ABCFT - YOUnionews - January 10, 2020
PERSONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITY
School Resilience 101 - Registration Now Open!
The fifth in the series of free members-only Personal Learning Opportunities is School Resilience 101 offered by Alicia Loncar of Kaiser Permanente. This engaging workshop will be a mixture of presentation, interactive discussion, and short exercises to help understand stress in schools and to identify next steps.
Studies have found that children who have experienced trauma are six times more likely to have behavior problems and three times more likely to experience academic failure. Educators who support these students have some of the highest levels of job-related stress, vicarious trauma, and burnout. Kaiser Permanente’s Thriving Schools is working to provide support and resources for all school teachers, staff and leaders to build their resilience, help them understand their students, manage their own stress, and maintain emotional wellbeing in and out of the workplace.
This session will outline some of the key contributors to stress and burnout in school environments and identify action items for developing resilient schools, as well as provide information and resource links that support resilient educators and schools.
We will also review action items that educators can take to support their own resilience.
Objectives:
1. Build awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs); secondary or vicarious trauma; teacher and staff stress; and positive steps towards school resilience.
2. Identify action items and links to resources that support schools in creating environments that foster resilience and emotional wellbeing of their employees and their students on a larger systems level.
School Resilience 101
Personal Learning Opportunity
Tuesday, January 21st
from 3:30-5:00 p.m.
at Fedde Middle School MPR
21409 Elaine Ave. Hawaiian Gardens
Light refreshments will be provided.
MEMBERS ONLY PUBLIC SCHOOL PROUD JACKETS
By popular demand, we are offering Public School Proud jackets for all members at a reduced cost of $30.00. The lightweight jackets come in graphite grey in both women's and men's styles and sizes. The picture and size descriptors are listed in the link below. Don't be left out in the cold order by Thursday, January 23rd.
Place your order here----> ABCFT Public School Proud Jackets
AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE ACTIVATED
Mark Your Calendars for January 18th
Equal treatment and equal pay are important rights that all women should have in America. On Saturday, January 18, 2020, the fourth annual Women’s March in Orange County will take place in downtown Santa Ana. ABCFT encourages you to participate in this empowering experience so that your voices are heard in support of women’s issues. Educators are predominantly female, so the issues of equal pay and rights directly impact all teachers. For example, did you know that elementary school districts get less money per pupil than high school districts? There are more men in secondary education. Our State’s funding systems are systematically discriminating against women who are predominantly teaching in our elementary schools. This inequity is problematic and to change it we encourage you to make your vote and voice count.
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January 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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PICTURE OF THE WEEK
ABC TOSAs in action! District PBIS Lead Rachel Santos and PBIS Coach Michelle Joyce led a workshop for 36 teachers on Tier 1 Positive Classroom Behavior Support training this Friday. ABC teachers were introduced to behavioral psychology foundations, escalation cycles, and practical classroom techniques on how to calm and redirect students in a way that emphasizes the fulfillment of their Maslow's hierarchy of needs. ABCFT hopes that the District will continue to provide this type of classroom management training to address the needs of those teachers seeking information and training on how to best serve the needs of their most challenging students. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK ABC TOSAS!
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;
Having a couple of weeks away from our daily teaching activities finally gives many of us a chance to step back for reflection. I hope that all of you had some time over the two weeks to take care of your own needs so that you can recharge your batteries for the next portion of our school year. Just think, for many of us, the freedom of choice and the time to engage in the activities you want is the reward of investing in a retirement pension.
To be completely honest, one of the reasons I became involved in the union is that I wanted to ensure that my pension would be there when I retire in the future and that if I could have a say in that matter I would do my best to protect pensions. It is sobering to think that twenty-nine percent of all Americans do not have either a defined benefit plan nor a 401k/IRA to supplement their Social Security benefits. The average defined benefit is between $30,000 and $35,000 a year and the median annuity is approximately $10,000 a year. To put that in context, the poverty line in America for a family of four is $25,000. As part of the public education system in California, almost thirty percent of your gross pay indirectly goes toward your retirement and while you may not be taking all the trips or buying all the new cars like the people on Facebook you should take comfort in the knowledge that in retirement you will have more resources than many. I don’t even know why I decided to write about retirement at this moment but I do want you to know that the ABC Federation of Teachers as part of the California Federation of Teachers is fierce about protecting the retirement pensions of all public school employees.
Next week, members of the negotiating team will be attending the a budget summary for the 2020 Governor’s budget proposal. Every January the California Governor releases a budget proposal based on revenue predictions. Every district in the state than uses those predictions as a guide as to how they will staff their schools and how they will proceed with negotiations with their employee unions. ABCFT will have a full report in the coming weeks on the Governor’s Budget and any thoughts about how this will impact ABC directly.
We are catching up and preparing for the next month at the office. Later this month, in addition to the budget information we will also be giving updates on our pre-contract study groups, negotiation surveys, ABCFT Teacher Leaders lobbying in Sacramento and other union activities that impact you directly in the classroom.
Thanks for all you do and I hope that you have a great weekend!
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
----- TEACHER STRIKES -----
Florida Teachers Union Calls For March On Capitol
The Tallahassee (FL) Democrat (1/8) reports, “The Florida Education Association has issued a call to action with a Take on Tallahassee protest planned for Monday” as part of an effort “to elevate public education into a major issue.” The march would occur “while a Senate Education Committee discusses how to boost pay for classroom instructors.” The Democrat adds, “The teacher’s union and its allies say a decade of inadequate funding has decimated Florida’s public education system.”
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Common Core standards must and can improve
Dr. Pam Greenblatt, head of lower school at the Haverford School, a pre-K-12 boys’ school, and Nichole Pugliese, director of the Enrichment and Learning Center at the same school, assert that school districts must adjust the way they educate the youngest students to leverage Common Core results improvements. Ten years into these standards, they warn, not much has changed - the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) reported that U.S. students have shown no statistically-significant changes since 2000. Mississippi, once the worst state nationwide for fourth-grade reading scores, is now on par with the national average in part thanks to the state committing to training teachers in science-backed reading strategies.
Chief Justice warns that 'civic education has fallen by the wayside'
U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. focused on civics education in his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary, saying "we have come to take democracy for granted, and civic education has fallen by the wayside." Roberts highlighted several civics education efforts of the federal courts, such as mock trials organized by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, in which students participate in realistic judicial exercises in real courtrooms and are presided over by federal judges. He also noted that three federal appeals courts have opened education-related centers. "Civic education, like all education, is a continuing enterprise and conversation," Roberts said. "Each generation has an obligation to pass on to the next, not only a fully functioning government responsive to the needs of the people, but the tools to understand and improve it."
New principal turnover data explored
Almost 20% of new principals leave their schools each year, according to new research by Bradley Davis, associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Houston, who says nearly half leave after three years. His study revealed that new principals were more likely to transfer out of district than within district, male principals were more likely than female principals to be promoted, and that new principals who were black or Hispanic had a slightly greater likelihood of being demoted than their white peers but were more likely to have remained at their original campuses after five years. Principal turnover has both academic and financial costs, the research stressed, as districts can spend about $75,000 to prepare, hire, and place a principal into the position. “It’s not enough to understand the frequency of the turnover, it needs to be prevented,” Davis asserts.
Indiana House Advances Bill To Prevent Using Student Test Scores In Teacher Evaluations
The Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette (1/8) reports under a bill that cleared the Indiana state House Education Committee on Wednesday, “teachers might no longer have their performance evaluations tied to student test scores.” The bill would “eliminate a state mandate that local districts use objective measures of student achievement and growth – test scores – to ‘significantly inform’ teacher evaluations. Lawmakers instituted the requirement in 2011, pushed by then-Gov. Mitch Daniels as part of an education reform movement. Since then, Republicans have repeatedly defended judging teachers by student test results.”
The Greensburg (IN) Daily News (1/8, Crebbe Zach Roberts |, TheStatehouseFile.com) reports the bill would “protect schools and teachers from being penalized because students performed poorly on the state’s new ILEARN standardized tests.” The measure would give “schools, students and teachers time to deal with the changes that came with the new standardized test, which was administered for the first time last year, advocates of the measure said.” The Marion (IN) Chronicle Tribune (1/8) also covers this story.
----- STATE NEWS -----
California schools aim to help teach kids to kick vaping
Across California, posters and billboards from the state health department warn young people about the dangers of vaping. State lawmakers introduced a bill this week to end all store sales of flavored tobacco, and the federal government recently moved to ban some e-cigarettes. However, experts say more needs to be done to help youngsters already addicted. Amanda Graham, a psychologist who serves as chief of innovations for a national anti-tobacco nonprofit called the Truth Initiative, says there’s been little guidance on how to help the more than 6m U.S. teens who used tobacco products in 2019. Now, however, the California Department of Public Health is funding cessation programs on texting, mobile app and digital chat services. “Chunking quitting into manageable steps, where it’s not ‘I have to quit vaping’ all as one single action, but leaving their JUUL in their locker for one particular class and making it through that class period,” Graham said. “Or practicing how to say no to friends when they’re offered a hit off their JUUL. Very practical, action-oriented things that can help build that confidence to quit.”
Gavin Newsom's 1st-year K-12 scorecard…
EdSource takes a look back at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s record on K-12 education during his first year leading the state. Mr Newsom committed more than $2bn toward child care and early education, using General Fund dollars to expand funding without encroaching on the K-12 budget. He also used a $10m budget appropriation to create a data system linking information on children from infancy through college and into the workforce. It will connect existing data systems so that lawmakers and policy makers can answer fundamental questions, like which early education investments pay off long-term and which community college reforms increase college completion rates. However, EdSource notes that little movement has been made to support full-service community schools with “wellness centers, to address children’s physical and mental adolescent health needs, arts education, technology classes and computer science for every child, after school programs ... and true public-private partnerships.” Celia Jaffe, president of the California State PTA, said, “The California State PTA is pleased with real strides in education under Newsom; there was progress on thorny issues like charter school reform.”
Feds' data ban could hit state early learning
The U.S. Department of Education is considering a ban on the collection of a wide range of data on children in an attempt to reduce the “burden on school districts”. The data that would no longer be collected under the plans include: how many children have access to preschool and kindergarten, which is broken down by race, sex, disability and English learner status; the number of times pre-schoolers have been suspended; teacher experience; teacher absenteeism; and the number of students taking AP courses in specific subjects. The loss of this information is expected to raise issues in the development of California’s recently announced Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, which is aimed at expanding and improving its early childhood programs.
California’s efforts to turn school staff into teachers begin to pay off
A California state program that recruits classroom aides, food service workers and bus drivers and trains them to become teachers has helped 299 employees become classroom educators, with thousands more in the pipeline, according to a new report from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Legislators have approved $45 million for the program since 2016, as part of an ongoing effort to address a teacher shortage that has left many classrooms without a fully credentialed educator. Finding teachers, especially those teaching science, math, special education and English language learners, has become a daunting challenge. Prospective teachers must have completed at least two years of college to be eligible for the program. The program elevates people who already are passionate about working with students, said Rigel Massaro, of Public Advocates, a nonprofit law firm that advocates for equality in public policy, including education policy. “Dollars to doughnuts they are going to be retained, because they understand what it is like,” she said at a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing meeting in November. “They got into teaching because they have already been on the campus or in the classroom for many years, often.”
----- DISTRICTS -----
Orange County schedules forums about hate incidents in schools
The Orange County Human Relations Commission is joining the county Department of Education in presenting two forums this month exploring the impact of hate incidents on schools, students and communities. The county says the goal of the forums is to help establish “safer and connected campuses in the school community.” The first forum will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Department of Education headquarters at 200 Kalmus Drive in Costa Mesa and will focus on discussions by parents and students on their experiences with bias and hate on school campuses.
Newport-Mesa school district appeals state fines
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has appealed about $20,000 in state fines following three separate inspections by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health that were conducted last year. The fines were for various workplace violations at three of the school district's campuses, including a rodent infestation problem at one high school and also plumbing and maintenance issues. The fines were initially levied in December 2018, but the district is appealing. “We prioritize safety of our students and staff and continually evaluate and improve upon our practices,” district spokeswoman Annette Franco said.
School board shelves plan to drop free meals
A backlash from school board members and the public caused the failure of a call from the Santa Barbara Unified School District for the elimination of free meals for thousands of students. Schools trustee Laura Capps said: "We can’t just shut off the spigot with these kids . . . We need to have a more robust plan in front of the board that gives us faith that people aren’t going to be left in the lurch and families aren’t going to be left in the lurch.” The board members have instructed the district to return with a more thorough plan next year.
----- CLASSROOM -----
Schools under-resourced to deliver climate change lessons
Sonali Kohli explores how widespread science teacher shortages and the lack of training among many current teachers on climate change threatens the goals of the curriculum that aims in part to prepare students to be environmentally-aware in adulthood. She also suggests that a lack of resources hinders an opportunity for educators to capture a newfound passion among those teenagers who are eager to engage in a growing youth climate activist movement.
----- SECURITY -----
Moreno Valley sets out policy on fighting students
Arrests of students who fight at Moreno Valley USD campuses will continue despite the belief by district officials that putting students in the criminal justice system is the wrong solution. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arrested several students there in the fall. The arrests came as scrutiny of student safety and discipline intensified after Diego Stolz, 13, was fatally assaulted in September by two students at Landmark Middle School. Mike Koehler, the administrative lieutenant at the Moreno Valley station, said that Sheriff Chad Bianco has not ordered more arrests of students in the district. The department’s stance, Koehler said, is to make arrests for all crimes. “There’s been no change in policy,” Koehler said. “We are communicating in strong terms that we are going to have a zero-tolerance approach. If our (deputy assigned to a school) becomes aware of violence on campus and if an arrest is deemed appropriate, that is the direction we take.”
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Vaping waste a problem for schools
Vaping has created a trash problem for schools as paraphernalia associated with the habit including discarded pens and pods litters campuses. Boulder High School is among schools in Colorado to partner with local health and waste management departments to create a website about e-cigarettes and vaping that includes information on safe disposal. Meanwhile, a study of high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area found waste from e-cigarettes, tobacco and cannabis products is causing environmental contamination at high schools and in adjacent areas.
Federal government bans popular e-cigarette flavors
The Food and Drug Administration has instructed companies to end the manufacturing, distribution and sale of most cartridge-based e-cigarette flavors by early February, as part of a strategy to stem a surge in teenage vaping. The ban includes mint and fruit flavors, but does not extend to menthol- and tobacco-flavoured cartridges and exempts e-liquids and devices used in open-tank systems, which typically are sold in vape shops that cater to adults but also can be purchased elsewhere. “By prioritizing enforcement against the products that are most widely used by children, our action today seeks to strike the right public health balance by maintaining e-cigarettes as a potential off-ramp for adults using combustible tobacco while ensuring these products don’t provide an on-ramp to nicotine addiction for our youth”, said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II.
Is poverty to blame for American kids underperforming academically?
The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board considers why US 15-year-olds continue to underperform on the annual Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) science, math and reading tests administered to students in 79 countries around the world. A 2013 study by Stanford University researchers found that the U.S. would rank much higher on the PISA test if it weren’t for its higher levels of socioeconomic inequality, the Board notes, while a 2016 analysis by the nonprofit organization Turnaround for Children, which studies the effects of various traumas on children, found that in US schools where less than a fourth of students are poor enough qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, scores are "high enough to rank above the top nations." Last year, while China enjoyed the highest scores in all three subjects, with an average reading score at 555, math at 591 and science at 590, on a scale of zero to 1,000, US students had an average reading score of 505, a math score of 478 and a science score of 502.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
New York school district pushes forward with facial recognition software
A New York school district close to the border with Canada has announced it will begin using controversial facial recognition software for school safety purposes, over the strenuous objections of civil liberties advocates. The Lockport School District, which has around 4,400 students, will become one of the first school systems in the country to try the technology, using software from SN Technologies to alert district officials if someone on a flagged list of individuals shows up at one of the district's eight schools. The software can also detect ten different types of guns. To address privacy concerns, the district has implemented a policy that bars its system from collecting or storing student information.
----- SOCIAL & COMMUNITY -----
California’s foster students need more help
Alexander Montero examines the struggles that students in foster care face in California. In 2018, around 59,000 children were in foster care in the state, he notes, with just over 34,000 enrolled in the state’s K-12 schools, which is a little more than half of what it was two decades ago due to California’s emphasis on family preservation and reunification. In 2017-18, only 23% of students in foster care met or exceeded the standards on the Smarter Balanced tests for English language arts however, compared to 50% of all students statewide. In math, Montero adds, only 14% of students met or exceeded the standards compared to 36% of all students statewide.
Rural California's education divide
With more than half a million students living in California’s rural areas, Jennifer Molina explores the challenges they face. Issues examined include chronic absenteeism, a lack of college preparation and college isolation and limited access to technology.
This year's school shootings data explored
Seven people died in US school shootings in 2019, the oldest was 48 and the youngest was 10. Some 43 were injured in 24 shooting incidents that occurred on school grounds or during school-sponsored events, according to Education Week’s school shooting tracker. The death and injury tolls are smaller than in 2018, when there were two mass school shootings in Florida and Texas, but prevention strategies are arguably higher up districts' agendas than ever. The year’s deadliest shooting was in a Santa Clarita, California, where a 16-year-old male student killed two classmates and injured three others before shooting and killing himself.
----- OTHER -----
NTA Life Insurance - An ABCFT Sponsor
About three years ago ABCFT started 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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