ABCFT - Week in Review - February 15, 2019
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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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Education Strike Watch by Ray Gaer
It's another turbulent week in education as teacher from Oakland and Denver have job actions as negotiations fail to deliver salary increases and better classroom conditions. ABCFT’s Week in Review will continue to track these important Union actions that are providing the needed spotlight on education funding. 
OAKLAND TEACHERS - The Oakland School District has been struggling for years with declining enrollment, high teacher turnover, large class sizes, and the political fallout of having a plan to close 20+ schools. In the words of CFT President Josh Pecthtalt, “Before the end of the month, teachers and educators in the Oakland Education Association may go on strike for reasons nearly identical to the historic UTLA strike last month. OEA members are fighting for a living wage, smaller class sizes, and more student support. They are fighting for respect”.
Today is a #RedForEd day of solidarity in support of the Oakland teachers as they make preparations for a strike in the near future. On February 4th, ninety-five percent of the OEA members voted in favor of a strike. If you’d like to check out theOEA website and twitter pages you can find them here ------> Oakland Teachers Association. #WeAreOEA #United4OaklandKids
Here is a good article that describes the situation educators are facing in Oakland:
OAKLAND EDUCATION Association (OEA) members are preparing for a walkout at the end of the month after voting overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) doesn’t meet the OEA’s demands for a living wage, smaller class sizes, more services for students and a stop to school closures.
DENVER TEACHERS - Teacher activism is in the air as teachers across the nation show their collective voice with job actions and negotiations. This week we saw the Denver teachers go out on strike for the first time in 25 years over classroom sizes, support staff, and salary. Over 2000 educators went out on strike for four days and collectively worked to pressure negotiations for a settlement on Thursday. The Denver job action is symptomatic of the lack of funding for education on the whole in the United States.
Denver teachers snagged $23 million in pay raises during a three-day strike.
Denver’s teachers may soon be returning to school.More than 2,000 educators, who have been on strike since Monday, said they reached a tentative deal Thursday with the local school district. Details are not yet available, but the deal includes an average 11.7 percent pay raise and annual cost of living increases, according to the school district and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, a labor union representing more than 5,000 educators in Denver public schools. It will also include raises for school support staff. Bus drivers and cafeteria workers may also get a raise, but that’s not part of the official agreement with the teachers union.
Denver was one of the first districts to implement a merit system during the No Child Left Behind era which a system of unpredictable year to year bonuses based on merits and opportunities Currently, teachers in Colorado are 32nd in the nation. Take a minute to look below to see some sample starting salaries for teachers and also a list of of the current state teacher pay average. Wages for Denver teachers The average salary in Denver, Colorado is $60,569. As of Q3 2018, the trend in wages is up 0.2 percent. The cost of living in Denver is 11.8 percent higher than the national average. Dec 15, 2018
State
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Avg. Starting Salary
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Arizona
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$34,068
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California*
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$44,782
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Colorado
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$32,980
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Connecticut
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$45,280
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National Averages as of December 2018
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MEET A MEMBER
The ABCFT YOUnion is made up of 1,100 great teachers and medical professionals and each one of us has a story to tell. Each week we will highlight a member of ABCFT.
Meet Luisa Nunes a math teacher at Ross Middle School in her 13th year as an educator and currently a Site Rep. 
If you could give ”first year teacher you” advice what would it be?
Make sure to reflect on everything you do and keep refining your craft. Also find a good mentor to give you advice and that can be honest with you so you can improve at what you do.
Why did you get involved in the Union?
To learn more about the union and my rights.
Describe a day in the life of being a Rep at your site.
I provide teachers with information about what is going on.
What is your favorite movie/show, song, or book?
Sixteen by Thomas Rhett
Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter...MySpace?
Facebook
What do you do for fun?
Anything with water! Luisa sure does look happy and comfortable in the picture she shared.
Do you have a bucket list?
Italy, skydive, and Australia.
If you could have a superpower what would it be?
Invisible
Thank you Luisa for sharing your story with the ABCFT community.
If you’d like to be featured in the Meet a Member Click this link here.
ABC SCHOOL BOARD REPORT
LAST WEEK - The ABCUSD School Board meeting took place on Tuesday, February 5th. This meeting was significant because there was a ceremony/celebration for the new teachers who have completed the ABCUSD Teacher Induction Program. A number of these teachers were in attendance and were recognized for their completion of this program. A couple of these teachers spoke to the board of trustees about the value of the program and how their mentor’s support was critical in helping them to complete the induction program. Congratulations to all those teachers who completed the induction program….YOU MADE IT! We all hope you stick around for the long haul.
Statistically, ABC has fewer teachers leaving the profession of teaching than the national average. Across the nation 9% of all new teachers leave the profession in the first year. Moreover, 43% of all teachers leave the profession in the first five years of teaching but research has shown that induction programs, mentorships, and planning time has all been factors in supporting teachers who decide to stay in the profession. It is vital that the ABC School Board have the opportunity to hear first hand how appreciative teachers are of the induction program and how this program is instrumental in helping teachers maintain a culture of professional excellence. 
Another important event happened when the school board heard a report about how ABC is addressing the needs of foster youth and homeless students in ABC. When the topic of money spent on these programs was broached, trustee Chris Apadaca led the call for more funding for these populations. In his questioning, the importance of ABC Social Workers as a links to parents and students was highlighted. ABCFT President, Ray Gaer spoke to the trustees to highlight the importance of social workers and the stability of their employment. Gaer asked the school board to explore why ABC currently has a turnover of 40% for social workers within the district and if the board could look at the LCAP funding for next year on how we can further enhance the support of social workers.
Events to watch: 35:00 Induction teachers giving testimony about induction program
1:18:00 Superintendent report with Dr. Mary Sieu
1:24:30 ABCFT Report with Ray Gaer
1:43:30 Report on Foster Youth and Homeless Students
2:18:00 ABCFT comments on Foster Youth/Homeless with Ray Gaer
FEBRUARY ABCFT ACADEMIC SERVICES UPDATE
Each month Connie Nam and Rich Saldana work with Beth Bray and Carol Castro to provide teacher input about professional development, curriculum changes and testing changes. ABCFT believes that the biggest working condition impacting teachers are the key curriculum and the professional development being churned out of academic services. Many times the district is implementing changes that are coming from the State of California but rarely do unions get involved in those changes. ABCFT believes that teacher voice helps to provide the district office with classroom advice and input that helps to deliver better comprehensive changes. Each month at the ABCFT Representative Council Rich and Connie give reports and take questions on all things related to academic services. Here is the report for the month of February.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Ray Gaer 
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 everyone survived Valentines Day this week. Some of the teacher’s classrooms I’ve visited recently have been celebrating Valentine's Day in some way or another. For example, Denise Tyler who is an English teacher at Artesia High School was doing a Valentines themed poetry share were students shared poetry with each other like a speed dating event. What a great idea and a fun way to have students get exposure to poems….which they call “music lyrics”, right?
This week Tanya and I have been addressing member issues and representations so most of our time has been in meetings across the district. It always seems like the four day workload more than makes up of the lost day. I’m not complaining about three day weekends because I enjoy those extra days. Just knowing another three days off starts on Friday is incentive to push forward.
This Friday Tanya and I spent the day speaking with the teachers at Haskell Middle School. We were joined in our discussions by the ABCFT site representative for Haskell, Robert Beecher. Thanks Robert for guiding us and helping to make our day at Haskell productive. Tanya and I are so appreciative for the time that teachers take to answer a few of our questions. These discussions with teachers in the classrooms will help to drive our salary negotiations but will also help the ABCFT negotiating team provide contract language when it comes time for Master Contract negotiations in Spring of 2020.
This Week in Review had all new material. I promised you a rundown of the 2019-20 California State budget from the California Federation of Teachers. Here is the link if you would like to look at this document. I’m hoping that in the next week we will have another article in the Review that will discuss this document in more detail but for those of you who are curious it is there for your viewing.
Enjoy the three day weekend!
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
CFT provides members important information about professional issues and workplace rights through numerous newsletters and publications. You can find a summary of each publication below and download the current issue of each newsletter. Click on the links to read some stories online, to get more information or contact the editor, and to access the archives.
As the CFT's flagship publication, California Teacher contains news and information that affects all members. It also contains news specific to each division of the CFT. California Teacher is published four times during the academic year. All members receive California Teacher.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
AFT President Randi Weingarten on Congress’ Action to Fund the Government and President Trump’s Declaration of a National Emergency to Build His Wall
- 02/14/2019
AFT’s Weingarten on Watchdog Report Exposing Department of Education’s Mismanagement of Federal Student Aid Program
- 02/14/2019
Teachers Union Leaders on the Anniversary of Parkland Shooting
- 02/13/2019
University of New Mexico Faculty Petition for Union Election
- 02/11/2019
Everytown For Gun Safety, American Federation Of Teachers, National Education Association Call On Lawmakers To Adopt Proven Strategies To Make American Schools Safer
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Denver teachers snagged $23 million in pay raises during a three-day strike.
Denver’s teachers may soon be returning to school.More than 2,000 educators, who have been on strike since Monday, said they reached a tentative deal Thursday with the local school district. Details are not yet available, but the deal includes an average 11.7 percent pay raise and annual cost of living increases, according to the school district and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, a labor union representing more than 5,000 educators in Denver public schools. It will also include raises for school support staff. Bus drivers and cafeteria workers may also get a raise, but that’s not part of the official agreement with the teachers union.
It also addresses the teachers’ biggest concern: the need to overhaul the merit-pay system, which relies heavily on annual bonuses that fluctuate from year to year. The new system will place more emphasis on education and training when considering promotions, while keeping some bonuses in place.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
House education committee consider school spending
The House Education and Labor Committee on Tuesday, the first to focus on K-12 under the new Democratic House majority, came to wide agreement that public schools should provide a quality education for all children, that teachers should be paid more, and that schools shouldn’t be falling apart, though there was naturally wide disagreement over how to accomplish those goals. Just two weeks after Rep. Bobby Scott, the committee’s chairman, introduced a $100bn school infrastructure spending bill, the hearing was specifically called to focus on school spending, with an emphasis on “underpaid teachers and crumbling schools.” Ben Scafidi, an economics professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, said that since the 1990s total spending on schools has risen by 37%, though inflation-adjusted pay for teachers has fallen slightly and student performance has remained stagnant.
Unions oppose calls to arm teachers
The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have joined with Everytown for Gun Safety to oppose proposals in Florida and elsewhere to arm teachers and staff members in response to the Marjory Stoneman High School massacre, which left 17 dead - the anniversary of which is this Thursday. While the Florida Legislature is considering allowing school districts to arm volunteer teachers who undergo background checks and training, Stoneman Douglas teacher Sarah Lerner said the risks are too high: "If the gun falls in the wrong hands, if you mistakenly shoot the wrong student who you think is armed and dangerous, if your gun goes off in class ... it is probably the most ridiculous solution I have heard," she added.
----- STATE NEWS -----
Gov. Newsom names Stanford professor as Board of Education president
Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Linda Darling-Hammond as president of the 11-member state Board of Education, taking the reins from Michael Kirst, who announced last year he would step down after four terms in the office. Ms Darling-Hammond is a former president of the American Educational Research Association and recipient of its awards for Distinguished Contributions to Research, Lifetime Achievement, and Research-to-Policy; she began her career as a public school teacher, before becoming a professor at Columbia University and at Stanford University, where she founded the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. She served as the faculty sponsor of the Stanford Teacher Education Program, which she helped redesign. She also founded — and now serves as president — of the nonprofit Learning Policy Institute, which conducts independent research to improve education policy and practice.
Gov. Newsom calls for more accountability from California public schools
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2019-20 budget includes funding to merge several school reporting tools, including the state dashboard of test results, into “a single, web-based application” that will make what’s happening, or not happening, in the schools more understandable to parents and “eliminate duplicative and outdated information.” The budget states that, while various pieces of data are being collected now, “the systems that house this data are not aligned to provide a clear picture of how students advance from early education programs through K-12 schools to post-secondary education and into the workforce.” The Public Policy Institute of California has praised the move, saying more data “could allow for improved feedback for educational institutions, more efficient use of public funds, and better evaluation and coordination for the state.”
----- DISTRICTS -----
Paso Robles lays out $2.1m in cuts
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board members met on Tuesday to discuss how to cut $2.1m from its 2019-20 budget – with one proposal under consideration offering early retirement incentives for 330 certificated teachers, and nine classifieds. The board is also looking at pulling nearly $800,00 from programs like music and dance. A local representative of a teacher union, California School Employees Association says some of their members are happy to accept. “It’s going to benefit and help the classified that are able to stay,” said Jeannine Manninger, California School Employees Association Chapter 254
Dixie School District to keep its name – for now
After more than five hours of public comment and debate last night, the Dixie School District board voted against changing the controversial district name that critics say pays tribute to the Confederate states. A majority of board members said they supported changing the name, but the majority said that voting on names brought by petitions with as few as 15 signatures — as allowed under state law — seemed too rushed and included too little community input. “I’m not comfortable deciding on a name tonight,” said board President Brad Honsberger, saying that a process to come up with another name should be developed at the next board meeting.
----- CLASSROOM -----
SPORTS
High school football to get new rules
The National Federation of State High School Assns. Board of Directors has approved two major rule changes for high school football, giving states the option of using instant replays in the postseason and instituting a 40-second play clock for the 2019 season.
Using phenomena to spark a passion for science
NGSS emphasizes the use of phenomena, or observable events in the natural world that we can use science to understand, in science instruction. Bringing phenomena to the classroom is exciting, and presents a unique opportunity to boost student engagement, make complex concepts tangible, and allow for practice of critical skills. To ensure that all students can meaningfully engage with phenomena, we’ve gathered some key phenomena instructional strategies, including alignment to core NGSS concepts, cultural considerations, and digital integration. Learn more in this blog post, "Three Tips for Using Phenomena to Engage Students in Science."
----- WORKFORCE ----
NEA Leader: Denver should serve as warning against performance-related pay
National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García says that the teacher strike in Denver that began yesterday should serve as a cautionary tale for other districts that want to pay teachers in bonuses and incentives. “For anybody who thought, let’s try this and see how it works, I want you to hear the people shouting over here,” she said from a picket line outside South High School yesterday morning. “There is not one school district in the country that is going to look at Denver and think, ‘Oh, I think I’ll try that.’ No. They should have stopped this and changed this years ago, and they didn’t. And this is the result.” She added it is significant that Denver teachers are not shouting for a particular percentage pay increase, but to “stop the chaos that this has caused.”
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Students shouldn’t spend too much time at desks
Brad Johnson, co-author of “Learning on Your Feet: Incorporating Physical Activity Into the K-8 Classroom,” outlines research suggesting that sedentary education might be the reason that students’ creativity and intelligence are hindered throughout their formative years. Obesity, diagnoses of children with attention-deficit and hyperactivity are skyrocketing, he says, so the "sedentary classroom" must be redesigned to better suit students’ needs. "It’s time to get students out of their seats and learning on their feet!" Johnson asserts.
-----CHARTER SCHOOLS -----
Charter school appeals Montebello rejection
Time Community School, which wants to open a charter high school, has appealed the Montebello USD school board’s October decision to reject its application to open. The petition is now on appeal before the Los Angeles County Board of Education. Montebello’s decision to reject the application was based on four findings: the lack of a single location; an unsound educational program; inadequate descriptions of elements such as measuring student outcomes; and a “demonstrable” unlikeliness to successfully implement its program.
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
UC Irvine most popular UC campus among high school applicants
UC Irvine has become the top choice for California high school students in the nine-campus UC system, with 70,540 soon-to-be graduates applying for the upcoming fall semester. Campus spokesman Tom Vasich attributed its popularity to partnerships with high schools and community colleges in Santa Ana, Anaheim, Compton and other communities that help it build a bridge for the students to higher education. UCI was also recently praised in a report by the American Talent Initiative on a national push to get more lower-income students into top colleges.
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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