fewer toys. In the study, toddlers were observed playing - some with 16 toys, others with only four. The children with fewer toys had longer periods of play, more focus, more creativity, and more imagination. Researchers recommend parents rotate out the abundance of toys in storage bins or closets, so when they bring them back out, they are a healthy novelty.
TECHNOLOGY
Chromebooks remain popular in U.S schools
Research by Futuresource Consulting has found that while Google Chromebooks continue to be the mobile computing device of choice in U.S. schools, the competitive situation is reversed in the rest of the world, where Windows dominates. The study found Chromebooks are popular with U.S. school districts due to their low cost and ease of administration.
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