ABCFT - YOUnionews - November 22, 2019
98.2 Percent Say YES to the Tentative Salary Agreement!
ABCFT Members Voted unanimously YES for the 2019-2020 salary agreement with 73% votes out of 1054 members. The ABCFT leadership and Negotiating Team would like to thank you for your vote of support for this year's salary agreement. The next step in the process of ratification is for the ABCFT membership approved Tentative Agreement to go before the ABCUSD School Board Trustees for a vote of approval at the December 3rd school board meeting (7pm at the DO).
We invite you to join us at the board meeting to watch the process of school board voting on the salary agreements. If you have never been to a board meeting this is a good meeting to wear your BLUE YOUnion shirt to show solidarity. Members of the ABCFT Executive board will be in attendance to show their support for the TA and to show the board trustees that their vote is important for teachers, nurses, and SLP’s.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
This week the district held the second High School Measure BB Technology Focus Group meeting. These meetings are comprised of high school principals, high school teacher leaders, library media technicians, and ABC union leaders. The purpose of this meeting was to hear directly from technology and school furniture vendors about their products that will be used in ABC classrooms.
The products discussed were classroom furniture including flooring, chairs, desks, cabinets, projection/whiteboards, and teacher podiums. We will try to post more pictures of the possible pieces that you may see in your classrooms throughout the bond modernization project. The technology upgrades were also highlighted with the demonstrations of the latest laser projector, monitor screens, audio systems, casting tools, and other software that could enhance the curriculum delivery.
There was time for questions at the end of the demonstrations and teachers asked a majority of the questions about the products. These district focus group meetings are shaping the menu of options that will be available for schools to choose from when a school is in preparation for modernization. Each school site will have collective input into what are the products/upgrades that best fit the needs of the staff and students. ABCFT will continue to provide coverage during the focus group process.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING BREAK!
Another Personal Learning Opportunity
The fourth in the series of free members-only Personal Learning Opportunity is Using Podcasts to Teach Listening Skills offered by ABCFT Teacher Leader and Aloha teacher, Jennifer Marcus. In this interactive and engaging workshop, participants will learn about practices that will help your students learn listening skills.
Are you looking for a useful and free tool to help you teach and assess your students in Listening Comprehension? Do you want a free tool that requires no grading on your part?
If you would like to learn how to start a podcast of your own to help your students develop their listening skills, participants will be provided information to get a podcast set up in their own classroom. Although these podcasts are designed for elementary students, secondary History and Special Education teachers will also get a few resources that may be of use to you as well.
Let’s have some fun and learn how to motivate your students to actively listen with a fully interactive and ready to use podcast.
Using Podcasts to Teach Listening Skills
Personal Learning Opportunity
Tuesday, December 10th
from 3:30-5:00 p.m.
at Fedde Middle School MPR
21409 Elaine Ave. Hawaiian Gardens
Light refreshments will be provided.
Click the link to register for the
November ACADEMIC SERVICES UPDATE
Each month Kelley Forsythe 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 the teacher's 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 Kelley give reports and take questions on all things related to academic services.
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ABCFT 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. Throughout the year I find articles that are interesting and food for thought;
WE MADE IT! Everyone gets a well-deserved break and some time to regroup. Starting in the month of August has both its pros and its cons but come next week it will all be worth the effort. For those who weren’t here a decade ago, ABC used to have school for the first three days of Thanksgiving week and only two days of holidays for the break. That was an especially tough week since kids were extra distracted and there were unusually high absences across the district. Due to the negotiation of furlough days during the recession, instead of “pink slips,” ABCFT negotiated to have a week-long holiday break. Employees across the district liked having a full week off so much that the practice has continued even after the Great Recession. Having a full week off was the silver lining to an ugly situation.
On behalf of the negotiating team, I want to thank all the ABCFT members who voted their affirmation of the tentative agreement. I know how hard the negotiating team works at the bargaining table so it is important for the team to know that you are pleased. The negotiating team consists of Chief negotiator Ruben Mancillas, Tanya Golden, Daren Ham, Laura Lacar, Jill Yasutake and myself. Thank you team for all your hard work.
Membership Coordinator, Tanya Golden and I want to thank the Ross staff, Transitional kindergarten teachers, CTE teachers, and all the other teachers, nurses, and SLPs we met throughout the week. Your time is valuable and we appreciate every moment you can spare for a conversation.
On behalf of the ABCFT leadership, I would also like to wish you and your families a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
The latest CFT articles and news stories can be found here on the PreK12 news feed on the CFT.org website.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
11/13/2019
AFT sues Trump to protect DACA in the Supreme Court and in the streets
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Analysis: US Schools Move To Diversity Teacher Ranks
The AP (11/20) reports, “More than half of the students in American public schools are minorities,” but the teaching force “is still 80% white,” according to U.S. Education Department statistics. The AP says, “As mounting research highlights the benefits minority teachers can bestow on students,” the gap between teachers and students “has received renewed attention, including from Democratic presidential candidates who have endorsed strategies to promote teacher diversity.” The AP says research “has found that black students who have at least one black teacher are more likely to graduate from high school and that black teachers are likely to have higher expectations for black students.”
----- TEACHER STRIKES -----
Thousands Of Indiana Teachers Rally At State Capitol
The Indianapolis Star (11/19) reports that thousands of Indiana teachers “flooded downtown Indianapolis Tuesday for a day of action that closed more than half of the state’s public school districts.” The Indiana State Teachers Association and other labor groups organized the Red for Ed Action Day, which “brought educators from every corner of the state to welcome back lawmakers, who were returning to kick off the 2020 legislative session.” The Star suggests that there “could be movement on two of the goals ISTA has set for this legislative session: repealing mandate lawmakers passed last year that requires teachers complete 15-hours of workforce-related professional development before they can renew their license and holding schools and teachers harmless from consequences related to disastrous state test results.”
Reuters (11/19) reports, “Thousands of chanting red-clad Indiana teachers swarmed the state capitol on Tuesday, demanding higher salaries and reforms to evaluation policies.” The piece says the protest “was the latest in a wave of work stoppages by U.S. educators. In 2018, teachers in Arizona, West Virginia and Oklahoma staged largely successful days-long strikes to demand higher salaries.”
The AP (11/19) reports teachers are calling for “better pay and more respect from the Republican-dominated state government in a protest that closed more than half of the state’s school districts for the day. The union-organized rally represented Indiana’s biggest such teacher protest amid a wave of educator activism across the country over the past two years.” ISTA President Keith Gambill “told a few thousand teachers who covered the Statehouse lawn that the Legislature should direct money from the state’s $2 billion in cash reserves toward helping schools.” Also reporting are the Northwest Indiana Post-Tribune (11/20, Kukulka), USA Today (11/19, Herron, Slaby), ABC News (11/19, News), Newsweek (11/19), the Goshen (IN) News (11/19, TheStatehouseFile.com), CNN International (11/19, Burnside, Murphy, Yan), and Chalkbeat (11/19).
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Fewer foreign undergraduates in U.S. colleges
The number of foreign undergraduate students attending U.S. colleges and universities fell about 2% in the last school year, according to the Institute of International Education, the first annual decline in over a decade. International undergraduates in U.S. schools totaled about 431,900 in the 2018-2019 academic year, down more than 10,000 to end around 12 consecutive years of growth of a crucial source of tuition revenue for colleges and universities. A total of 341,751 students studied abroad for credit in 2017-18, according to the annual "Open Doors" report, representing a 2.7% increase from the previous academic year. California remains the top U.S. destination for foreign students, who primarily come from China and India, with enrollment dipping slightly in the 2018-19 school year for the first time in at least a decade. The state continues to attract the most international students - 161,693 - with six of the nation’s top 20 host universities located in the state. USC remained the most popular campus, enrolling 16,340 foreign students in 2018-19, followed by 11,942 at UCLA, 10,652 at UC San Diego, 10,063 at UC Berkeley, 8,064 at UC Irvine and 8,048 at UC Davis. About 42% of the California foreign students are from China and 12.6% from India.
----- STATE NEWS -----
Support for school construction bond falls below 50% in new poll
Less than half of likely voters say they’d vote for a $15bn school and college construction bond, according to a poll released Monday by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan research nonprofit. The survey of 1,711 California adults included 1,008 likely voters with a sampling error of 4.3%. A potentially competing tax on corporations and wealthy Californians to raise $15bn for K-12 schools and community colleges fared better, with 56% of likely voters saying they’d vote for it, although the California School Boards Association, its chief promoter, still has to find the $5m or so needed to gather enough names to put it on the ballot.
California Dems say charter schools should have publicly elected boards
The California Democratic Party has adopted language in its platform declaring that the state’s charter schools should be overseen by publicly elected boards, in contrast to the self-appointed boards that run most of them. The new language, adopted in a resolution at its annual convention in Long Beach over the weekend, was pushed forward by the 120,000-member California Federation of Teachers, whose president, Jeff Freitas, said that according to the California education code, charter schools are public schools, and therefore “should reflect the communities where we work and serve.” “One of the best ways to reflect the community and be accountable to the community is to be elected by the community,” he added. The new language also calls for charter schools to adopt “fair labor practices” and respect labor neutrality.” Responding, the California Charter Schools Association described the resolution as “a solution in search of a problem.” Spokesperson Emily Bertilli said charter schools “share the same mission to do better for kids by offering a free, quality public education to all students regardless of their income, where they live, or their race,” she said.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Dozens of special education jobs need to be filled in San Diego USD
More than two months into the school year, San Diego USD still doesn’t have enough special education teachers and aides to serve its students with disabilities, leading some teachers to worry that some students’ safety and learning may be at risk. Labor representatives said recently that the district has about 100 vacancies for aides, with further vacancies for teachers who educate students with moderate or severe disabilities. “A lot of teachers feel like we don’t have enough bodies in the classroom to support our kids,” said Kisha Borden, president of the San Diego teachers union. About 160 current aides were also given new assignments last month, said Michael Breyette, senior labor relations representative for the San Diego classified union that represents aides. The district re-assigns staff every fall to adjust for actual student enrollment. Mr Breyette said he thinks the large number of re-assignments have caused disruption to classrooms and weren’t made with enough union input.
Redlands reaches salary agreement with unions
Redlands USD has come to an agreement with its teachers and classified workers after months of negotiating, with a settlement that includes a 3% retroactive salary increase for the 2018-19 school year, and a 3% rise for the current school year. Superintendent Mauricio Arellano said: “We are very pleased that we reached an agreement with both of our labor groups. I appreciate the time and effort all of the bargaining teams put forth to reach an agreement that is both respectful and responsible.” Redlands Education Support Professionals Association (RESPA) President Gladys Kershall called it a bittersweet deal. “The members are disheartened by the salary ranges but it was way overdue. Some of our members still work two jobs. It is still a challenge,” she said. “We agreed to what we felt was appropriate at this time. It was a long haul.”
Contract ratified between Berkeley school district, teachers union
The Berkeley USD board has unanimously voted to approve two new tax measures to be added to the 2020 ballot, and ratified the previously tentative contract agreement with the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. Despite the board’s unanimous approval of the Recruitment and Retention Act’s addition to the ballot, the decision was not without frustration. Board member Julie Sinai said she voted in favor of the measure “wholeheartedly but reluctantly” because of what the members described as a lack of state-level financial support for educators. “We need to be paying teachers more,” Sinai said. “We’re forced to do it this way because the state refuses … to fully and fairly fund public education.”
----- SECURITY -----
Saugus High School in Santa Clarita reopens its campus
Saugus High School opened its gates to students yesterday, allowing them to retrieve books and backpacks left behind last Thursday when a schoolmate opened fire, killing two students and injuring three others. Students found their belongings neatly organized at desks and lockers. In the quad, two dozen counselors passed out candy and chatted with the teens. Some Los Angeles USD staffers were also on site. The campus will be open for the rest of this week, offering optional activities ranging from group counseling sessions to art and board games. Staff will receive specific post-trauma training. Regular classes are scheduled to resume after Thanksgiving break on December 2.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Districts struggle to keep up with demand for counselors
Shane Jimerson, a professor in the Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology Department at UC Santa Barbara who specializes in school crisis and trauma, says that demand for school counselors and psychologists is increasing exponentially, with districts finding it harder and harder to keep up. “Counselors and psychologists are charged with meeting all the social-emotional needs of all children all the time. Oh, and by the way, the kids have to score well on state exams,” he said. “There just simply isn’t enough time in the day.” Schools in California have boosted their counseling staffs by 30 percent in the past five years, according to the California Department of Education. But those numbers are not high enough, said Loretta Whitson, executive director of the California Association of School Counselors. In California, the ratio of counselors to students is 622-to-1, far higher than the 250-to-1 ratio recommended by the American School Counselors Association.
How counselor diversity matters for students of color
A new study undertaken by Harvard graduate student Christine Mulhern aims to quantify how individual counselors affect students. As might be expected, it found that better counselors boost students’ chances of graduating high school and enrolling in and remaining in college; it also found that students of color do much better when assigned to a counselor of color, seeing their chance of graduating high school jump nearly 4 percentage points. Ms Mulhern said the idea for the research came when she noticed that students are often assigned to counselors alphabetically by last name. Because alphabetization is essentially random, Mulhern - armed with a massive dataset from the state of Massachusetts - was able to study how more than 500 counselors affected the outcomes of nearly 150,000 students over a number of years. Students who had a counselor of far-above-average quality were 2 percentage points mor e likely to graduate from high school, 1.5 points more likely to attend college, and 1.4 points more likely to stay in college through their first year. Students of color, meanwhile, saw their chances of graduating high school and attending college each increase by 3.8 percentage points.
-----CHARTER SCHOOLS -----
Bernie Sanders And Elizabeth Warren On Charter Schools
Education Week takes a detailed look at Democratic primary frontrunners Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)’s criticisms of charter schools. It says that “the most dramatic” pledge in both their platforms is to ban “for-profit” charters, a reference to charters that are managed by for-profit entities, and notes that there are two possible avenues to doing so: by conditioning federal education aid so that in order to get it, states would have to agree that none of it would go to “for-profit” charters, or by conditioning federal Charter School Program grants in a similar way.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Google’s Future Of The Classroom report explored
Charley Rogers explores Google’s Future of the Classroom Report, which reveals life skills and workplace preparation as key trends in education this year. Crucial skills and approaches include digital literacy, vocational education, flexibility, and reformed assessment, while Dr Yuhyun Park, founder of the DQ Institute, defines digital intelligence, or DQ, as “a comprehensive set of competencies that enables individuals to thrive in the digital age.” A key underlying approach in all of this, adds Jos Dirkx, CEO and co-founder of Beenova AI, is understanding that freedom to pursue personal interests and strengths is far more likely to lead to success than prescribing a fixed set of skills.
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.
