ABCFT YOUnionews for March 25, 2022
SCHOOL BOARD REPORT by Ray Gaer
Tuesday evening the ABC school board held a special study session board meeting to address some of the community concerns about safety. Over the last two weeks, Cerritos High School has had a number of especially concerning student behavior incidents leading up to a student gun incident at Heritage Park and a number of fights on campus in the days following. In the following days, school board president Yoo called for a special board session on safety to take place this week to calm the community of Cerritos and in closed session, the school board would be informed about the legal ramifications for board member's proclamations that would cause a negative impact on school safety.
The ABCFT Leadership has been working closely with district administrators and the ABCFT site representatives from Cerritos High School to help focus all efforts to help our members and their students. We are pleased to report that in a staff meeting on Wednesday the Cerritos High School administrators made a public commitment to providing better communications and additional measures to provide safety protocols that would reassure all stakeholders going forward.
In attendance at the special school board meeting were a large number of concerned parents and community members who were predominantly from the Cerritos High School community. The meeting started with a district presentation that covered the various protocols for behavior management in schools and the number of supporting programs and strategies that schools have implemented to address student behaviors in all ABC schools. Many parents in the audience were reassured by this presentation but there were a number of individuals who made personal attacks towards board members and school officials. However, the school board was steadfast and listened intently to these concerns and in their board reports later that night reflected on these concerns and promised that they would continue to seek solutions that would calm and reassure parents going forward.
One, particularly concerning moment in the meeting, was when school board member Michael Eugenio used his board report as an opportunity to grandstand and pander to the extreme elements in the room. Eugenio used his platform to allude to the firing of the CHS administration, comparing their removal to the way a sports team fires coaches and GMs. It is concerning that a board member would publicly call for personnel changes in a meeting especially when board members do not have the authority to enact these changes. Board members only have the purview to make decisions on the hiring and firing of the superintendent and cabinet members. The political pandering of some of our board members is especially concerning and I hope that in the coming months that ABCFT members will think about becoming COPE (Committee on Political Education)member activists so that we can once again help to elect rational actors that fully support our efforts in schools rather than fan the flames of radical elements in our society. Our school board members need to be models of decorum and patience and the outright lack of respect for the Brown Act that governs all school board meetings is untenable.
Below are some of the highlights of the meeting.
School board president Report Soo Yoo, Administrative Report on discipline, Eugenio’s comment
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 well-being 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.
Hang on everyone, Spring Break is around the corner!
Most of my message for this week centered around my school board report for this week. I wanted to make sure that what is happening at Cerritos High School, which is very important and concerning, was not exaggerated and out of context. The Cerritos High School staff is going through a difficult time but they are being amazing advocates for themselves, their school, and for the students. Working in schools we have a bond of loyalty to our school and the communities we serve and in almost all cases stakeholders will take a challenging time as an opportunity to heal and improve their school. A pox on those who use times of distress as a way to further their political or personal agendas which ultimately hurt our schools and the students we serve.
As Ruben Mancillas constantly tells the ABC Executive Board, when it seems like everyone has stopped being rational actors it is up to us to be the adult in the room. We need modeling of rational behavior norms to come from all levels of our school district. Teachers will all continue to work with our administrators to model to our community and students how to be the adult in the room who behaves rationally and understands there are processes in place that work. This is not the wild west where people can do whatever they want and say whatever they want. Actions and words have consequences and it is up to the adults in the room to ensure that the bad players don’t get away with their unruly behaviors.
The intensity and clustering of these incidents of extreme student behaviors are not isolated and many teachers and administrators throughout the district are reporting that they are experiencing similar circumstances. What is especially concerning for teachers is the uptick of the number of parents and students that are expressing escalating frustration and are not using productive measures to facilitate change and solve problems. This is not all parents but the behavior of a small number of parents and students is definitely having a negative impact on the school climates of our schools. It is unfortunate that these behaviors have become a national trend that provides further barriers to academic success for all students. ABCFT continues to collaborate with district administrators about these escalating behaviors in hopes of encouraging the district to design and implement additional measures and supports for teachers, administrators, and parents to bridge this divide.
Lastly, Congratulations to Cerritos High School on your 50th Anniversary celebration this Saturday! Focus on the positives!
In the meantime, keep pushing forward and Spring Break will be here before you know it.
In YOUnity,
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-----
Survey shows impact on teachers of violence, threats and harassment
One-third of teachers experienced at least one incident of verbal harassment or threat of violence from students during the first full pandemic school year, and 14% were physically attacked, a new survey has found. The study, from a task force of the American Psychological Association (APA), is based on a national sample of almost 15,000 teachers, administrators, school psychologists, and other school staff, like paraprofessionals. “I think one of the things our study is showing is there are very high levels of stress” in schools, said Susan McMahon, the chair of the APA Task Force on Violence Against School Personnel and a professor at DePaul University. “There’s all of these social-emotional issues that interfere with teaching and learning.” Schools, and teacher-preparation programs, should offer more training and support for educators that focuses on social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, cultural sensitivity, de-escalating tense situations, and crisis response training, the APA task force recommends. It also called for more mental health support for both students and educators. And Ms. McMahon said there should be systems and policies in place for educators to report any aggression when it happens. With the staffing shortage, teachers are often waiting a long time for students with behavioral issues to get assessed and receive special services, she said.
----- HOW DO WE ENSURE SAFETY AT SCHOOL - IS THIS THE ANSWER? -----
Springfield School Board approves metal detectors
The Springfield School District 186 board of education, in Illinois, capped a long and contentious debate over metal detectors this week, unanimously approving implementation in the three high schools as well as at Douglas Prep and Lawrence Education Center. Members voted for the purchase of 18 CEIA Opengate units for Lanphier, Southeast and Springfield high schools, plus PMD2 detectors for the alternative schools. The cost was $131,000 for the walk-through detectors, which will be installed by the end of the school year. Another lease proposal would have cost the district a little over $1m. Superintendent Jennifer Gill stressed that it was "a facilities expense," meaning that revenue raised by the 1% sales tax hike approved by Sangamon County voters could be used. The district's five middle schools will be in line for the detectors when construction on those facilities wraps up.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Secretary Cardona reflects on first year in the job
When U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona was confirmed in March 2021, he faced a drastically different K-12 landscape than now; a majority of schools were closed due to COVID-19, administering assessments reliably seemed to many an insurmountable task, and data had just started to confirm worries about widening achievement gaps. A little over a year into his term and with exhaustion creeping into his voice, the 12th secretary of education is now looking at a new set of challenges. Despite being open, a majority of public schools are understaffed, student attendance is down, and assessment participation and results have consistently shown the remaining students are behind in their learning. Outside the classroom and in board meeting rooms, stakeholders continue to be divided over laws increasingly setting boundaries around curriculum materials and classroom discussions. In an interview with K-12 Dive Mr. Cardona discusses these and other issues. "The work is not going to get easier, it's going to get different," he said. "I'm excited about this next chapter. We have an opportunity and responsibility to disrupt systems that didn't work in the past. So while I want to allow educators to catch their breath, because really they've been doing heroic work, especially during Omicron, I really want to make sure that we're shifting now to transformative change, to innovation, to really boldly addressing inequities."
----- STATE NEWS -----
How California school enrollment has changed over time
For two decades, K-12 enrollment in California was stable, hovering at 6.1m-6.2m students, although strong regional variations have always been present. Sharp declines in coastal counties, including the rural north and urban Los Angeles and Orange County, where housing prices outpaced incomes, were balanced by sharp increases inland, as families moved east to bigger lots and cheaper homes. Enrollments rose between 16.6% and 26.2% in “Superior California,” which includes the Sacramento area and its exurbs, the Inland Empire and the northern and southern San Joaquin Valley regions. In 2020-21, the first full year of the pandemic, enrollment fell by 160,000 students statewide, primarily among the youngest students, as parents in many districts didn’t enroll kindergartners and first graders.
California revises new math framework
A group of students work together to solve algebra problems in their textbook during their math class. The decision of whether to offer algebra in eighth grade – and when, how and for whom to accelerate math instruction – is for individual school districts and charter schools to make, the latest draft of the California Mathematics Framework made clear last week. Advocates of the new guidance hope the changes will shift the focus away from criticism that the drafters sought to sacrifice rigor in the name of social justice. The goal, they say, is to make math interesting and relevant to students who have found it inaccessible and impenetrable. “We really see equity as the future for better math learning for all students in California,” said Brian Lindaman, co-faculty director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Instruction at Chico State, and the lead of five authors of the framework. The goals of making math more accessible and high achievement are an artificial dichotomy, he said. “I hope the outcome (of the framework) will be to give schools and districts more latitude to develop math courses and sequences that excite students and help draw more of them into STEM fields or to sophisticated math, no matter what they choose to do in life,” said Pamela Burdman, executive director of Just Equations, a nonprofit that promotes policies that prepare students with quantitative skills to succeed in college.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Sacramento City teachers unions to strike
Sacramento City USD teachers have confirmed they will take strike action from this morning, after attempts on Tuesday evening to reach a bargaining deal with the district fell down. Before and after-school childcare programs that operate at K-6 school sites throughout the district sent messages to families Tuesday night indicating they will be open during "normal hours." As of now, those programs are not providing care during what would be school hours if there is a strike. The unions voted earlier this month to strike "if the district continues to bargain in bad faith" amid demands to address the staffing shortage and COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. Teachers and staff are demanding better benefits and are asking the district to hire more teachers as they face a staffing shortage that they say has left 10,000 students to go without a regular teacher in the classroom every day. The unions say the district is currently short 250 teachers, 100 substitutes and an additional 400 classified staffing positions for jobs such as school bus drivers, custodians and instructional aides. Meanwhile, the union representing Sacramento school principals has put more pressure on the district by releasing a survey showing its members want to take a vote of “no confidence” in Superintendent Jorge Aguilar. In a letter to Aguilar and the Board of Education, United Professional Educators, which represents principals, vice principals and various administrators, said it “had lost confidence in the district’s ability to provide effective leadership.”
Chicago Public Schools eyes earliest fall opening for years
The Chicago Board of Education is poised to set August 22 as the start of the fall semester for Chicago Public Schools students. The board is scheduled to vote on the 2022-23 academic calendar at Wednesday's meeting. CPS said it devised the proposed calendar options with guidance from nearly 200 principals. In soliciting parental input, the district laid out pros and cons for the two choices. School traditionally began the day after Labor Day.
Minneapolis Public Schools still closed amid teacher strike
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) remained closed Monday, with classes canceled for more than 30,000 students for the tenth day. The teacher strike began March 8, with the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) and Education Support Professionals (ESP) seeking "a living wage" for ESPs, smaller class sizes and "safe and stable schools." A post on MPS' website Sunday asserted that district officials had "shared its last, best and final ESP offer with union leaders that underscores the district's commitment to honoring the contribution ESPs make to our schools and students." The offer includes proposed salary increases for ESPs, including increasing starting wages for 85% of them to at least $23 per hour, which the district said would equate to close to $35,000 per year for most full-time ESPs. Wages would increase by 15.6% on average over two years, making them "aligned with MFT, MPS and community value for living wages." The proposal also includes an opportunity for increased work with an investment of $3.5 million to additional hours for ESPs and four additional paid duty days for professional development and collaboration. Separately, classes were canceled for a tenth day Monday at Proviso High School District 209 in Illinois, amid another ongoing teacher strike.
LA teachers union members approve deal on masking
Members of the United Teachers Los Angeles union have voted to ratify a tentative agreement with Los Angeles USD to make indoor masking optional in most educational settings. More than 18,400 of the union’s approximately 35,000 members voted, with 84% voting to ratify the deal. Under the agreement, the indoor masking requirement for students and staff will be lifted Wednesday for staff and students ranging from early transitional kindergarten through 12th grade and also including adult school and work sites without students. All children in district programs who are younger than four, as well as four-year-olds who are not yet in early transitional kindergarten or transitional kindergarten must continue to wear masks, as well as the staff who work with them. Teachers union President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a statement that this masking exception was an important part of the agreement. The deal also includes a commitment to keep in place required weekly coronavirus testing for all staff and students, which costs about $5m per week, through the end of the school year.
----- CLASSROOM -----
Return of in-person teaching brings rise in school test scores
The return to in-person classes this school year has helped students begin to learn again at a normal pace, a new national study shows, though many are still facing setbacks from months of pandemic-disrupted education. Renaissance Learning analyzed benchmarking test results from 4.4m students from kindergarten to 12th grade in reading and 2.9m students in math. The results showed that children are making strides to overcome the challenges of the past two years, though the study echoes others in reporting that progress is weaker among students who haven’t yet learned to read and have only known a pandemic education. Renaissance tracks progress through a metric called student-growth percentile, which is similar to the percentile measurements tracking a child’s weight and height, with 50 marking the typical person. From fall to winter, the median U.S. student-growth percentile in reading was 48 and in math it was 50, both 3 points higher than the growth recorded last school year. To get fully back to pre-pandemic levels, the metric needs to surpass 50 consistently, Renaissance said.
Florida becomes largest state to mandate personal finance education
Florida is officially now the largest U.S. state to mandate a financial literacy course for high school graduation. The new law will apply to students entering ninth grade in the 2023-2024 school year, and require that they take a half-credit course in personal finance before they graduate. Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press event: "This will provide a foundation for the students to learn the basics of money management, understanding debt, understanding how to balance a checkbook, understanding the fundamentals of investing." Florida is the latest in a growing trend of states adopting legislation that includes personal finance education for students. Currently, there are 54 personal finance education bills pending in 26 states, according to Next Gen Personal Finance's bill tracker. At least seven states, now including Florida, require students to take a stand-alone personal finance course to graduate, which the nonprofit considers the gold standard of such education. More than 20 other states include some sort of personal finance education in their curriculum in different ways. A bill proposed in Arizona says a personal finance course can fulfill a math course requirement, while another bill proposed in Tennessee, which already guarantees personal finance courses for high schoolers, would mandate personal finance courses for middle school students too.
----- FINANCE -----
Soaring fuel prices are hurting schools
Exacerbated by Russia's war in Ukraine, soaring fuel prices are already straining school budgets and creating more challenges for school finance administrators. The national average cost of diesel fuel crossed surpassed $5 last week, according to the federal U.S. Energy Information Administration, and many experts fear high prices aren’t likely to drop anytime soon. The nation’s school districts use tens of millions of gallons of diesel each month to send more than 20 million students to and from school on almost half a million buses. The Lincoln school district in Nebraska, for instance, orders 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel every two to three weeks. In late February, the order cost $62,800, or $3.14 per gallon. Last week, the same quantity cost $90,400, or $4.52 per gallon, reveals Liz Standish, the district’s associate superintendent for business affairs. “It’s killing us,” echoes Josh James, chairman of the school board’s budget committee in Campbell County, Tenn., which is paying $5 per gallon of diesel fuel, compared with $2.70 at the start of the year. Some school districts’ contracts with bus companies include a clause that requires the district to split the cost of fuel with the company if fuel prices exceed a certain level. More than a dozen states have proposed temporarily suspending gas taxes, while Richard Woods, the state schools superintendent in Georgia, wants the federal government to explicitly allow school districts to use pandemic relief funds to address the fuel crisis.
----- LEGAL -----
Bill banning transgender girls from school sports vetoed Indiana Gov.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has vetoed a bill that would have barred transgender girls from competing in female sports at schools. In a letter to lawmakers, Gov. Holcomb questioned whether issues of fairness in school sports currently existed in the state, and cautioned that the legislation could be targeted in lawsuits. The debate over whether transgender athletes has become a contentious battle in recent years. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum vetoed a similar bill in April 2021, saying there was no such issue in the state, while Utah Gov. Spencer Cox plans to veto a similar bill passed by the state's legislature this month. On the flipside, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed legislation this month barring transgender girls from competing in female sports, and ten other states, including Texas, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida, have enacted similar restrictions.
----- WORKFORCE ----
Teacher prep programs sound alarm on lower enrollment
As teacher dissatisfaction rates rise and concerns about teacher shortages intensify, colleges of education are sounding the alarm: Enrollment has been steadily declining for the past decade, and the pandemic has likely made things worse. The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)'s latest comprehensive report of the state of teacher preparation, uses the most-recent federal data, which are from the 2018-19 school year, providing a benchmark on the status of teacher preparation before the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic. The downward trend has been consistent. Between the 2008-09 and the 2018-19 academic years, the number of people completing a teacher-education program declined by almost a third. Traditional teacher-preparation programs saw the largest decline, of 35%, but alternative programs experienced drops, too. While pandemic-era national data aren’t yet available, AACTE has surveyed its members in both fall 2020 and fall 2021, and found that in both years, about 20% of institutions reported a decline in new undergraduate enrollment of 11% or more. That mirrors an overall decline in undergraduate enrollment. “I think we’re going to see more and more high school graduates decide that maybe teaching is not the route” they want to take, said Weadé James, the senior director of development and research at AACTE and a co-author of the report.
Georgia Senate passes bill to let some retired teachers return
Some retired Georgia teachers could return to the classroom full time while still collecting state pensions under a bill given final approval Tuesday by the state Senate. Senators voted 50-1 for House Bill 385, sending it to Gov. Brian Kemp to sign into law. The Republican governor proposed the bill last year as part of a package to increase teachers statewide. Under the measure, teachers who have 30 years of service could return to the classroom after at least 12 months of retirement, earning both a full salary and their pension. “This bill benefits the retired teacher, our students, the retirement system, and rural Georgia," said Sen. Russ Goodman, a Cogdell Republican. “This helps school systems fill vacant teaching positions in high need areas with qualified and experienced teachers.” The district would pay the Teachers Retirement System both the normal employer contribution of 19.98% of an employee's salary, plus the 6% contribution that a teacher usually makes. Buster Evans, the pension fund's executive director, said that contribution recognizes that a returning retiree is probably filling a job that would otherwise be held by a teacher contributing to the retirement fund. The bill would be in effect for four years starting July 1st, with the state auditor issuing a report in 2025 about its effectiveness.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Three-quarters of LAUSD voters do not believe every neighborhood has a good school
Seven in 10 voters do not believe that every Los Angeles USD neighborhood has a good school, with an even higher number believing that a digital divide is holding back students from access to full educational opportunity. In the poll of likely voters, commissioned by the nonprofit Great Public Schools Now, 73% said no when asked: “Today, do you think that every neighborhood in Los Angeles has a good K-12 school, or not?” Fourteen percent did not know or declined to answer; 12% said yes. When asked about access to technology for education, 78% said they agreed with this statement: “There is a ‘digital divide’ in Los Angeles — families in underserved communities often pay more for the internet and/or have poor quality internet access, all of which puts their children at a disadvantage at school.” “Voters from all demographic and political backgrounds express serious doubts about the quality of education in Los Angeles,” stated a research memo that accompanied the survey. Ana Ponce, executive director of Great Public Schools Now, said candidates should get the message that education is a voter priority. “This isn’t reflective of the quality or state of our public schools but rather it reflects how voters believe education can contribute to the success of our city,” Ponce said. “We see this as a major opportunity for the next mayor.”
----- OTHER -----
NTA Life Insurance - An ABCFT Sponsor
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 online. 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 online.
Please contact Leann Blaisdell at any time either by phone or email.
562-822-5004
Leann.Blaisdell@horacemann.
Click here to schedule an appointment
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