ABCFT - YOUnionews - April 9, 2020
Spring Break is Here - GO DARK!
Today marks the beginning of the 2020 Spring Break for teachers and students. We have all been doing our best with remote learning since March 19th and I am sure everyone is in dire need of a moment to catch your breath and gather your strength for a final couple of months of the school year. ABCFT is strongly encouraging everyone to “go dark” during this year’s Spring Break. Take the time to step away from the daily long hours of screen time that all of us are experiencing, you deserve this break. Every Spring Break is a time to spend time with family, take some yourself, but most of all take time to not think about work. There will be plenty for all of us to do when we get back and hopefully there will be more clarity about how we will move forward in the future.
NEGOTIATION UPDATE - KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Ruben Mancillas
Notes from Underground
After discussions with Human Resources we have an update regarding unfinished evaluations. Evaluations that were in process and satisfactory may be completed with the agreement of both the evaluator and the member. That is, if the evaluation process was going well and one of the observations had been completed but not the second one, the evaluator and the teacher can agree to sign off as having a completed satisfactory evaluation for this year. The intent is to not force members and evaluators to have to redo the entire process next year if both parties were heading towards another satisfactory evaluation cycle. Human Resources will be explaining this policy to their administrators and you can ask your evaluator what the next steps are if you were in the middle of an incomplete evaluation at the time our campuses were closed.
I hesitate to say to “enjoy” our Spring Break. That may sound too ambitious and perhaps even insensitive given the challenges all around us. Rather I would encourage us to acknowledge that we all deserve a break. Please utilize the time to be with your families and to keep yourself healthy. This is not a time to answer work emails. This is not a time to train yourself on a new video conferencing platform. This is not a time to worry about reaching out to parents. This is not a time to add administrators as students in your Google classroom. This is not a time to assign or grade additional work. We are all under a great deal of pressure to adapt to the rapidly changing environment and we need to be vigilant against the creep of unrealistic expectations. We should be thoughtful about remembering the distinction between what we need to do versus what others are suggesting they would like us to do. If we aren’t careful we will soon be asked to be teaching live, synchronous classes on a mandated schedule because some neighboring district supposedly does it and a narrow percentage of parents think it would be a great idea. I would suggest setting up an out of office reply on your email and giving yourself the opportunity to heal, recharge, and focus on something else.
Here’s a movie recommendation that came to mind as the Mancillas clan continue to navigate our house full of educators and students attempting to teach and learn from home while rainy days keep us even more confined. The Exterminating Angel is a 1962 film by the Spanish director, Luis Bunuel. It looks like it is only available via streaming for a fee on Amazon and ITunes at the moment. My kids make fun of me that I still get actual discs in the mail from Netflix. The Exterminating Angel has a simple plot and I encourage you not to read too much about it in advance or it may ruin some of the surprise but I couldn’t help but think of it as a surreal commentary on our current shutdown reality.
April 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.
ABCFT Member Highlights - ABC Head Start
Last week, ABCFT was able to sit down with the Head Start Director Lora Ballard and ABCFT Head Start ABCFT Representatives Sandra Espino and Sandra Valdez-Soriano to hear about what Head Start is doing during the closure to meet the needs of their students and their families. ABC’s Head Start program is one of the many Child Development programs that serve our community and help to prepare our youngest students for the rigor of the TK-12 school system. Child Development encompases State PreSchool, Tracy Infant Center, EIP, and the Extended Day Program.
ABC’s Head Start teachers are developing and delivering weekly lesson plans for families that have little or no experience in teaching. Our teachers are working with their families to provide social emotional support, strategies for learning and behavior modification, fun educational activities and a number of other direct supports. For example, Ballard reports that “ABC is providing a grab and go service for families that allows parents to pick up the necessary materials to continue their child’s education.”
Both Sandra Espino and Sandra Valdez-Soriano state that the most important part of their job is their weekly contact with parents because it ensures that parents and students still feel a connection with their teachers and their Head Start classrooms. One way that teacher are connecting with students is by having virtual Friday book readings with their classes so that students continue to gain exposure to fun literature. In addition, the Head Start program recently held its first Virtual Parent Meeting and Ballard commented that it was fun to see parents learning how to use online technology and that both the teachers and parents are in the process of learning a new set of skills to ensure the continued education of these future ABC graduates.
If you would like to see more pictures in ideas from Head Start you can find their Instagram account at ABC_Child_Development. A special thank you to the Head Start team for giving ABCFT an opportunity to learn about their program.
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;
This week, ABCFT held virtual union meetings with Elliott, Burbank, Fedde, Gonsalves, Palms, and Nixon where Membership Coordinator, Tanya Golden and myself were able to give updates, answer questions, and most importantly gather information about what what issues are most important to teachers this week. We were also able to share the video conference guidelines the District administrators have been developing and used the feedback from these sites to share with our district partner. Thank you to all those who attended these virtual union meetings. It was great to see and hear from everyone!
I woke up this morning to see that UTLA has negotiated language about their online program. ABCFT has been able to informally negotiate how ABC’s remote learning program is structured and the expectations for teachers and students. I know of many districts where the administrations and school boards have created additional demands on teachers and students that have been counterproductive during this emergency transition. There are also school districts that have gone weeks without instruction or connection with their students and are just this week beginning to train their teaching staff on how to work online with their students. We should go on our Spring Break with the knowledge that ABC teachers, nurses, and SLPs have worked hard for a month to ensure that we stay connected with our students and their families.
I hope that you were able to join other ABCFT members in this week’s open chat on Thursday. ABCFT will continue to provide these open chats with our members to answer questions and to give everyone a way to gather and share stories, thoughts, concerns and ways to stay mentally and physically strong. As humans we need connections and in education we are all about people. If you are feeling down, overwhelmed and you need to reach out I encourage you to contact ABCFT. We are here to not only to ensure that we slow down the District with its endless rollout of directives but also to ensure that all of our members are able to navigate the emotional connection void.
Today I am meeting with Dr. Valencia Mayfield who is the Assistant Superintendent of Academic Services to discuss student’s grading and the concern of many teachers about the mental health of our students. ABC must have a plan soon about how to connect with our students in a non-academic way. We need to connect to them and their parents as a connection to reality, a community support, and an emotional lifeline. I hope that when we come back from vacation many of you will take advantage of Google Meet to reach out to students. Forget about academics, if our students are in distress there’s no way we can expect to reach them academically. Again, this is food for thought.
I hope everyone has a good Spring Break and that you and your families all continue to stay heathy. Go Dark this vacation. You deserve the break.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Join CFT President Jeff Freitas Friday at 3:00 p.m. as he answers members’ questions on Facebook Live
CFT President Jeff Freitas will once again answer CFT members’ questions this Friday at 3:00 p.m. in a Facebook Live broadcast via the CFT Facebook page.
If you have a specific question or comment for CFT leaders, please take a moment to go to cft.org/ask. Answers to the most commonly asked questions can be found in our FAQ for members on the CFT web site. The FAQ is updated regularly.
The latest CFT articles and news stories can be found here on the PreK12 news feed on the CFT.org website. View current issues here
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Schools to reopen in the fall, Fauci suggests
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, believes that the country will be in “good shape” for reopening schools by the start of the next school year. Speaking at a White House news briefing, the government’s top infectious disease expert acknowledged "much uncertainty" around the situation however asserted: "Bottom line is, no absolute prediction, but I think we're going to be in good shape."
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Schools concerned about effects of coronavirus on census participation
Officials are concerned that the coronavirus crisis will hinder efforts to ensure a complete count on the U.S. Census, which is used to allocate billions of dollars of federal funding to schools. The U.S. Census Bureau has suspended or delayed parts of its outreach efforts in response to the pandemic, halting field operations and extending the counting deadline from July 31 to August 14. April 1, National Census Day, is a day the agency uses to publicize the count, and, in general, respondents use their home address on that date to determine where they should be counted. However, the effort continues for months, and some federal lawmakers have expressed concern about how the agency will address uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and concerns about person-to-person interactions. Even as schools and community groups work to encourage participation amid unprecedented circumstances, lawmakers have expressed concerns about various populations. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said in a letter that the circumstances may further hinder outreach to Latino communities. Advocates had already predicted some Latino immigrants may fear completing the form because of an ultimately unsuccessful effort by the Trump administration to include a question about citizenship. Elsewhere, the Massachusetts congressional delegation, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, expressed concern that respondents may not know how to report college students who are unexpectedly home because of campus closures, which could have a significant effect on college towns' counts.
AP test to change significantly under coronavirus
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year’s Advanced Placement (AP) test will be like no other, according to new details released Friday by the College Board, the New York-based nonprofit that owns the test. To avoid leaks, the same tests will be given at the same time throughout the nation, from May 11 to May 22. The exams will be taken at home with open books and notes and will last only about 45 minutes, significantly shorter than the standard three- to four-hour duration. The exams can be taken on any device available —computer, tablet or smartphone — or students can write responses by hand and submit a photo via their cellphones. Points will not be earned from content that can be found in textbooks or online, while software will be used to detect a student’s unique identity and style of online interactions, along with plagiarism or similar answers among group s of students. In a survey of 18,000 AP students, 91% said they wanted to take the test and many said studying was their “last vestige of academic normalcy,” having lost their sports seasons, proms, graduation ceremonies and senior-year trips.
States urge DeVos to issue school relief funding
The National Governors Association has urged Betsy DeVos to send more than $30bn allocated in the CARES Act, a $2tn aid package to boost the economy, to schools within the next two weeks. The Education Secretary told states on Monday that they could repurpose existing K-12 education funding to help schools handle the shift to remote learning amid the coronavirus crisis, but has not yet addressed the governors' request. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act includes $30.75bn for an Education Stabilization Fund dedicated to three streams: K-12 schools, higher education and governors, while governors are to receive $3bn directly in "flexible funding" they can distribute toward any education need they want and the rest of the money will go to state education agencies and higher education institutions.
----- STATE NEWS -----
Thousands of California students still without laptops and Wi-Fi for distance learning
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that Google is donating 4,000 Chromebooks to students and free Wi-Fi to 100,000 rural households for a minimum of three months. However, even with the donation, California has a long way to go to equip all students with what they need for remote instruction. An estimated 1.2m students don’t have access to the internet at home in California, according to Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the California State Board of Education. School districts are currently being surveyed to determine how many students need Wi-Fi access and devices and where they will be distributed.
California’s essential workers now eligible for subsidized child care
Nurses, doctors, grocery store workers, police and other essential workers now have access to subsidized child care in California, regardless of their income, due to an executive order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom that makes it easier for preschools, family child care homes, school districts, after-school programs and others to provide the service. The order also allows after-school programs to operate during regular school hours, in schools and other locations, to care for school-age children of essential workers, and allows child care programs to use a new provision of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to feed children in their care. The California Department of Education and the California Department of Social Services are expected to issue new guidelines for how to offer child care safely during the pandemic and how to prioritize children of essential workers this week.
Parents express concerns about kids falling behind at school
Parents across California are more stressed than usual, and school - or lack thereof - is a major source, according to a statewide survey of 1,200 public school parents commissioned by a nonprofit research and advocacy group. Most parents gave their schools and districts credit for short-term crisis planning, but worry about their kids falling behind academically, according to the report from Education Trust-West and Global Strategy Group. According to the poll, 89% of parents are concerned about ensuring their children do not fall behind academically during school closures, and 79% are worried about their children’s mental well-being while at home. The poll showed that 80% of parents said their own stress is higher or much higher than usual, and 49% reported that their children’s stress was higher than usual.
CIF cancels California high school spring sports season
The California Interscholastic Federation has canceled the high school spring sports season. After a meeting with the 10 section commissioners, CIF made the decision to cancel all section, regional and state championship events due to the coronavirus pandemic. “The (CIF) does not see an avenue for the spring sports season to continue,” executive director Ron Nocetti said in a news release. “We understand this is disappointing for everyone involved in education-based athletics and empathize with our student-athletes and all who are impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.” “As difficult a decision this was, we must look out for the well-being of each of our student-athletes, coaches and educators,” L.A. City Section commissioner Vick Lagos said. “Our Section is heartbroken that we will not continue with spring sports. The opportunity for a student-athlete to participate in sports plays a valuable and integral part of their character formation as a teenager and young adult.”
----- DISTRICTS -----
LAUSD provides 5m meals amid pandemic
Los Angeles USD has provided more than 5m meals to children and families since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last month, a third of which have gone to adults, officials said Monday. Superintendent Austin Beutner said grab-and-go food centers that have been set up around the district are continuing to provide meals even as all schools remain empty indefinitely. Beutner said more than a million of the five million meals have been provided to adults “no questions asked”. The district is also providing food to people in temporary homeless shelters across the city. Beutner said LAUSD will donate more than 100,000 masks to 10 local hospitals as well as “provide childcare for children of hospital staff in these extraordinary circumstances.”
Coronavirus could cost San Francisco schools up to $18.9m this year
Revenue losses stemming from the coronavirus pandemic could cost San Francisco USD up to $18.9m, nearly doubling the current year’s expected budget deficit, district officials said Wednesday. “We’ve all been wondering what are the economic impacts of this,” said Meghan Wallace, SFUSD chief financial officer at a virtual budget committee meeting. “A lot of our assumptions have been upended because of this forecast.” The district is planning for a worst-case scenario of a total $41.5m budget deficit for the current fiscal year, which ends in June. Some costs, like utilities for now-shuttered schools, could decrease, but the district has begun looking at ways to cut costs. The Board of Education is expected to discuss an interim budget report for the 2019-2020 school year at its next regular meeting.
----- CLASSROOM -----
How to teach social-emotional learning when students aren't in school
Education Week addresses how to foster socio-emotional skills in students should be a focus for teachers at present, given the upheaval to learning created by school closures. Marc Brackett, a professor at Yale University and the director of its Center for Emotional Intelligence, argues that it is critical to managing anxiety at this time: “Because if you don’t know how to deal with the lack of control of your future, or the feelings of uncertainty that you’re having, your brain is going to stay in a constant fight or flight mode,” he said. “And if our brain is in fight or flight mode, then it’s not in learning mode.” He suggests methods of teaching the appropriate skills remotely, including a method called psychological distancing, that encourages students to stop thinking about themselves and instead ask what they would do to support their friends at a time of crisis. For older students , Karen VanAusdal, the senior director of practice at the Collaborative of Academic and Social Emotional Learning, or CASEL, recommends teachers ask students to examine the social-emotional attributes they’re seeing in leaders right now and to ask students how those qualities, which might include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and responsible decision-making, are helping the country through the crisis.
----- LEGAL -----
Two children sue Google for allegedly collecting students' biometric data
Two children from Illinois are suing Google for allegedly collecting biometric data, including face scans, of millions of students through the search giant's software tools for classrooms. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in a federal court in San Jose, California, is seeking class-action status. Google is using its services to create face templates and "voiceprints" of children, the complaint says, through a program in which the search giant provides school districts across the country with Chromebooks and free access to G Suite for Education apps. Those apps include student versions of Gmail, Calendar and Google Docs. The data collection would likely violate Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, or BIPA, which regulates facial recognition, fingerprinting and other biometric technologies in the state. The practice would also likely run afoul of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, a federal law that requires sites to get parental consent when collecting personal information from users who are under 13 years old.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Teachers underprepared for remote teaching
Ed Surge looks at how teachers are underprepared to adapt to teaching remotely with technology. The 2017 National Educational Technology Plan recommended that, “every new teacher should be prepared to model how to select and use the most appropriate apps and tools to support learning and evaluate these tools against basic privacy and security standards,” however this has not come to fruition. In some teacher preparation programs, pre-service teachers are not provided with any opportunities to engage with technology in meaningful ways. Other programs provide a standalone workshop or course about education technology. As a result, the majority of educators were completely underprepared to design remote learning experiences with technology when states and districts started closing schools for COVID-19.
----- SOCIAL & COMMUNITY -----
LA County education officials call for release of nonviolent offenders in juvenile hall
Los Angeles County education officials have passed a resolution calling for the immediate release of students detained in juvenile halls and camps to protect their health and well-being in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The resolution, which requires court approval under state law, advocates for the release of students currently incarcerated or awaiting trial who are nonviolent offenders, have compromised immune systems or underlying health conditions, are nearing the end of their camp placement and who pose no danger to themselves or others. L.A. County Office of Education Superintendent Debra Duardo said her office is dedicated to providing a model instructional program, but “learning cannot happen in an unsafe or fearful environment — and unfortunately, that is the condition right now in these locked facilities.” She said that following vital hygiene and social distancing directives is extremely difficult at the moment. “Vulnerable youth are at risk of exposure to the coronavirus, and that is not acceptable,” Duardo said.
----- OTHER -----
Keep kids in the same grade this fall, academic asserts
Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, asserts that schools should consider holding students back to repeat the year amid the coronavirus outbreak. Perhaps middle and high school students can overcome these challenges, given their ability to work and read independently, but most low-income, low-performing elementary students will struggle mightily, he says, falling further behind. The decision could impact students’ trajectories for "the rest of their academic careers," Petrilli cautions.
Should kids repeat a grade due to coronavirus?
Following several high-profile examples of April Fools' Day jokes on social media warning that U.S. schoolchildren could be forced to repeat this school year because of coronavirus, Valerie Strauss considers whether the notion has merit after all. While some school districts are managing to successfully deliver lessons online, she acknowledges, many other districts are struggling with distance learning and there are some districts that are not providing instruction at all. Even where districts have put together credible distance learning plans, Strauss adds, there remain inequities in quality and accessibility.
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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