ABCFT - YOUnionews - January 29, 2021
Calling for Volunteers for AFT Civics Focus Groups for Middle and High School
If you are interested in possibly participating in being a part of a AFT civics focus group for middle schools and high schools. Take a moment to see if this opportunity is something you would be interested in attending.
AFT (American Federation of Teachers ) was awarded a multi year grant to develop professional development and professional learning strategies and tools for civics educators. We need to hold several focus groups - different ones for different grade bands- to hear about civics education in k12, and - current challenges in civics Ed in their district/worksite, planning needs, resource needs and challenges etc. 1.5 hour focus group for MS teachers and 1.5 hour focus group for HS teachers. Gift cards for participants and potential to join national civics design team (design team members are compensated for their time).
Fill out this short form for your contact information if you are interested.
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
The negotiating team has been working with the district while we consider the implications for bargaining given the latest state budget numbers. Governor Newsom unveiled an ambitious reopening plan, “Safe Schools for All”, and yet elements of this plan still require clarification. The statewide goal is to bring back identified groups of students as health conditions permit but there are a number of questions that remain to be answered.
One of our principles when trying to meet these state guidelines is that any return to in-person instruction should continue to be on a voluntary basis. Another key point is that we are asking for access to vaccinations for our members who request them.
The logistical implications would not only impact those cohorts that return to in-person instruction but those who provide services virtually. The hybrid model would necessarily be disruptive to a degree and we are working to make any transition as smooth and as equitable as possible. Realistically, there are going to be a number of families and students who elect not to return even if they are eligible to do so. And the timeline for reopening will be pushed further into the year based on the county health data so I do not anticipate more than a relatively small percentage of students returning to in-person instruction before the end of this year.
Members of the negotiating team recently attended the School Services budget conference which outlined next year’s state budget regarding education funding. We are also in the process of negotiating salary and benefits for this 2020-2021 school year.
Thank you to those who have provided feedback via emails or the YOUnion chat. These comments and ideas help inform us at the bargaining table. The coming weeks will be busy and we are committed to keeping you all updated as we learn any new information.
In Unity,
EQUITY COMMITTEE REPORT
By Esmeralda De Ávila - Niemes Elementary Dual Immersion Teacher
These past months have been ones of introspection and learning. Yet the more I learn the more I understand how much more I need to learn. There are so many biases I hold and act on in my life and in my classroom of which I am completely unaware.
The first step we need to take as educators in an effort to create a Just, Equitable, and Inclusive Education (JEIE) classroom is to pause and reflect. To really look within ourselves and identify some of our biases and our problematic practices. We all have them. When we rush to incorporate multicultural lessons that aren’t fully developed, ideas from Pinterest, lessons bought on Teachers Pay Teachers (without knowing the creator) we may incorporate lessons that are unintentionally problematic. Like using Black History month to teach about slavery and segregation rather than focusing on Black liberation, hope, and joy.
Above all, we need to be authentic. Authentic in our self-analysis and authentic in our love and care for our students. We need to internalize “that our experience is just a different kind of experience and not the norm by which to judge our students” as was stated in Situational Context Education (Brisk, Burgos, Hamerla, 2004). This is especially difficult during times of distance learning when we are literally in students' homes and are learning more about their home lives than we ever have before. When I read What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently “It means that these students want to work, that they see their teachers as partners in the learning process, and that they know the teacher-student relationship is one in which they both have power” Mckamey (2020) I had to stop. After reflecting, I know that I am not always a partner and that I don't always share the power with students. Here is where my JEIE work begins in my classroom with my Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) students.
Question: If you are in the classroom, are you going to incorporate Black History Month? If so, how?
The ABCFT Equity Committee consists of ABC teachers across the district who meet monthly to discuss, advocate, and take action with equity issues within ABC. It’s not too late to join this dynamic group!
Click here to become a members of ABCFT's Equity Committee.
MEMBER BENEFITS - DONORSCHOOSE Webinar
As teachers have been adapting with the challenges of remote learning, there are ways to work with DonorsChoose even if your school is not in-person. Horace Mann is a national sponsor of DonorsChoose, a not-for-profit organization that connects teachers in need of resources with donors who want to help. This webinar will help raise awareness of the new DonorsChoose Distance Learning Projects, created in response to COVID-19. All interested ABCFT members are invited to attend the virtual workshop provided in partnership with NTA Life Insurance to learn how to leverage DonorsChoose during these unprecedented times.
Save the date for DonorsChoose Webinar on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 4:00 PM directly after our weekly YOUnion chat.
TOSA TIDBITS
By Jessica Boles - School Services TOSA
Fedde Community Resource Center
As Kindness Week comes to a close, I wanted to share with you the amazing things that are happening at the Fedde Community Resource Center. First, thank you to everyone who donated blankets and socks during our drive this past week. The School Services Team was blown away by your kindness and generosity.
The Fedde Community Center is located at Fedde Middle School in Hawaiian Gardens. The center provides resources to families in need within the ABC community. Our goal at the center is to make sure all of our students, from our infant program to our high school seniors are given the resources they need to live a happy and healthy life.
As you can imagine, many of our ABC families have been hit hard by the current pandemic. Some parents have lost jobs while others have had their hours cut significantly. The loss of income has made it difficult for families to put food on the table, pay their rent and utilities or buy everyday hygiene items. The goal of the community center is to provide these families with the tangible resources they need so they can focus on paying rent and buying groceries. So far this year, we have hosted a diaper drive-thru, clothing give-away, and gave away hundreds of toys during the Holidays.
Through generous donations from teachers, staff, and community partners, the Fedde Community Resource Center is able to provide diapers, wipes, car seats, pack n plays, strollers, baby clothing, formula, children’s clothing, toys, shoes, hygiene items, teen clothing, blankets, socks, laundry items, quarters for laundry and grocery gift cards.
The community center is available to all ABC students and their families. If you know of an ABC family in need, please contact your school’s Mental Health Professional (MHP). The MHP will then fill out a form to request items on behalf of the family.
If you would like more information on the Fedde Community Center, please contact Jessica at Jessica.boles@abcusd.us
MEMBER ONLY RESOURCES
Wellness Wednesdays
it's time to blow off some steam, get our sweat and Zen on, and reclaim our Wednesdays for our minds and our bodies. And so, back by popular demand, we are restarting AFT Share My Lesson’s free Wellness Wednesday Webinar series.
Starting on Jan. 27, we’ll kick off our Wellness Wednesday series with an aerobics class from AFT member Susan Lafond at 5:30 p.m. EST.
We’re very excited to share that AFT director of healthcare Kelly Trautner, who has been essential in leading AFT’s COVID-19 efforts, will also conduct two sessions on yoga and meditation.
Be on the lookout for more sessions to be added. And remember, if you can’t join the session live, register anyway to get the link to access it later on-demand.
Join us. It’s free. It’s fun. It’s us. Together.
MEMBER BENEFITS - WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS
Maintaining our mental health and well-being is important for all of us. ABCFT will be offering Wellness Wednesdays from 3:00 to 3:30 pm members will have an opportunity to virtually participate in Guided Meditation and Chair Yoga. These weekly sessions will give members a chance to practice self-care.
In partnership with Kaiser Permanente, you can also access mindfulness resources for all ABCFT members. For Kaiser members, you have free access to the app Calm and myStrength which offers personalized self-care programs based on the cognitive behavioral therapy model. Please be kind to yourself and find time in your busy schedule to take care of yourself.
This week, Donna focuses on the ways to cultivate authenticity by bringing awareness of our self-compassion and how to let go of having to be productive all hours of the day. A good way to practice gratefulness is to start each morning with these three sentence starters:
I am going to focus on_____________. I am going to be grateful for ___________. I am letting go of __________.
ABCFT PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Ray Gaer
Communication is a union’s most important tool for advocating for its members at the bargaining table. Every conversation with the membership is focused on the end result of negotiating for the future prosperity and wellbeing of ABCFT members. This weekly report aims to keep the membership informed about issues that impact their working/learning conditions and their mental well-being. Together we make the YOUnion.
It’s noon Friday. The ABCFT Negotiating Team has been bargaining all week and we are close to having completed the language for MOU #1 that will provide the opportunity for ABC to grab additional funding which could be used for a number of good uses to support teachers and students in the next eleven months including pay, extra school days, student supports, safety etc.
The final negotiating session for this week starts in an hour. As I’ve outlined in the YOUnion Chats on Tuesday this is a two part negotiation. MOU #1 cannot be implemented unless we take a vote to approve MOU#2 which will have compensation elements for all members to consider. If MOU #2 (which will be negotiated in February) is passed then ABC moves forward with a plan for possible reopening of schools with a focus on safety and choice for all stakeholders. We will have updates as that time for MOU#2 becomes a reality.
At this moment I’m writing the YOUnionew article, texting with the negotiating team, attending a CFT presidents conference, taking calls from board members and doing my best to keep you all in the loop. Let me state for the record that I’m not complaining, I love crazy, but I’m just letting you know its a special type of crazy we are all dealing with daily.
If you cannot make the YOUnion Chats on Tuesday than I encourage you to talk with those who do so that you can hear about the important discussions we are having there every week. The YOUnion Chats are a direct way for members to have a voice at the bargaining table and myself and the entire ABCFT leadership appreciate your input. Your voice gives us our marching orders on how to proceed and let us know what is important to you. For example, two lines in the sand are vaccines and being voluntary. We have to have that language to make it right.
Anyway, more information to come next week. Have a good weekend and I look forward to seeing you at the YOUnion Chat if you can make it.
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-----
Hurdles to overcome before schools can reopen
Although there is a consensus among parents, teachers, administrators and health officials that bringing students back to school for in-person learning is important, agreement on how to so safely and equitably is less apparent. In some systems, including Chicago, the District of Columbia, and Montclair, New Jersey, disagreements with teacher representatives are being blamed for slowing or halting plans to return to campuses. Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, which has teacher union affiliates in 14,000 communities, said two broad categories of needs and disputes have emerged related to the reopening of school campuses. One includes processes like how to ensure school districts develop effective reopening plans that include all school employees at the table, the workforce implications of COVID-19 response strategies, and ways to ensure COVID-19 plans and actions integrate atte ntion to racial and social equity. The other involves technical concerns, like ventilation strategies to mitigate COVID-19, how to ensure that disinfection plans are tailored to the needs of the situation without over reliance on dangerous chemicals, and how to integrate COVID-19 issues like testing, contact tracing, leave, and vaccination into plans for safe, equitable in-person learning. One strategy that NEA shares with the American Federation of Teachers, along with organizations such as AASA, The School Superintendents Association, the National School Boards Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, is the need to collaborate on mutual goals to support students. The coalition recommends school communities form working groups consisting of representatives for parents, administrators, teachers, school board members and community members to address: health and safety; teaching and learning; operations; equity; and social-emotional supports.
----- VACCINES -----
Inconsistent vaccine supply complicate teacher inoculations
An unpredictable vaccine supply and lack of statewide coordination has school districts across California struggling to figure out how to vaccinate their teachers and other school staff. After health care workers and staff at long-term care facilities, teachers and other school employees are included in the next phase (Phase 1B) of the state’s vaccine rollout. But when they actually get vaccinated will depend on how many doses come into the state and are made available in each county, if there are sites to distribute vaccines and whether their counties have finished vaccinating health care workers and nursing home residents in Phase 1A of California’s roll out plan. Complicating the timeline for school reopenings is the time it takes for the vaccine to fully protect staff from the virus. To be fully vaccinated, each person must get an initial vaccination and then a booster shot three to four w eeks later. Recipients are expected to be fully protected by the vaccine a week after the last vaccination.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Education Secretary on President's promise to reopen schools
Miguel Cardona, President Joe Biden’s selection to head up the Department of Education, says the pledge from the White House to re-open most K-12 schools within the new administration’s first 100 days represents “strong leadership”. With Biden's COVID-19 plan, Cardona said, school leaders can expect "consistency in messaging," and a national strategy that can inform and drive local efforts. He said one of the most important lessons he had learned in his role as Connecticut’s state commissioner of education is that decisions around closing and reopening should be made in "very close partnership" with local health officials. "At the national level, that's critically important that we work with CDC, that we work with Health and Human Services to make sure that the decisions that are being made around schools are in line with what we know [can] protect people," Mr Cardona said. The Biden Education Department's primary role in the pandemic would therefore be as a communicator of best practices, rather than as a top-down enforcer.
San Diego Superintendent critics call for Biden to rescind nomination
The recent announcement of San Diego USD Superintendent Cindy Marten as the next deputy U.S. Education Secretary has been criticized by some local parents, community members and the NAACP San Diego, who say that she has not reduced racial disparities in schools for black and Latino children, adding that her failure to reopen schools for 98% of the district’s students has caused them to fall behind. Parents say distance learning has exacerbated inequities because it often leaves much of the teaching and supervision of children to parents, hurting families that have essential workers or are otherwise not able to help children learn at home. Many students also lack a suitable home environment for learning, and some students, particularly those with disabilities, can’t learn effectively online or through Zoom. Others say that, even before the pandemic, Marten failed to provide equity for all children, particularly for black students. “Someone at the level of deputy secretary should have a long track record of success within education for all students, for providing equity for all students,” said Katrina Hamilton, education chair for NAACP San Diego. “And while we have folks who are saying that [Marten] has 31 years of equity, where is that track record?”
Biden signs executive order to boost food benefits for children
An executive order signed by President Joe Biden on Friday aims to address food insecurity caused by the pandemic by extending a benefit to a federal nutrition program and focusing resources on children who have missed meals due to closed schools over the last several months. It directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to consider issuing new guidance to allow states to increase emergency benefits under the Supple
Pandemic teacher shortages compromise in-person schooling
Across the country, state education and district officials say the pandemic has intensified a longstanding teacher shortage to crisis levels. Spikes in virus infections and exposures have forced more educators to stay home, causing schools and districts to shut down in-person instruction. “It’s just such a ripple effect,” said Laura Penman, the superintendent of Eminence Community Schools in rural Indiana. The district had to briefly close its only elementary school in November because a single infected educator had come into contact with multiple colleagues. There were not enough substitutes or staff members to fill in. “Teacher shortages can make a whole school go virtual,” she said. Education researchers said the pandemic teaching shortage would likely intensify learning disparities, especially in high-poverty schools where experienced substitutes often choose not to work. “It’s a disaster. Those kids who have already got the worst of COVID and its consequences are the ones who are going to face a larger lack of sufficient, and sufficiently qualified, teachers,” said Emma Garcia, an education economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington. “It’s going to have negative consequences immediately and it’s going to take them longer to be able to catch up.”
mental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that Congress has approved but have not been made available to those in need due to the pandemic. It also asks the USDA to issue guidance increasing Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) payments by 15% in order to “increase access to nutritious food for millions of children missing meals due to school closures.” In a speech discussing the executive order, Biden said it would provide critical support to families that “can ’t provide meals for their kids who are learning remotely at home [and] are not receiving the regular meal plans that they have at school for breakfast or lunch.”
----- STATE NEWS -----
California schools report fewer homeless students
After years of steadily rising numbers of homeless youth in California, schools saw a significant drop during the last school year in the official tally of homeless students, leading some advocates to warn that thousands of students may have gone uncounted during the pandemic and are not receiving services they need. In 2019-20, the state’s schools reported that a total of 194,709 students lived at least part of the year on the street, in cars, shelters, motels or “doubled up” with other families in houses or apartments, a 6.2% drop from the previous year. Advocates say that this year, given the impact of the pandemic, the number of students experiencing homelessness should be higher than the previous year. “All of us are worried,” said Gary Painter, director of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern California. “It’s hard to spec ulate, but we do know that barriers for low-income households have multiplied. What I worry about is that we’ll have an even larger undercount than before.” Monterey County Superintendent of Schools Deneen Guss said that homeless students have been a priority in the county for several years, based on the growing numbers she has seen. “We do whatever it takes,” Guss said. “Why? Because no child should have to come to school acting like things are normal, when they’re not normal. If we can identify these students, there’s a lot we can do to help families get the services they need.”
Lack of supplies, coordination complicate teacher vaccinations
An unpredictable vaccine supply and lack of statewide coordination has school districts across California struggling to figure out how and when to vaccinate their teachers and other school staff. Interviews with county schools chiefs and district leaders indicate wide disparities in how far along school districts in different parts of the state are in vaccinating school staff. More than 1,000 Bay Area school workers have received the vaccine in recent days; however, it could be weeks or months before additional teachers and staff get the shots, with the state now rethinking who should get them first. In Marin County, health director Dr. Matt Willis has said there is not enough to go around, and so will not be making new appointments for those in the education sector. “The states don’t have perfect visibility into the volume of supply they’re getting,” said Los Angeles USD</ strong> Superintendent Austin Beutner last week, alluding to some of the challenges facing California. “And, at the same time, they’re still trying to make sure the rules for distribution take into account fairness, the impact on society, the health risk to individuals. That’s a complicated Rubik’s Cube to solve.” In other pandemic news, Gov. Gavin Newsom has lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state Monday in response to improving coronavirus conditions, returning the state to a system of county-by-county restrictions. The change will allow businesses such as restaurants to resume outdoor operations in many areas, though local officials could choose to continue stricter rules. The state is also lifting a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
EdSource San Francisco Chronicle Los Angeles Times CBS News
California grappling with diversity in ethnic studies for high schools
The California Department of Education is finalizing a model ethnic studies curriculum designed to teach students in public high schools about the history, culture and contributions to American society of historically marginalized people. Developing the model has taken five years, with two previous drafts criticized in thousands of comments from groups ranging from Sikhs to Korean Americans saying they were underrepresented or mischaracterized. Public comments on the third and final draft closed Thursday. The draft curriculum focuses on four foundational disciplines: African American, Chicano and Latinx, Native American and Asian American ethnic studies. An appendix contains lesson plans and other resources for many more ethnicities. The State Board of Education is required by law to adopt an ethnic studies curriculum by March 31st.
----- DISTRICTS -----
LA schools could be used as COVID vaccine centers
Support is growing for a plan to use Los Angeles County schools to distribute the coronavirus vaccine. On Tuesday, supervisors endorsed the use of schools as vaccine centers, as the campuses are trusted neighborhood hubs in communities that are being hit hard by infections, including Pacoima, San Fernando, South Los Angeles and the Eastside. Los Angeles USD says it has 12 school-based health clinics that are staffed with nurses who are already trained to give vaccinations and are ready to provide coronavirus vaccines. This week, vaccines are being administered at 189 sites, including clinics, hospitals and pharmacies, in L.A. County, which is only about half of the 350 healthcare providers that have registered with the county to serve as vaccination sites.
Pajaro Valley fires superintendent
The Pajaro Valley USD Board of Trustees has fired Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez, following a closed-session meeting on Wednesday that delayed the beginning of the public session by more than two hours. The decision came after a 4-3 vote; the reasons behind Ms Rodriguez’ removal have not been disclosed. The trustees will convene for a special meeting on January 29 appoint an interim superintendent.
----- CLASSROOM -----
U.S. students slip in math, science scores
In both math and science, the divide between the nation’s highest- and lowest-performing 8th graders continues to widen on national and international tests. The 2019 Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) database, which has just been made public, shows that the U.S. remains in the top quarter of countries in both math and science in grades 4 and 8, with most students proving capable of understanding and applying basic concepts in the subjects. However, U.S. students’ average performance has flattened since the test was last given in 2015. On average, U.S. 4th graders met intermediate benchmarks in math (535) and science (515). However, the math score was a significant drop of four scale points since 2015. Likewise, 8th graders scored on average at the intermediate level in math (515) and science (522), meaning they showed some understanding of biology and physical science and could apply basic math concepts. The data, gathered before the pandemic, suggests nation has lost all the ground it had previously made in ensuring all students had at least “some basic knowledge” in math and science. In 2019, 7% of 4th graders didn’t meet this lowest performance level in math and 6% failed to do so in science. Similarly, 12% of U.S. 8th graders didn’t meet this lowest achievement level in science and 13% lacked basic understanding of whole numbers and graphs in math.
----- FINANCE -----
School enrollment declines threaten lasting financial damage
Low enrollment numbers could be permanent in some areas where students are moving beyond school borders, cornering districts into difficult fiscal decisions. Education finance expert Marguerite Roza, in a webinar hosted by the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, warned that districts typically react to enrollment-related funding losses by delaying budget cuts, which depletes reserves and causes more financial strain later. Most also resisted closing schools even when declines persisted and many will likely delay similar decisions this time around. Historically, even a 1% enrollment loss is "financially destabilizing for districts," she added. To stave off funding destabilization, some states have developed or are considering alternative enrollment options; in Kansas, for example, districts are being allowed to choose between reporting this year's or 2020's enrollment, while Colorado is allowin g them to calculate enrollment based on a multi-year average.
----- LEGAL -----
High court declines appeals from teachers seeking union-fee refunds
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up appeals from teachers and other public employees who do not belong to their unions and sought to pursue refunds for years of collective-bargaining fees after the high court’s landmark 2018 decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31. barring the collection of such fees. The court’s decision on Monday, while not a ruling on the merits of the cases, was a practical victory for the teachers’ unions and other public-employee labor organizations, who faced millions of dollars in financial liabilities if the objecting employees’ claims were revived.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Schools can 'take lead' in vaccine push
Susan Enfield, superintendent of Highline Public Schools near Seattle, Anthony Hamlet, superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools and Darryl Williams, superintendent of Baltimore County, Md. Public Schools, argue that "historical precedent and common sense" dictate that schools are critical links in the healthcare delivery chain as the nation works together to deliver the country from the pandemic. "Looking ahead, we take seriously our responsibility as community leaders to be part of a grand national solution during one of the most trying times ever in America. Further, we take seriously our obligation as professional educators to lead by example and show our kids what’s possible, in otherwise bleak times, when we all work together to achieve a greater good," they write.
How the nation’s school districts have adapted to COVID
With little firm guidance from the federal government, the nation’s 13,000 districts have largely been pushed to come up with their own standards for when it is safe to open schools and what virus mitigation measures to use. Those decisions have often been based as much on politics as on public health data. The New York Times profiles seven districts across the country, examining how each responded in differing ways to the challenges of educating children in the pandemic: from Roosevelt ISD in west Texas, which made the decision to require all students to return to school in person to combat a wave of academic failures, to Los Angeles USD, which has operated remotely all fall, and is likely to for the foreseeable future due to the city’s high rate of virus transmission.
Schools working to address mental health issues
With COVID-19 increasingly impacting the mental well-being of students and school staff across the nation, Kara Arundel explores how administrators and school psychologists are assessing their approaches and planning for more supports where needed. The spectrum of pandemic-related trauma — from illnesses, social isolation, financial hardships and more — can be an overwhelming responsibility for school leaders, she asserts, and a Gallup poll conducted last summer showed nearly 30% of respondents said their child was "already experiencing harm" to their emotional or mental health because of social distancing and school closures. Additionally, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showed mental health-related emergency visits for children ages five to 11 increased by 24% between April and October 2020, compared to the year before. Emergency visits for children ages 12-17 increased by 31%. To combat rising concerns, the Cobb County School District in Marietta, Georgia, for example, has created a Virtual Calming Center with links to support hotlines, relaxation exercises and animal webcams to help students. Additionally, CASEL, or The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, along with several contributors, has emphasized the importance of student-family-school communication and connections in a school reopening guidance document.
----- OTHER -----
National Teacher of the Year finalists announced
The Council of Chief State Schools Officers has named this year’s finalists for the title of National Teacher of the Year, in recognition of their work challenging injustices both in their school communities and on a national level. This year’s contenders are: John Arthur, a 6th grade teacher in Salt Lake City, Utah; Alejandro Diasgranados, a 4th and 5th grade teacher in Washington, D.C.; Maureen Stover, a 9th and 10th grade science teacher in Fayetteville, North Carolina.; and Juliana Urtubey, an elementary special education teacher in Las Vegas. The finalists were selected from a pool of 49 state teachers of the year who hail from 44 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and U.S. territories. Six states, Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and Pennsylvania, and Guam didn’t name a 2021 state teacher of the year due to the pandemic. A selecti on committee, made up of representatives from 16 education groups, chose the finalists based on their written applications, and will pick a national winner based on virtual interviews this spring.
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.
To All Members of the ABC Federation of Teachers,
National Teacher Associates (NTA) is committed in our efforts to helping educators through tough times. It’s what we do. After all…in our eyes you are the heart and soul of our communities.
Protecting you and your families has been our goal for over 45 years. Despite the current global pandemic, we are not about to slow down now. We know that many of you have had our programs for years and sometimes forget the intricacies of how they work. NTA wants to help facilitate any possible claims for now and in the future. Fortunately, all claims and reviews can be done by phone and on-line. I personally want to offer my services to guide you in the right direction with your NTA benefits.
We also apologize for not being able to finish the open enrollment for those of you who wanted to get our protection. We are still able to help by extending our enrollment window for the near future. Again, this can be done over the phone, email, or on-line.
Please contact Leann Blaisdell at any time either by phone or email.
562-822-5004
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