ABCFT - Week in Review - June 1, 2018
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In case you’ve missed previous Weeks in Review, you can find all of them here: ABCTeachernews To find previous editions, just click on “Blog Archive” which is the menu on the right and click on the specific week.
(ABC Federation of Teachers)
In Unity
ABC Federation of Teachers
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ELECTION RESOURCE GUIDE
Click in the Educators Choice Picture below to get your CFT voter guide with your polling place and more for your area.
ABCUSD Special School Board Meeting
This Tuesday, the ABC School Board held a special study session to talk with the four consultants they recently hired in preparation for a possible facilities bond sometime in the future. Each consultant has a different function so if you decide to watch the meeting it’s good to know their function.
The first consultant in the video is a polling specialist who will be surveying the community to judge the appetite for a bond and what the needs and concerns are of community members. The second consultant discussed the financial gymnastics of a bond and how it impacts the community taxes. The third consultant was a communication specialist who discussed how they will message the progress of the district with flyers and online presence. Three of the board members asked some rather pointed questions but in the end the meeting proceeded. The last consultant was a demographics expert who will be looking at a seven year demographics report that his company will deliver to the board in August. This report will focus on birth trends, school enrollments, school boundaries, and the overall state of our future enrollment in ABC over the next seven years. ABCFT will keep you informed as these consultants share their reports with the school board or any discussion about a future school bond.
MEMBERS GET ACTIVE - ABCFT TEACHER LEADER PROGRAM
ABCFT TEACHER LEADERS PROGRAM: Tanya Golden TL Facilitator Profile here
Last Friday, our ABCFT Teacher Leaders held our first Showcase. Each TL presented their action research to a large audience of peers, family and friends, principals, Academic Services, Board Member Ernie Nishii, and Dr. Sieu. All the research involved educational issues that affect students and teachers in the classroom such as writing curriculum, social emotional development, teacher support systems, inclusion, block scheduling, recess time, technology, homework, and charter schools. The research results will be used to The professionalism and depth of knowledge the TL’s demonstrated was inspiring. I am honored to stand among these conscientious and talented educators.
ABCFT is pleased to announce we are accepting applications for the 2018-19 Teacher Leaders Program. If you are an ABCFT member and you’re interested in learning, collaborating, and discussing topics such as education, unionism, and polish your leadership skills then we want you! See below for details on how to get involved. For questions about the ABCFT Teacher Leaders Program contact Tanya.Golden@abcusd.us.
Here are the details about the 2018-19 ABCFT Teacher Leaders Program:
To learn more about ABCFT’s Teacher Leaders Program see the Teacher Leaders Profiles here to hear about the TLP directly from our Teacher Leaders.
ABCFT Teacher Leaders Applications are due by Wednesday, June 13, 2018.
CURRICULUM UPDATE
Elementary Curriculum Update:
August 22 Professional Learning Day: Teaching and Learning Institute
If you haven’t heard already, Wednesday August 22 is an optional PL day for all teachers including Adult School and CTE, nurses and children’s center permit teachers to earn additional compensation and training to support your area of work. Registration is open and you have until June 13th to sign up. More information will follow regarding the session topics as well.
Summer Opportunities
The purple paper process to apply for summer work is now in your email. All TK-6th grade teachers will have an opportunity to apply for summer hours to work on Math and ELA pacing and assessments, pulling writing anchor papers, and NGS example lessons. The Report Card Committee will also convene to work on the Report Card Maker GradeBook. Academic Services is looking for teachers to work on these important summer tasks.
Please email Tanya Golden at Tanya.golden@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns regarding elementary curriculum.
Secondary Curriculum Update:
August 22 Professional Learning Day and Summer Opportunities (See Above)
Neighborhood Coffee Discussing School Facilities Plan
ABCFT School Board member Ernie Nishii is looking for your input.
School Board Trustee Ernie Nishii is in the middle of his first year on the ABCUSD School Board and he is looking for input from teachers and parents about what facility improvements are most important to his constituents. Mr. Nishii is pro-teacher and pro-student and knows that teachers and students need the tools and facilities to help both be successful. If you would like have direct access to one of ABC’s teacher supporting board members, please attend his informal gathering.
Here is what he hope to cover during the meeting:
1. What is the Plan for School facilities? Security/safety? Technology?
2. How to pay for our school facilities?
3. What do YOU think?
Refreshments will be served
RSVP preferred (not required) by June 1. Ernie.nishii@gmail.com
Cerritos Baptist at 11947 Del Amo Blvd. on Saturday, June 9 at 4 p.m.
KNOW YOUR CONTRACT - Temporary Teachers and
Involuntary Transfers (repeated message )
Involuntary Transfers:
Each year we get hundreds of questions about the language in the ABCFT/ABCUSD Master Contract. This Summer a team of Teacher Leaders and ABCFT leaders will work on creating an easy to access Frequently Asked Questions document to help answer many of common questions members may have about the contract or other district concerns. We would like to highlight a small section of the contract on a regular basis here in the Week in Review to help the process of informing members about the language and protections in the contract.
This week, we would like to highlight the language on Involuntary Transfers which can be found in Article XIII Transfer on pages 35-40 of our current Master Contract. Involuntary transfers can be triggered when there is a reduction of staff due to the enrollment and the staff is overstaffed according to Article I: Class Size. The first and often overlook step in this process is that the administrator/supervisor is required to ask for volunteers who would transfer out of the school. If there are no volunteers than the administration/supervisor would work with Human Resources to figure out who would be involuntarily transferred using the following criteria:
- The certification qualifications of the unit member.
- The seniority status of the unit member with the District. The unit member with the least seniority will be transferred unless there is good reason for bypassing such unit member. Such reasons include the maintenance of a well‑balanced staff in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, subject qualifications, and in extraordinary circumstances, age.
Often there is the misconception that seniority is the only qualification used when figuring out who is picked. In this age of program specialist and niche programs seniority is sometimes overridden by the importance of a specific program or curricular speciality. For example, a highly trained TIP coordinator for a school who doesn’t have seniority may in fact bump when there is nobody who is willing to be the TIP coordinator for the school. Since the TIP Coordinator is crucial for curricular delivery this might be a case where the lower seniority person would be bypassed. What is critical and who is replaceable is closely monitored.
In the end, involuntary transfers are handled with Human Resources in a case by case basis and each choice is highly scrutinized by both ABCFT and ABCUSD. It should noted that the above language is different than the language used for RSP/SDC and itinerant teachers. Please contact is at ABCFT@abcusd.us if you have any contract questions or if you have any contract questions that you think we should highlight in these weekly articles.
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:
I was thinking out loud in the office trying to figure out what I would write this week for the Review. Tanya Golden the ABCFT Membership Coordinator gave me a look and said are you kidding, teachers are so tired at this point that who knows how many will take the time to read. I acknowledged this bit of wisdom and proceeded to write too much and post too many stories because I can see the finish line in the near future and short weeks are more packed than five day weeks, it’s ironic.
On Tuesday, Tanya and I attended a special school board meeting where the school board was able to meet the four specialists they have hired to prepare for a bond sometime in the future. It feels like the school board is pushing hard to have a bond message on the ballot in November. My message to the board has been that the only way teachers will be involved is if we have a school board that can agree on the need of a bond. For those of you around last go around, the ABCUSD bond attempt was a failure and the inability of the school board to even support the bond uniformly was the poison pill that killed the bond.
If you want to know more about the possibility of a bond please check out the video from the last meeting. ABCFT will keep you informed as to the progress of this bond conversation and if and when we will need to be involved. Bonds are great for many reasons such as building upgrades and repairs but they also help to free up money currently being spend on maintenance and employee compensation. This district cannot continue to fix our classrooms with the one time bonus State funding each year. The money this district receives each year is not for new buildings or huge infrastructure fixes. The money the district gets from the state is for operating costs and that money shouldn’t come off the employee backs to fund projects.
Wait, before you start saying we should be getting more money on our checks you should know that I’m talking about ongoing yearly money and not one time bonus money that the state has been giving California Districts. All the projects you’ve seen over the past four years are coming out of the one time money that the state owed districts from the recession. My concern is that this is technically the last year that California Districts will see one time money now that the recession debt is paid in full. No more one time bonus money means that if any future projects that would occur in the next couple years would be out of the base money which is meant for maintenance and salaries. This is number one reason why a bond is important and something we should keep an eye on as things proceed.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, ABCFT hosted face to face meetings with NTA Insurance representatives so that members could come in and talk face to face to ask important insurance questions. ABCFT will be hosting NTA dates again during the open enrollment time at the beginning of the school year. On Thursday, I had the pleasure of handing out a $3000 Raoul Tielet Scholarship from the California Federation of Teachers to a graduating senior of a CFT member at Brea High School. Those scholarship applications go out every spring so keep your eyes peeled next year if your son or daughter is graduating or continuing college next year. Lastly, on Thursday I also attended a roundtable discussion at the LACOE headquarters to discuss some of the changes we will see in our Head Start Program and what changes LACOE is anticipating from the Federal government concerning Head Start.
Short week = busy week for all. Cross another week off your list as we enter the home stretch toward summer vacation. Stay strong! We hope you have a good weekend. See you here next week!
In Unity!
Ray Gaer
ABCFT President
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Statement by AFT President Randi Weingarten on U.S. Policy Separating Children from Parents
WASHINGTON—Earlier this month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to prosecute all immigrants crossing the U.S.‐Mexican border, making it official U.S. policy to routinely separate children from their parents. Hundreds of children have been ripped from their families: 658 kids in the first 13 days of the program alone. That’s on top of the Trump administration losing track of—by their own admission—nearly 1,500 children when they forcibly separated them at the border from their families. Activists, educators and communities around the country are demanding an answer: #WhereAreTheChildren?
On June 1, the American Federation of Teachers and President Randi Weingarten will join We Belong Together, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, MomsRising, MamasConPoder, the American Civil Liberties Union, United We Dream, MoveOn and others, in a National Day of Action for Children. The union will also support actions across the country demanding a stop to the practice of separating children from their families and highlighting the moral crisis of their cruel and inhumane treatment at the hands of immigration enforcement officers. Weingarten issued the following statement:
“Today, in 2018, in a just and supposedly free America, babies are being ripped from their parents’ arms. Mothers and fathers are being beaten and murdered by government officials. These policies are typical of tyrannical and dictatorial regimes, not democracies. America is forcing families to make the heartbreaking decision of whether to leave their children behind or risk rape, abuse or even death if they try to cross the border with them.
“In every other context, conservatives and progressives agree that we should be promoting the unification of children and parents. That is the best way parents, child advocates, educators and communities can offer children the safety, opportunity and representation they need to thrive. But the Trump administration has proven that it does not have the best interests of children at heart. Their actions destroy the fabric of our humanity, and corrode our nation’s legacy of freedom and justice.
“We are rallying to put an end to these horrific practices and to demand that the taxpayers not be asked to spend a single cent more on funding the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection agencies until they stop separating children from their families and abusing those currently in detention. We must fund instead attorneys and child advocates that ensure children’s safety and access to immigration court. Let’s focus on family reunification, safety and protecting every child who crosses our borders. This stain on our heritage must stop.
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
---- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Calls for districts to step up privacy measures
School districts that give the SAT and ACT for purposes other than college admission have been told by the U.S. Department of Education that they need to do a better job of protecting the personal information of students who take the tests. The department said the notice is intended to “remind” state and local education agencies of their responsibilities under three federal laws when “contracting to administer these examinations.” The news comes as a federal court ruled that the department violated privacy laws when it used the Social Security Administration to help it analyze loan forgiveness for students defrauded by the for-profit Corinthian Colleges. The California district court has ordered that the department stop the practice and stop debt collection from these students.
California hailed as “leader” in K-12 environmental education
California public schools boast some of the most comprehensive environmental education standards nationwide thanks to a $4m state budget for improving K-12 environmental literacy. Ecosystem learning, class pets and school gardens, mass clean-up events and field trips have followed from the California Board of Education’s 2015 Blueprint for Environmental Literacy, which gives guidelines for incorporating environmental awareness into all subjects and grades. North American Association for Environmental Education spokesperson Sarah Bodor says California “is certainly emerging as a leader” in the area, with Santa Cruz and San Mateo county offices both employing full-time environmental education specialists.
White House Press Sec moved to tears by student shooting question
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was moved to tears at a press briefing yesterday, after a school student from California asked her about school shootings. Benje Choucroun, of Marin County Day School in Corte Madera, on assignment with Time for Kids magazine, said:"At my school, we recently had a lockdown drill," Choucroun began. "One thing that affects mine and other students' mental health is the worry about the fact that we or our friends could get shot at school. Specifically, can you tell me what the administration has done and will do to prevent these senseless tragedies?” In response, a visibly upset Mrs Huckabee Sanders said “there is nothing that can be more terrifying than a kid to go to school and not feel safe,” adding: "This administration takes it seriously, and the school safety commission that the president convened is meeting this week again in an official meeting to discuss the best way forward and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids in our schools.”
Federally funded voucher program students perform worse on math
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s mission to expand voucher programs across the U.S. has been clouded by the news that D.C. students who use the vouchers to attend private schools have performed significantly worse in math than their public school peers. The Institute of Education Sciences, part of the U.S. Education Department, found that math scores were 10% lower for students who used the vouchers compared with students who applied for the scholarship program but were not selected through a lottery. The students who were not chosen for the voucher program typically attend public schools in low-income neighborhoods.
----- STATE NEWS -----
California schools see net migration of teachers
The Sacramento Bee reports that, from 2003 to 2016, about 18,000 more elementary and secondary school teachers left California than came from other states, with the largest net loss of educators going to Texas, when about 6,000 more teachers left. Although the average teacher salary in the Lone Star state is about $52,000, well below the $77,000 average for an educator in California, this is evened out by when adjustments are made for the cost of living, the Beenotes.
CTA Media Awards recognize year’s best education reporting
The California Teachers Association has honored eighteen journalists with awards for “keeping the public in public education” with “outstanding” articles on Californian education. Reporters from print, radio and television were celebrated with John Swett Awards for Media Excellence, for highlighting issues including the effects of state pesticide regulations on Salinas Valley students, the Oakland USD budget cuts, Solano County student homelessness and police presence on Monterey County campuses.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Oxnard super seeks $350m bond for “21st century” schools
Oxnard UHSD superintendent Penelope deLeon has written in support of Measure A, to fund “21st century classrooms” for local students. The $350m measure, on the ballot for June 5, would raise funds to update nine aging and outdated campuses and ease overcrowding. deLeon writes that the state would provide $80m to match the funds alongside other donors, generating “more than a half-billion dollars,” to regenerate the community and expand career technical education, equipping students for well-paid jobs.
San Diego parents in “sit-out” against sex-ed program
Parents protesting San Diego USD’s Sexual Health Education Program withdrew their children from school yesterday, as part of a “sit-out” organized by the Concerned Parents of San Diego, a grouping lobbying for the controversial sex-ed program to be suspended until parents can have more input. The school district says the curriculum, taught to sixth-, eighth- and tenth-grade students, is in compliance with state law, is researched-based and increases the overall well-being of students; however, the protesters have called for an alternative curriculum to be adopted, that is “age-appropriate, evidence-based, and respects community values.”
NY district considering homework ban
New York’s North Rockland County school district is considering doing away with homework after two pupils at Farley Elementary started a petition to end the assignments claiming many of their classmates agreed with a ban. "I got stressed by homework a lot, so I just – it took me a minute of thinking: I want to get rid of homework," pupil Niko Keelie said. Assistant superintendent Kris Felicello said: "It's really not about banning homework or no homework – it's about rethinking it, and how can we do it different to better the needs of our students.”
----- LEGAL -----
Federal court rules in favor of transgender teen
A federal court in Virginia has ruled in favor of transgender teenager Gavin Grimm in his fight against Gloucester School Board’s refusal to allow him to use the men's restroom. Mr Grimm, a biological female who identifies as a man, sued the board in 2015 after it passed a policy requiring students to use the bathroom that matches their birth gender, but the judge denied the school board's attempt to dismiss the case and said the bathroom policy violated Mr. Grimm's constitutional rights. "The district court has upheld what Gavin argued all along, that trans students deserve the same protections under Title IX," the ACLU said.
----- WORKFORCE ----
LAUSD teachers rally in Grand Park
UTLA, the union that represents Los Angeles USD educators, has escalated its calls for contract improvements, with a rally at Grand Park near City Hall last Thursday. The teachers, who have been working for a year without a contract, have requested better pay and work conditions, including smaller class sizes. Union representatives say that, if negotiations on the contract prove fruitless, they may hold a strike authorization vote in the fall.
----- SOCIAL & COMMUNITY -----
GUN LAWS
Majority of gun owners support tighter rules
A new study has found that while gun owners and non-gun owners disagree on a handful of proposed policies, they agree on many new measures to strengthen gun laws. A majority in both groups supports universal background checks, greater accountability for licensed gun dealers, higher safety training standards for concealed-carry permit holders, improved reporting of records related to mental illness for background checks, gun prohibitions for those with temporary domestic violence restraining orders, and gun violence restraining orders. Lead study author Dr. Colleen Barry of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore, Maryland, commented: “We dwell so much on the areas where Americans are divided on guns, and we wanted to look for the important areas where Americans can agree.” Nearly 39,000 people die from firearm injuries in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This has increased from 33,000 since 2014. “We realized very little research has been done on Americans’ specific views on gun policies,” Ms. Barry said. “This is the kind of information that politicians and state legislators need to figure out whether to enact specific laws.”
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
Cal State colleges rank highly for return on investment
Nine California State University campuses have been named on a national list ranking the top 100 colleges for graduates’ return on investment. Cal Maritime came fourth in the Payscale College Return on Investment Report, factoring fee costs and long-term earning potential. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo(14), San Jose State (27), Cal Poly Pomona (31), Cal State East Bay (44),Fresno State and Chico State (57), Cal State Long Beach (88) and San Francisco State (92) were all in the top 100 based on the online compensation database’s findings.
Walmart announces new college education program for employees
Walmart announced yesterday it will subsidize online college tuition at three schools for all 1.4m of its U.S. employees, part of a campaign to attract and retain talent in a tightening labor market. America’s largest private employer said it will cover the cost of tuition, books and fees at three partnering universities as long as employees get their degrees in business or supply-chain management, leaving staff to pay $1 per day for their studies. The degrees will be offered through online programs by the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, Brandman University in Irvine, California, and Bellevue University in Bellevue, Nebraska. Walmart executives said they expect at least 68,000 employees to sign up within the first five years of the scheme.
.----- OTHER -----
Hotter years 'mean lower exam results'
In years with hotter weather pupils are likely to perform less well in exams, according to a study from Harvard and other US universities. Researchers calculated that for every 0.55C increase in average temperature over the year starting at 21C, there was a 1% fall in learning, while colder days did not seem to damage achievement. The study also found the impact of the heat was much greater on low income families and students from ethnic minorities.
NTA Life Insurance - An ABCFT Sponsor
About three years ago ABCFT stated a working relationship with National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Company. Throughout our partnership, NTA has been supportive of ABCFT activities by sponsorship and prizes for our various events. This organization specializes in providing insurance for educators across the nation. We have been provided both data and member testimonials about how pleased they have been with the NTA products and the opportunity to look at alternatives to the district insurance choice.
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