Friday, August 31, 2018

ABCFT - Week in Review - August 31, 2018

ABCFT - Week in Review - August 31, 2018

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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PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Ray Gaer video profile here
Each week I work with unit members in representations, contract resolutions, email/text/phone call questions, site concerns, site visits, presentations,  state/national representations and mediations. Here are some of the highlights of interest.
I hope your first week went well, but what a long first week!  I heard this statement from every teacher I met with this week.  This year, we started on a Monday for the first time in awhile and it was “different” and I’m thankful for the Labor Day weekend to recover. If you remember last year we started on a Thursday and we lost $500,000 in ADA money because so many parents waited to send their kids to school on Monday, what a disaster. Luckily  over the school year with Saturday school and various cost savings, ABCUSD was able to make that money up, but it still hurt. If I put on my negotiations lens, I see that a 1% raise is 1.1 million dollars , so I know that every student at school means more money at the bargaining table. Regardless, this was a long five days of adjusting back to a daily schedule after the lengthy relaxing days of Summer.
At the end of last year, I did my President’s Survey to close out the year and ABCFT received positive comments about the Week in Review on top of some excellent ideas and constructive feedback. I hope that over the next couple of months we will be able to incorporate some of the ideas and thoughts you shared. For example, one comment we heard was that members wanted to see more flyers with helpful information. Therefore, this week and in future weeks we will be addressing important contract language and information on critical topics that impact teachers and medical professionals (Nurses and SLPs).  This week we will focus on how to keep yourself legal and keeping safe. This is an older flyer but the information is still relevant even though I know our newer ABCFT collegues probably use Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter more than they use Facebook. Regardless of the platform, keep yourself out of harm's way and think before you post.

Over the past couple of weeks, ABCFT has been working with teachers, principals, and district office helping teachers get settled and ready for the newest batch of students. Often ABCFT members will call the office to get clarification on either the contract or on how to navigate the bureaucracy of the District Office with health issues, room issues, pay issues, student issues and almost any topic that comes to mind. I was talking to a veteran  teacher just yesterday who described a situation she was going through last year alone at her school site and the frustration and worry she experienced. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t hear from her last year because ABCFT can help. We are here for you when you need support or need assistance. For us old timers, think of ABCFT as the the Yellow Pages of the District where you can go and find the service you need. At the end of my conversation with this teacher, she told me how much better she felt and that in the future if she had a question she’d definitely call or write us next time. For those of you new to the ABCFT YOUnion or just the concept of being part of a union, just think of us as a support network in good times and bad. Reaching out to your YOUnion is not a bad thing. It’s a hopeful and helpful hand to keep you moving forward.

Schools have started their back to school events so we are going to send you our good wishes. ABCFT’s Membership Coordinator, Tanya Golden and myself will be out visiting schools delivering cakes and attending your Back to School Nights. In fact, we delivered some of that sugar goodness already this week. If we don’t see you on our deliveries we hope to catch you in action in your classrooms or at a YOUnion social event.  .
Have a great Labor Day! And have a wonderful year!
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT


Know your Weingarten Rights
In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court held that employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement have a right to be represented during investigatory interviews. The case was National Labor Relations Board v. Weingarten. Below, you will learn how to assert your “Weingarten Rights.” Download the flyer.
When to bring a union representative
You have the right to have a union representative at any meeting or investigatory interview with a supervisor or administrator that you reasonably believe might lead to discipline. These are called your Weingarten Rights, named after a 1975 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Your supervisor does not have to notify you of your right to union representation — you must assert your Weingarten Rights. This applies to everyone who works in a unionized child care center, school, college or university, whether public or private.
What is discipline?
Discipline might include a written reprimand, a demotion, an unpaid suspension from work, or termination.
About attending meetings
If you are told to attend a meeting with your supervisor, ask what the topic will be. If it sounds to you as if it might lead to discipline, contact your union and ask for a representative to accompany you. Or, if you are in a meeting with your supervisor and the direction turns toward reprimand, say that you would like to reschedule the meeting to allow you to have a union rep present. If the supervisor refuses, explain that you prefer not to answer questions, but that you will if directly ordered to do so.
To assert your Weingarten Rights, say:
“If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined, terminated, or could affect my personal working conditions, I respectfully request that my union representative be present.”
> If you have a problem on the job or you see a violation of your union contract, contact your site representative or local grievance officer. If you think you have a legal problem, contact ABCFT at Ext. 21500 or ABCFT@ABCUSD.us or ABCFT2317@gmail.com immediately.
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NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE
ABCFT will have more information about negotiations in future weeks but here is an update on current projects:
  • Stipend committee members are will be solicited for discussions about the use of stipends at school sites.
  • The Negotiating team is looking at the updating the current STULL evaluation form with updated language from the California Standards for Teaching.
  • Evaluation handbook is being updated to reflect the language changes in the evaluation.
Here are the links to the Human Resources page on the remodeled ABC website for the new ABCFT Master Contract as well as the link to the new 2018-2019 Salary Schedules.
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KEEPING YOU INFORMED
Each week, we will highlight a communications flyer that will help keep you informed about your rights and responsibilities as an educational professional. Next week, we will feature a flyer about class sizes and caseloads.





CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

What is the CFT?

What is the California Federation of Teachers?
  • The California Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals affiliated with the more than 1.7 million member American Federation of Teachers, and through it with the AFL-CIO.
  • The CFT comprises the state’s 145 local unions chartered by the AFT. Each local is affiliated with its regional AFL-CIO Central Labor Council and the California Labor Federation.
  • Through its local unions, the CFT represents more than 120,000 educational employees working at every level of public and private education from Head Start to the University of California.
  • In all segments of education, the CFT is committed to promoting high-quality education and to securing the conditions necessary to provide the best services to California’s students.
Why is there a CFT?
  • The CFT was founded in 1919 to provide a labor union alternative for classroom teachers. To gain employee rights taken for granted by other workers, CFT lawyers and courageous teachers tested the courts again and again, building a strong body of case law. One observer said, “The AFT in California is responsible for having won 90 percent of the cases dealing with teachers’ rights during the 1960s.”
  • To provide essential workplace rights, the CFT in 1953 introduced the first teachers’ collective bargaining bill in the California Legislature. It reintroduced similar bills for the following two decades, until passage of the Educational Employment Relations Act in 1975 finally brought collective bargaining rights to K–14 teachers and classified employees working in public education. Since then CFT has represented these employees in professional and employment-related matters.
  • Three years later, in 1978, CFT helped pass the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, bringing the benefits of collective bargaining to university employees. Today the CFT represents lecturers and librarians at the University of California.
What has CFT achieved?
  • PRE-K AND K–12 TEACHERS The CFT leads the state’s movement for quality education based on high academic standards for both students and teachers. Through the collective bargaining contract, AFT unions became trailblazers in establishing successful peer assistance and review programs, and other professional development, still in place today. CFT works to secure universal preschool for all California children as well as lifelong learning for adults.

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
AFT President Randi Weingarten on New PDK Poll Results Showing Overwhelming Support for Public Education
WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten responds to the results of this year’s PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools:
“The PDK poll confirms what we have seen in state after state this last school year: The tide is turning. In a year of great turbulence, from the tragic school shootings to the teacher walkouts due to the effects of a decade of disinvestment, the American people overwhelmingly reject the approach Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has promoted to defund, destabilize and destroy public schools and further undermine teachers. Even with concerns about safety, parents want to send their kids to public schools. Americans don’t want to arm their teachers with guns, they want to arm them with resources and higher salaries, and they support teachers’ efforts to walk out for their schools and their students. And while they want their kids to have the option of affordable college, they understand the burden placed on teachers—so much so that they don’t want their own children to be teachers.
“This is a poll that every policymaker must see. The disinvestment, defunding and destabilizing strategy of the right-wing politicians, governors and billionaires like the Koch brothers and Betsy DeVos is completely dissonant from the attitudes of our communities. The support for strengthening, not discarding, public education and for respecting, not vilifying, teachers is at an all-time high. This is a clarion call for change.
“We thank PDK for its 50 years of polling attitudes on education. And we call on everyone running for office this year to heed its results by working for investment, not austerity, in public schools; for resources in mental health supports for kids; for higher pay, respect and latitude for educators so we can work to make every school a school parents want to send their kids to, teachers want to teach at and where students have joy in learning.”
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten

----- NATIONAL NEWS -----

Majority of Americans believe public school teachers are underpaid
According to the new 2018 PDK poll on public education, the majority of Americans believe that public-school teachers are underpaid and say they would support them if they went on strike for better wages. The survey also found that fewer than half of Americans – 46% - would like their child to become a teacher in public schools - down from 70% in 2009 and a high of 75% in the first PDK poll in 1969. Other findings include: Most want to improve the existing education system rather than start over. A record 78% of people said they would choose “reforming the public school system” over “finding an alternative to the existing system”; and most Americans - about six in 10 - say they have trust and confidence in public-school teachers. But the 39% who said they do not have confidence was the highest level since this question was first asked in 2010.

Increasing support for charters and vouchers, survey says
Charter schools and private school voucher programs are enjoying increased support, according to a fresh survey by Education Next, a journal published by Harvard’s Kennedy School and Stanford University, with 44% of respondents supporting the expansion of charter schools, compared to 39% in 2017. “Support is up among Republicans for various strategies to expand school choice, and the Trump administration’s embrace of those policies is a likely explanation,” said Martin West, associate professor of education at Harvard University and a co-author of the report.

Devos sued by education groups
The California Teachers Association (CTA) and the National Education Association (NEA) are suing the Education Department and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over the agency’s delay of rules meant to protect students earning degrees online. The unions, along with a second grade teacher in Kansas, a fourth grade teacher in California, and a student enrolled in an online program at Western Governors University, allege DeVos is illegally holding up rules that require online universities to notify students of whether the programs in which they are enrolled or plan to enroll meet state licensing standards or have faced adverse actions from the state or accreditor.

----- STATE NEWS -----

Will Gov. Brown sign a bill to ban for-profit charters?
The Washington Post evaluates the chances of Gov. Jerry Brown signing into law a measure that would ban for-profit charter schools in California. Almost 35 of the state’s 1,275 charter schools are operated by five for-profit companies. Valerie Strauss notes that Gov. Brown, who started two charter schools when he was the mayor of Oakland, refused to sign a previous bill attempting to ban for-profit charters, and has also rejected legislation seeking to make charter schools more transparent.

Seat belts to be mandatory on school buses by 2035
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill into law requiring all school buses in California to have seat belts with shoulder and lap belts by July 2035. “The safety of children is always front and center,” said Assemblyman Kansen Chu (D-San Jose,) who authored Assembly Bill 1798. He said that because school buses have a working life of 30 years; the majority of school buses without seat belts will already be out of commission by 2035, meaning that the bill is unlikely to incur extra costs for school districts or the state. Charlie Lawlor, a spokesman for the California Medical Association, said the organization “fully supports AB 1798 as a necessary public health measure that will protect the health and well-being of children by requiring all elementary and secondary school buses to be equipped with passenger seat belts.”

----- DISTRICTS -----

Teacher strike looms in Los Angeles
Los Angeles USD officials have set September 27th as a date to meet with the United Teachers Los Angeles union in the presence of mediators; however, UTLA says it wants to begin talks, overseen by a third-party, immediately. A strike authorization vote will begin on Thursday. UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl said that a meeting last week with LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner proved fruitless, rejecting claims that the pair found common ground. The teachers union is calling for a 6.5% raise, along with steps to lower class sizes and increase the number of staffers such as nurses, librarians and counselors.

Los Angeles teachers begin casting strike ballots
Los Angeles USD teachers have begun casting ballots in a strike authorization vote that will continue for another week. United Teachers Los Angeles has declared a stalemate in contract talks with the district, with mediation unable to produce a resolution. The union, which has about 33,000 members, is demanding a 6.5% pay raise and reduced class sizes, among other things. The district, for its part, has offered annual 2% raises over three years, along with a one-time 2% bonus and a $500 stipend for materials and supplies. The LAUSD Board of Education has opposed strike action, commenting: “We hope the shared responsibility to put students first will lead to a common-sense resolution that acknowledges the hard work of our employees while addressing the safety and instructional needs of students and the financial solvency of L.A. Unified.”

Oakland reconsiders sports cuts due to potential discrimination
School officials in Oakland USD are “re-examining” their decision to cut 10 sports from city high schools, after it was found that the cuts would disproportionately impact girls more than boys and thus likely violate federal law. 347 female students and 183 male students would be affected by the proposed elimination of sport including golf, bowling, tennis, wrestling, girls’ lacrosse, girls’ badminton and boys’ volleyball. Title IX requires school districts and individual campuses to provide girls and boys with equal opportunities to play sports, relative to gender enrolment. Public Justice chairman Arthur Bryant said the district was “either blatantly violating Title IX” now, or were previously in violation for discriminating against boys – adding that the latter was “highly unlikely.”
Alameda instates lax dress code to avoid penalizing girls
Alameda USD is flouting the trend of school districts penalizing students for dress-code violations, instead requiring only that students wear “clothing that covers genitals, buttocks, and areolae/nipples with opaque material.” Clothes bearing violent or illegal imagery, including “hate speech, profanity [and] pornography” are banned, but ripped jeans and midriff-baring shirts will be allowed, in an effort to reduce body-shaming and excessive scrutiny of female students. “When you’re looking at things like how short are your shorts, are your shoulders showing, is your cleavage showing, that really means that girls are being punished more often and losing class time more often than a boy,” AUSD spokesperson Susan Davis said.

----- LEGAL -----

Student arrested for snatching MAGA hat off classmate
A 17-year-old student at Union Mine High School, in the El Dorado Union High School District, is facing two battery charges, following a classroom altercation that saw her twice knock a Make America Great Again cap off the head of a fellow student, and slap a teacher’s arm. Jo-Ann Butler was arrested on campus by a school resource officer, taken to a juvenile detention center, and was later suspended from lessons for a week; speaking to CBS Sacramento,she described the cap as “a racist and hateful symbol.” The red MAGA hats have become political symbols and stand-ins for the praise and criticism of President Donald Trump, leading to tensions and high-profile incidents across the country, and often on campus.

----- WORKFORCE ----

Beverly Hills teachers start ‘Work to Rule’ initiative
Beverly Hills USD teachers have begun a ‘Work to Rule’ regime of doing as little after-hours work as possible, after the BHEA teachers’ union instructed them to do so in order to pressure the district to engage in negotiations over working conditions. BHEA President Ethan Smith acknowledges that the initiative “goes against the very nature of educators,” but adds that BHUSD teachers “deserve no less than fair bargaining, fair wages and fair class sizes.”

----- TECHNOLOGY -----

Teachers' future at risk from technology
Derek Newton explores fears that educators are to be significantly impacted by new classroom technology, concluding that concerns "may be both worse than expected and closer than anticipated". A recent report, published in the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, concluded: “The concerning question of what role the human plays in a post-humanist bot-teacher scenario becomes less apparent the more technology advances. If AI developers can program responses, emotions, memory, and the intelligence of deceased thought leaders into future bots, the role of the human becomes more and more diminished.”

.----- OTHER -----

Traditional retailers enjoy ‘back-to-school’ boom
More consumers in the U.S. are returning to bricks-and-mortar stores and malls to do their ‘back-to-school’ shopping, according to Deloitte. Households on average are expected to spend $510 getting their kids ready for the new semester, and at least 57% of that will be spent in-store rather than online. Retailers such as Walmart and Target are expected to benefit the most.
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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