ABCFT - YOUnionews - November 8, 2019
NEGOTIATION UPDATE - Facts and Ratification Process!
The ABCFT Executive Board and the ABCFT Representative Council has approved the Tentative Agreement to go out to the membership for a ratification vote.
Bottom line: The salary agreement for the 2019-2020 school year is 3% on schedule starting on January 1, 2020 for all ABCFT Unit members. There’s also an additional 2% off-schedule payment for TK-12 Certificated Teachers, the Status Adult School Teachers, CTE Teachers, and Child Development Permit Teachers.
One of our executive board members explained that her members would ask the following question; “What did we get and what did we give up?” Here’s the answer: we got 3% on schedule and an additional 2% off schedule. We didn’t give up anything!
The 3% on schedule payment begins in January 2020 so the first check that we will see it implemented will be during our February pay period. Additionally, the 2% off-schedule check is scheduled to come on or before February 14, 2020. February should be a good month!
Some clarification; we negotiated a deal that began mid-year in order to maximize the amount we could add to the salary schedule long term. By adding 3% beginning in January we were able to add crucial percentage points that will positively impact our members year after year as they move steps on the salary schedule in dollars towards retirement.
So the mid-year start means that there is no formal retro check this year. A retro check would typically take place if our agreement stretched back to begin in August.
But here is a crucial point to consider, the 2% off-schedule payment has the same practical effect as a retro check. The 2% off schedule, based on whatever you earned on last year’s salary scale, can be seen to function as a retro check which backfills the September-January months before our new 3% raise will be seen on our February checks.
A special consideration for our retirees or those considering retiring: the 3% on schedule raise WILL be retroactive to August and thus count as a full year of STRS credit to those members who submit an irrevocable retirement form for June 2020 with the district by February 14, 2020. This was negotiated to ensure that our retirees would not be negatively impacted by our mid-year start for the raise as it relates to the calculation of their STRS credit. It may, in fact, be seen as a retirement incentive of sorts, those members who file by the deadline will not only receive the 2% off-schedule payment but an additional retro check as well.
We strongly recommend that all of our members who are “retirement curious” schedule an appointment with their STRS counselor at their earliest convenience. Now that we all have the latest salary schedule they can make the most informed decision and be sure to file their papers by the February 14, 2020 deadline if the numbers make sense and they are so inclined.
Finally, some historical context: our members endured four years of furlough days but in the seven years following we have negotiated 17.5% of on schedule increases to our salary schedule. During this time period we have also negotiated 7% of off schedule payments, an increase in hourly from $30 to a range of $40-$50, and an overall increase to stipends of 15%. ABCFT is committed to remaining competitive despite increases to our STRS contributions, increases to health care costs, and the debilitating effects of declining enrollment. 17.5% of on schedule pay raises and 7% of off schedule payments over the past seven years is a strong foundation to build upon as we move into next year’s negotiations on salary, benefits, and master contract language.
What is the Ratification Process?
Any Tentative Agreement must go through a ratification process set by the ABCFT by-laws which ultimately result in a ratification vote from the ABCFT members. Below is the timeline for this ratification process for the TA:
- On November 12th, members are encouraged to attend the General Meeting at 4 pm at Fedde middle school. This meeting is designed for members interested in hearing the details of the Tentative Agreement from the ABCFT Negotiating team and the ABCFT leadership.
- ABCFT Members only will vote online on the ratification of the Tentative Agreement Tuesday the 12th (5pm) through Tuesday 19th (closing at 4pm).
- If the membership ratifies the Tentative Agreement, the ratified agreement then goes before the ABC School Board in December for final ratification.
ABCFT members are encouraged to come to the General Meeting on November 12th for information on the TA and for an opportunity to ask clarifying questions about the agreement.
In addition to reaching a tentative agreement with salary, a master school calendar for 2020-2021 as well as the Adult School 2020-2021 calendar was agreed upon and will be published by the district. Negotiated master school calendars are not ratified by the membership unless there is an alteration to the number of contract days. The 2020-2021 calendar is comprised of the contractual 180 teaching days with 4 student-free days.
General Membership Meeting
Tuesday, November 12th
from
4:00 to 5:00 pm
at
Fedde Middle School MPR
Ratification Voting Window
You will be able to vote online from
Tuesday, November 12th at 5:00 PM
until
Tuesday, November 19th at 4:00 PM.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
It was heartwarming to see how students at Artesia High School take care of one another by sharing perfectly good food that would otherwise end up discarded. Thank you to the person(s) that took the time to create this opportunity for others to share and take care of each other.
Another Personal Learning Opportunity was a Success!
“Thank you ABCFT for providing a platform in which the hard work of Connie Nam and Ka Yang could be shared.”
This past Tuesday, the third in a series of ABCFT sponsored Personal Learning opportunity titled The Write Stuff was held in collaboration with former ABCFT Teacher Leaders, Connie Nam and Ka Yang both teachers at Carver elementary as well as developers of the writing curriculum.
Facilitators Connie and Ka led educators from across the district through their interactive writing program that involved strategies and activities that help educators teach a comprehensive writing program to students from early elementary to secondary levels. The workshop helped participants understand the how to better teach the writing process. Not only did the participants learn how to implement this teacher-created writing program in their classroom but it has improved student outcomes and has been researched by six ABCFT Teacher Leaders. Participants were also provided with a memory stick that had the necessary materials. The facilitators also offered in-class support to the teachers that participated in this workshop.
Stay tuned for our next Personal Learning Opportunity - Using Podcasts to Teach Listening Skills by ABCFT Teacher Leader, Jennifer Marcus from Aloha Elementary. Registration will open next week for the December 10th workshop.
Participant feedback:
“Teachers and students alike are hungry for a solid method that works. This method is applicable across grades/subjects and will help students find consistent tools on which to depend as they develop as writers and stewards of the English language.” Gabriela Monterosa-Ibarra Niemes Elementary
“I came to the workshop, hoping to get some new ideas for teaching writing and I received much more. I learned about a complete program to get students writing better sentences, paragraphs, and narratives.” Kristina Whiteman Nixon Academy
“It was amazing that twenty lessons are repeated throughout a student’s elementary years every year to give students the opportunity to internalize writing to find their own voice. . A big shout out to Kay and Connie for the flash drive to implement easily in my kindergarten classroom.” Goldie Zaldivar, Burbank
“... program fills a critical gap in curricular instruction and with it, teachers can feel empowered with well-crafted resources that positively impact student learning.” Erika Cook, Cerritos Elementary
“ I can't wait to put these new resources into action within my classroom.” Stefanie Watson, Cerritos Elementary
“Time well spent...Will share with colleagues...Thanks, for helping us become the writers we need!” Cindy Sauter, Independent Studies, Special Education
“Loved getting physical things...well informed and entertaining presenters as well, they made quite the duo.” Erik Wolfgang Altman, 5th Grade Aloha Health Medical Academy
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 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.
Final Chicago Teacher Strike Update
Explore to find out what were some of the takeaways from this strike. The latest updates are from this week.
______________________________
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;
I am thrilled that the ABCFT Rep Council has agreed to take the TA out for a ratification vote next week. As a member of the negotiating team, I know that we worked hard to provide support for our compensation package. I learn from every negotiation but this year negotiating was heavily influenced by the ABCFT/ABCUSD labor-management relations. I’m confident in saying that many crucial conversations have been held over the past six months and that without good labor relations we could be like any other district struggling and on the verge of labor unrest. With salary hopefully off of everyone’s minds, we can collectively go back to having conversations about how the ABC district can pull together to meet the new sets of demands that are currently pressing public education.
I’m having a metacognition moment. I’d have to say that some of the most important moments of my job as president are when I learn important lessons by having conversations where I hear from another person’s perspective. Learning about how we as individuals impact the people around us is about being self-reflective and about putting yourself in the shoes of another person. Like throwing a rock into a calm pool of water, there are ripples from the splash that have an impact across all of the shorelines.
For example, this week I had the fortune to be invited to a senior activity at Artesia HS called a “Bite of Reality” where students were part of a financial education activity that was designed to motivate them to make appropriate financial decisions. Students were given a job and a salary as part of their role-playing the character. They were then asked to make financial decisions about housing, transportation, food, childcare, utilities, and household items. Students quickly found themselves overwhelmed with debt and the inability to pay for necessities because of their spending decisions. In this simulation, when the students found that they could not complete the buying of all the required necessities they visited a credit union booth where banking professionals looked over their budgets with them so they could hold a discussion about what modifications they would need to do to make ends meet.
It was a thrill to watch the students go through the learning process by role-playing the responsibilities of an adult. First, they were empowered with the ability to spend money and over time the reality of their financial situation crept into the simulation. Each student also had to take into account how they would work and live with their spouse as well as finding how to pay for childcare. I heard from more than one senior, “this is totally stressful.” Balancing all of the necessities of life and still being realistic about your reality are some serious life lessons. Over the span of two hours, students learned that with empowerment also comes responsibility. I’m sure each of these students had a new appreciation for their parents or guardians and all from taking a moment to step into another's point of view.
There have been many situations as president where I’ve learned after the fact how something I did or said or wrote had unintended consequences. For the students, it was about buying a sports car when they really needed a used minivan for the family. I “blow it” professionally when I forget that words or actions can have unintended consequences. This week I met with a group of teachers that provided me with a new perspective into their reality. I was thankful for the opportunity to hear their perspective but I’m most thankful for the occasion to make changes.
Much like the students in the “Bite of Reality” simulation, we make our second chances by being reflective and then taking action to make adjustments for a better outcome. This learning cycle is natural and it is okay to fail but it is even more powerful when we learn from our experiences and then we make even better decisions. Reflective learning is the most we could ask of our students and the adults we work with every day. I hope we can all feel like we can share our perspectives. We all matter and sometimes it just takes a reality check, a role play, or a heartfelt conversation for resilience to happen.
Happy Veteran’s Day to everyone. Please take a moment of reflection and thankfulness for all of those who have served our country. It takes a village and with our ongoing support these brave people will continue to protect and defend our country and our freedom.
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
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Schools should help accommodate parents' work schedules, says Kamala Harris
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would incentivize school districts to extend school days as a way of accommodating parents' work schedules. The program, which would also invest $1bn in "enriching summer learning programs" while promising not to force teachers into working longer hours, would offer five-year, $5m grants for schools to "develop high-quality, culturally relevant, linguistically accessible, developmentally appropriate academic, athletic or enrichment opportunities for students."
Study reveals changes in sexual orientation
New research has revealed that many teens report changes in their sexual orientation during high school. The study included 744 teenagers from three low-income high schools in rural areas in the southeastern United States. Of those students, 46 percent were boys and 54 percent were girls. The study, conducted between 2014 and 2016, found that 19% of these students reported at least one change in their “self-labeled sexual identity” over the course of the study and some reported more than one change. This could mean that a student who identified as heterosexual one year identified as bisexual the next, according to the study. More girls than boys reported these changes, the study found. Twenty-six percent of girls reported a change in sexual identity, while 11% of boys did so.
----- TEACHER STRIKES -----
Poway classified employees union declares impasse
Negotiations between Poway USD and Poway School Employees Association (PSEA) Unit 1, which includes office, technology, business and paraprofessional employees, have come to a deadlock, with the union declaring impasse. The district and the PSEA units have been in contract negotiations since March. The units’ contracts expired on June 30th. Once impasse is filed with the Public Employment Relations Board, a mediator is sent out to conduct a fact-finding process. The mediator will then issue recommendations for what the two parties should do, though neither party is required to accept the recommendations.
San Diego Union-Tribune
Little Rock Teachers’ Strike Plans Unclear
The AP (11/6, Bauman, Serrano) reports that Little Rock teachers “have given few clues on whether they’ll strike because of Arkansas’ decision to no longer recognize their union,” but “they’re staging other demonstrations aimed at drawing attention to the end of their collective bargaining rights and the state’s ongoing control of the local school district.” The AP says that on Wednesday, teachers, students, parents and others “held ‘walk-ins’ around the 23,000-student district on Wednesday, entering school buildings together before classes started to show their support for the union.” The move “follows other demonstrations that have included a sick-out organized by students last week and some teachers participating in a ‘work to rule’ action where they don’t work extra hours.” The AP says, “The Little Rock Education Association’s contract with the district expired on Thursday following the state Board of Education’s decision to no longer recognize the union as the district’s sole bargaining agent.”
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Majority of school shooters showed warning signs
A new report from the U.S. Secret Service has concluded that most of the violent attacks in schools over the past decade were committed by students who telegraphed their intentions beforehand—and could have been prevented. The research found that the majority of those students were motivated by a specific grievance, and every single one was experiencing extreme stress. However, there remains significant variation among the perpetrators, and schools should use a comprehensive analysis to detect true threats rather than trying to profile students, the report says. The information gleaned through the research will help train school officials and law enforcement on how to better identify students who may be planning an attack and how to stop them before they strike. Lina Alathari, the center's head, said: “These are not sudden, impulsive acts where a student suddenly gets disgruntled. The majority of these incidents are preventable." Nearly 40 training sessions for groups of up to 2,000 are scheduled. Ms Alathari and her team trained about 7,500 people during 2018. The training is free.
DeVos threatened with subpoena
House Democrats will consider whether to subpoena Betsy DeVos this month if she refuses to testify before the Education and Labor Committee regarding the continued collection of student loan debt from borrowers defrauded by for-profit Corinthian Colleges , who are now suing the Education Secretary over the matter. "I was disappointed that you rejected my invitation to voluntarily participate in lawful Congressional oversight, relying only on the fact that students are suing you over the very policies you are refusing to provide Congress information on," Rep. Bobby Scott, Democrat of Virginia and chairman of the committee, wrote in a letter sent to DeVos on Friday. "If you choose to decline my invitation, the Committee will consider exercising its legal authority to compel your attendance." The warning marks the second time Scott has threatened to use his subpoena powers in the last two weeks, both in relation to the secretary's and Education Department officials' involvement in for-profit colleges.
----- STATE NEWS -----
No more ‘at-risk’ students in California
Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved a bill to remove references to “at-risk” youth in California’s Education Code and Penal Code, replacing the term with “at-promise” youth. “For far too long, the stigmatizing label of ‘at risk’ has been used to describe youth living in difficult situations,” said Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer Sr., lead author of the bill, in an address to the California State Assembly earlier this year. “This is a perception issue,” he added. “By using this term, we are creating expectations of failure for our most vulnerable students.” Many college student affairs employees are starting to recognize that viewing students through the lens of their potential failures can be detrimental, said David Arnold, assistant vice president for health, safety and well-being initiatives at NASPA, an association for student affairs administrators in higher education.
New study shows 85% of CA classrooms lack sufficient ventilation
A recent study conducted by UC Davis and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers found that 85% of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, systems in California K-12 classrooms do not provide sufficient ventilation. The study inspected 104 classrooms across 11 schools in California, all of which had new HVAC systems installed within the last three years. Data was gathered through field inspections, monitoring and a teacher survey. Indoor environmental parameters were measured for four weeks. Classrooms with insufficient HVAC systems were also found to have higher carbon dioxide levels and lower ventilation rates. Study author Rengie Chan said “There are compelling evidence of an association between inadequate ventilation impacting student performance, resulting in respiratory health effects, and student absence.”
Harris Introduces Bill Aimed At Keeping Public Elementary Schools Open 10 Hours A Day
The Hill (11/6, Axelrod) reports that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) “introduced legislation Wednesday that would keep public elementary schools open for 10 hours a day, a move that would more closely align with the workday.” She “introduced the Family Friendly Schools Act to create a pilot program to give schools funds to stay open during the entire workday throughout the school year, as well as to invest over $1 billion to boost summer learning programs.” The bill “seeks to award five-year grants of up to $5 million total to school districts to keep elementary school doors open from at least 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday during the school year.” The Washington Examiner (11/6, Brest) reports, “The plan also seeks to limit students’ days off when a working parent would not be off, so the only school closures would be on weekends, federal holidays, and emergencies. Events such as professional development and parent-teacher conferences would have to happen while children are in school.” Also reporting are the HuffPost (11/6) and CNBC (11/6, Dzhanova).
How rural California is addressing a serious teacher shortage
The teaching shortage in Tulare County in California is so bad that 600 educators are licensed through emergency credentials - a crisis that is to be addressed with a near-$7m federal grant awarded to the California Center on Teaching Careers. The money is part of the latest batch of funds distributed through the U.S Department of Education’s Teacher Quality Partnership program that released $20 million for this year to 31 projects. Visalia USD will be the main beneficiary of the grant dollars, which will be used to set up a teacher residency program there where attendees teach three days a week alongside a senior teacher for an entire school year. One day a week they’ll take courses taught by California State University, Bakersfield instructors. Participants will start in the summer and earn their credentials by the end of the school year. It’ll be another six months of graduate school before they earn their Masters in education. The hope is that the grant, in place through 2024, will encourage local prospective teachers to receive credentialing and master’s degrees to keep them in the area.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Berkeley school district, teachers announce tentative agreement in contract negotiations
Berkeley USD and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers have reached a tentative agreement in their contract negotiations, after more than a year of discussions. New provisions were made in the tentative agreement addressing educator compensation and special education. In compensation, all BFT members will have a total increase in salary of 5% over two years and an additional increase of 7% subject to the passage of a parcel tax anticipated for the March 2020 ballot, which will all be effective by July 1st 2020. New provisions for special education caseload and assessment limits will start in the 2020-21 school year. There will also be pay for temporary overages and voluntary additional assessment work.
Sac City votes to reduce school resource officers
In a five-to-two vote, Sacramento City USD board members finalized the decision to reduce the number of police on campus to three resource officers and one sergeant. The district used to have eight officers and one sergeant. Reducing the number of officers to three means district saves $900,000. The district says they made the decision because of the community concerns about a police presence on campuses. Police say they’ll continue working with schools.
Former Corona-Norco asst super charged with money laundering
A former Corona-Norco school district assistant superintendent and the president of an Ontario construction firm that specializes in building schools have been charged with more than two dozen felonies related to the theft of more than $1m. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office charged Ted Eugene Rozzi, and Edward Curtis Mierau of Neff Construction, after an investigation revealed that money that was intended for school projects was funneled through Neff Construction and wound up in Rozzi’s personal bank accounts, the release said. Corona-Narco said that two district employees reported their suspicions in 2017; Mr Rozzi, who in the same year received the Classified Leader of the Year Award from the Association of California School Administrators board of directors, was placed on administrative leave and later resigned. Since then, the district said, it has restructured departments to add more layers of accountability.
----- CLASSROOM -----
Positive communication key for students' academic success
Jessica Cabeen, principal of Ellis Middle School in Minnesota, asserts the importance of educators carefully planning responses to potentially volatile scenarios involving parents. It may make sense to call a parent directly rather than engage in back-and-forth email exchanges, Cabeen says, but it’s ultimately best to let it go and not be offended by an email, phone message or even a social media thread. “Phone a friend before you hit send,” the principal suggests.
Education Week Runs Special Report On Teachers’ Views On Personalized Learning
Education Week (11/5) runs a package of stories about personalized learning, saying that while the concept “does note work well” when “poorly planned and executed,” this “should not stop schools from pursuing the goal of tailoring instruction to individual students’ academic strengths and weaknesses as well as their personal interests. That appears to be the big takeaway from our nationally representative survey of nearly 600 teachers on personalized learning topics, featured extensively in this report.” Individual articles focus on a disconnect between principals and teachers (11/6, Bushweller) on personalized learning, a broad definition of the concept (11/6, Herold), and pitfalls associated with its implementation (11/6, Gewertz), among other topics.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Childhood trauma linked to adult illness
Heart disease and other illnesses are linked to abuse and other physical and psychological harm suffered early in life, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which underlines the impact of harmful childhood experiences on health in adulthood. Dr. Dayna Long, a researcher at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, says: “Trauma really is a public health crisis that everybody needs to start addressing.”
Research Suggests Number Of Young E-Cigarette Users Increased By Two Million Over Last Year, Young Juul Users Prefer Mint
The AP (11/5, Tanner) reports a pair of studies published in JAMA indicate “U.S. teens who use electronic cigarettes prefer those made by Juul Labs, and mint is the favorite flavor for many of them, suggesting a shift after the company stopped selling fruit and dessert flavors in stores.” One study based on national survey data found “an estimated 28% of high school students and 11% of middle school students said they’d used e-cigarettes within the past month,” translating to “5.3 million young users, compared with about 3.6 million last year.” The second study based on survey data from 1,800 Juul users “found that mint was the most popular flavor among Juul users in 10th and 12th grades and the second-most popular among middle-schoolers. In contrast, less than 6% of teenagers across all grades preferred menthol.”
Bloomberg (11/5, Baumann) reports research indicates Juul “remains the most popular brand, as 59% of high school students and 54% of middle school students named the product as their usual brand of e-cigarettes.” Meanwhile, the studies “come as the Trump administration is mulling a ban on flavored vaping products, but e-cigarette advocates are pressing to preserve mint and menthol for adults.”
The Hill (11/5, Hellmann) reports the research “suggests teens are using mint or menthol flavors at higher rates as fruit flavors become harder to find.”
Secret Service Study Says Most School Shooters Showed Warning Signs
The AP (11/7, Long) reports, “Most students who committed deadly school attacks over the past decade were badly bullied, had a history of disciplinary trouble and their behavior concerned others but was never reported, according to a U.S. Secret Service study released Thursday.” Although “there’s no clear profile of a school attacker,” there are “some details” that “stand out: Many were absent from school before the attack, often through a school suspension; they were treated poorly by their peers in person, not just online; they felt mistreated; some sought fame, while others were suicidal.” The research will “help train school officials and law enforcement on how to better identify students who may be planning an attack and how to stop them before they strike.” The study “does not weigh on political topics such as whether guns are too accessible or whether teachers should be armed.”
The Hill (11/7, Bowden) reports the study from the National Threat Assessment Center “found that the bulk of school attackers over the last decade showed a number of warning signs that largely went unreported before they carried out attacks.” Researchers “looked at 41 attacks at schools between 2008 and 2017 with a variety of weapons, all of which were carried out by current or former students of the schools targeted. More than 75 percent of perpetrators carried out their attacks after an incident with another student in school, according to the AP.”
Education Week (11/7, Sawchuk) reports most attackers “telegraphed their intentions beforehand” and “were motivated by a specific grievance, and every single one was experiencing extreme stress. But there remains significant variation among the perpetrators, and schools should use a comprehensive analysis to detect true threats rather than trying to profile students, the report says.” The results echo “the conclusions of the agency’s influential 2002 publication on school safety, which said checklists of characteristics supposedly common to school shooters were not helpful in preventing violence. Instead, that earlier study popularized the idea of threat assessment, in which teams of educators, administrators, counselors, and school resource officers compile academic, behavioral, and other evidence to decide whether a student who’s made a threat is acting out or actually poses one.” Also reporting are USA Today (11/7, Johnson), Reuters (11/7, Dobuzinskis), Newsweek (11/7), CBS News (11/7), and ABC News (11/7, News).
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
Lawyers urge UC to eliminate standardized tests
Lawyers representing organizations such as Compton USD and the Community Coalition have written to the UC Board of Regents calling for the system to eliminate standardized tests as an admissions requirement. The letter alleges that standardized tests unlawfully discriminate against disabled, low-income and underrepresented minority students, and that high school GPA is the strongest predictor of four-year college outcomes. “The main thrust of the letter is that the UC Regents and the University of California has to allow for equitable access to capable students from across the board,” said Of Counsel with the Equal Justice Society Lisa Holder, who took part in composing the letter. “Since the SAT is a barrier to equal opportunity, they need to eliminate it just like so many other universities have done in the past couple of years.”
----- OTHER -----
UCLA to study why people are kind or not
Last month, UCLA opened the Bedari Kindness Institute, a unit set up with a $20m gift from the Bedari Foundation to research what elicits kindness in people, and how it can be used to empower them. Research has already been done at UCLA about how kindness can reduce heart disease, depression and a person’s risk for developing cancer, said Darnell Hunt, dean of the university’s social sciences division and administrator of the new program. Researchers have begun to study the effects of kindness on depressed students. “What are the mechanisms that determine whether somebody is going to be kind or not?” Hunt asked. “Who are these people, and what motivated them to take action?”
Teen activist Greta Thunberg galvanizes L.A.’s youth activists
Climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered a speech in Los Angeles on Friday, to a crowd gathered at City Hall. The Swedish teenager addressed the issue of wildfires, which she said were fanned by preventable changes in the climate, capturing the attention of the students, many of whom may not have needed to call in absent from class on Friday because nearby wildfires had already prompted school closures. “Today in California, we could see the wildfires happening just around the corner,” Ms Thunberg said of the flames that gripped the hillsides of Los Angeles County and beyond. Such wildfires “are being intensified by the climate crisis,” she said. Los Angeles ISD said it would excuse the absences of students whose parents or guardians check in to say they were attending the rally. The district also live-streamed her remarks on its website, so that individual schools could share and broadcast them to students in class.
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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