ABCFT CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY
REGISTRATION CLOSES SOON
ABCFT became the bargaining agent for ABC teachers and nurses in 1972. We are recognizing this significant milestone by celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ABC Federation of Teachers. All ABCFT current members and retirees are invited to this special event. The evening will include a delicious selection of hors d'oeuvres. Bring your best dance moves for the D.J. as we boogie the night away! There's also a chance to win a special gift in the raffle drawing and a no-host bar.
WHO: ABCFT members current and retired
WHEN: Friday, September 30, 2022, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Holiday Inn 7000 Beach Blvd. Buena Park, CA 90620
COST: $20.00 per member/retiree
Space is limited to ABCFT members and retirees. First come, first serve.
Register and send payment by September 19th 26th.
Click here to register then Click here for payment
KEEPING YOU INFORMED- Professional Duty By Tanya Golden
This year, teachers and students are navigating another new school year and trying to find their way back to some kind of normalcy. The workload demands for teachers and nurses have always been heavy but the last few years have increased those demands tremendously. These shifts have left teachers and nurses to reevaluate and prioritize which work gets completed and by when.
Recently, the union office has received emails, phone calls and texts concerning what work teachers are expected to complete as a part of their professional duty. Contractually, the dates, days, and hours teachers and nurses work are negotiated and clearly delineated within our master contract or district calendar. In previous YOUnionews, Chief Negotiator, Ruben Mancillas have addressed how to manage short term independent contracts (STIS) and the annual state mandated training. But what about all the other work that is being asked but not specifically stated in the contract? Contractually, your administrator can direct your work and we would need to but must give you time to complete said work within your duty day. And this needs to be within a reasonable context as well. If you are asked to do something in addition to your regular duties a follow up question should be, “what is being removed or reduced to accommodate these new responsibilities?” A balance needs to be maintained as opposed to an ever expanding list of expectations without accompanying resources and support being provided.
Two exceptions to this are staff meetings and adjunct duty. Although secondary schools do not have specific contract language concerning staff meetings a part of their professional duty is to attend the weekly staff meetings which is the same expectation of child development and elementary teachers. We are contractually bound by adjunct duties but there is protective language to ensure the duties are allocated in a fair and equitable manner based on the time involved in each duty. Reach out to your site/program union representative if you have questions about the adjunct duty process. Working through site/program issues with administrators is one of the roles of the site representative. In turn, ABCFT leadership supports members and union reps by working behind the scenes with district and site administrators to prevent and solve work-related issues.
We are scheduled to return to the negotiations table later this month to work on master contract language. We will continue to negotiate language to protect members.
MEMBER-ONLY RESOURCES
Hispanic Heritage Month
History. Music. Literature. Civil Rights. Culture. This curated collection of 110 free lesson plans, activities and resources has what you need to teach your students.
Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with these free activities, lesson plans and resources highlighting the contributions of the Hispanic world to history, music, art, literature and more. Check out sample resources below, then begin your lesson planning here.
ACADEMIC SERVICES UPDATE
This month’s academic service update is vital for all teachers. We hope that you will take a moment to look at this monthly report which discusses changes in academic services. This document provides the union with a means of giving the District feedback on the many programs or changes they are proposing at any one time. Without your feedback or questions on these changes, it is harder for ABCFT to slow down and modify the district’s neverending roll out of new projects. Please submit your comments and questions to the appropriate ABCFT liaison.
For Elementary curricular issues please email Kelley at Kelley.Forsythe@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
For Secondary curricular issues please email Catherine at Catherine.Pascual@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
Click Here For This Month’s Full Report
ABCFT PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Ray Gaer
Consistent and regular communication is a union’s most important tool for advocating for its members at the bargaining table. Every conversation with members is focused on the end result of negotiating for the future prosperity and well-being of ALL ABCFT members. The goal of this weekly report is to keep members informed about issues that impact their working/learning conditions and their mental well-being. Our work as a Union is a larger conversation, and together we make the YOUnion.
Last week, I met with the staff of Carver Elementary as part of a tour with the CFT President, Jeff Frietas, during his visit to ABC as part of his back-to-school tour. First, let me provide some clarification about last week’s President Report. As sometimes happens in my attempt to update members about the state of education in ABC and throughout the state of California and the nation, the message unintentionally causes concerns. My messages are never meant to denigrate the integrity of a school, its staff, or its administrators. When I write, I sometimes use broad strokes and generalize my comments about the educational climate or conditions.
My apologies to the staff of Carver if I misrepresented your school; that was not my intention. For example, the staff of Carver gets eighty minutes of planning time throughout the week, which is above the 30 minutes contractual minimum. One of the reasons that we visited Carver was because there have been significant changes in the school's climate and student support structures, and the Carver staff is working hard to implement changes with the support of their administrator Deborah Berlyn. In my article, it could have been concluded that this was not what was happening at Carver. However, our latest member survey of primary teachers shows that over 25% of all primary teachers get the minimum 30 minutes of planning time in ABC. In our current negotiations with the District, ABCFT is fighting to increase planning minutes for all elementary teachers and discussing the necessity for planning opportunities at the secondary level.
Every school and program in ABC is making positive strides after last year's monumental effort to tread water. It is always great to hear ideas that are happening across the district. I asked the Carver Elementary TOSA, Ka Yang, to offer a few highlights of what’s happening at Carver.
Carver is committed to real, data-driven student achievement. We have implemented the following to achieve this goal:
School-wide data is organized and collected in a streamlined platform for all teachers
The bulk of our staff meetings is devoted to staff development.
Our school-wide intervention system services K-6 students
Our staff provides cross-grade level intervention to address the needs of all students.
Our staff reflects on the efficacy of programs to decide on the course of action
Thank you Carver teachers, for sharing what’s happening at your school.
I’m a little under the weather, so I’m going to cut this one short, but I look forward to seeing you next week at the YOUnion Chat. Have a good weekend!
In YOUnity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Public Health Leaders End Weekly Testing Requirements for Workers
SACRAMENTO – To better align state COVID-19 guidance with the most current federal recommendations, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is ending COVID-19 policies that required weekly COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated individuals in high-risk workplaces and schools. Health care facilities, other congregate settings and schools will no longer be required to administer weekly COVID-19 testing of unvaccinated and under vaccinated workers.
The state’s vaccination requirements for employees in these work settings remain in effect. In addition, changes to policies regarding state workers will be announced separately by CalHR.
“We’ve entered a phase of the pandemic where the majority of people in these workplace settings are vaccinated, and our youngest Californians are now eligible for vaccination too, which protects all of our communities against severe illness, hospitalization and death,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón. “While unvaccinated individuals remain at greatest risk of serious health consequences from COVID-19 infection, weekly testing of unvaccinated groups is no longer slowing the spread as it did earlier in the pandemic due to the more infectious Omicron variants.”
State public health leaders urge all individuals to stay up-to-date on the COVID-19 vaccine to protect themselves from severe illness and slow the spread of the virus. As Omicron variants keep emerging, the updated booster is an important tool against severe illnesses, hospitalization, long COVID, and death. California expects to receive more than 1 million doses of the updated booster and will have ample supply to meet demand.
While weekly testing requirements are ending, employers and schools are encouraged to continue providing testing resources to staff and students to slow the spread of COVID-19 in all communities. Vaccination and testing are two key measures that help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, as is masking and improving indoor ventilation.
The state has distributed another round of 10 million at-home tests to K-12 schools and continues to support additional testing resources for schools as well as school and community testing sites, some of which offer COVID-19 treatments.
The state public health officer orders being amended to reflect testing changes include:
7/26/21 Health Care Worker Protections in High-Risk Settings
2/22/22 Adult Care Facilities and Direct Care Worker Vaccine Requirement
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-----
Free online tutoring now available to Californians
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced that every Californian can now access free online tutoring available 24/7 through a new initiative offering homework help in every K-12 subject and skill-building resources for adult learners. Newsom also announced $254m in grants to public libraries in 172 cities across 34 counties to renovate and improve facilities across the state. This is the first round of the California State Library’s $439m Building Forward Library Improvement Grant Program – the largest investment in public library infrastructure in the state's history. Real-time homework assistance can now be accessed 24/7 here and on the websites of any of the 1,130 local public libraries around the state – click on the “HelpNow” link to reach a one-on-one tutor. The pilot program led by the State Library offers assistance in Math, Language Arts, and other core K-12 subjects in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. There’s no age limit to who can use the service. Adult learners can also access writing assistance, citizenship resources and other tools.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Nearly 10% of U.S. schools now use solar power
Thousands of schools across the U.S. are beginning to make the switch to solar power, generating significant cost savings and helping them meet their hefty energy needs, a new report has found. Nonprofit Generation180 says that more than 8,400 public and private schools serving 6m students are now using solar power. California, New Jersey, Arizona, Massachusetts and Illinois led the country for solar capacity at schools. If all U.S. K-12 schools were to be fully powered by solar, these buildings could offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated annually by 16 coal-fired power plants, the report found. Installing solar panels in schools also provides students with hands-on STEM learning opportunities, as well as training for potential careers in the industry, the authors noted.
Districts direct federal funding into teacher recruitment and retention
More school districts are using their federal teacher-quality funding to pay for efforts to hire and retain educators, a new report shows. The U.S. Department of Education recently released its 2020-21 report of state and district use of $2.1bn in federal funds through Title II-A, the second-largest grant program in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The funding provides money to districts and states for almost any activity to improve quality and effectiveness of their educators, including teachers, principals, and other school leaders. The Department also announced 22 awards, totaling $24.8m, through the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program, the only federal program that directly funds teacher preparation programs at universities, states, and nonprofits. This year, the department expressed interest in applicants with “grow your own” programs, which work to bring new educators into the profession by recruiting members of the community. The Three Rivers Education Foundation, an education nonprofit based in Farmington, New Mexico, received the highest grant award at $2.16m, followed by the Center for Strategic Leadership and Organizational Coherence, an education nonprofit based in Massachusetts that received $2m, and DePaul University in Chicago, which received $1.37m.
USDA announces $2bn in funding for food banks and school meal programs
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Wednesday that it will provide nearly $2b for food banks and school meal programs to purchase American-grown foods. The breakdown will mean about $1bn for emergency food providers and almost half a billion dollars for school lunch and breakfast programs, with another half a billion dollars going toward expanding an existing Local Food Purchase Assistance program. The program is aimed at combating hunger and boosting American producers as they deal with supply chain issues and high food costs. “Funding these initiatives is paramount in the fight against hunger, and further demonstrates the Biden-Harris Administration and USDA’s commitment to strengthen food and nutrition security,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
U.S. Gov. to release funds to support parents of children with disabilities
The U.S. Department of Education has announced an additional $2.15m investment in centers that serve a critical role for parents and families of students with disabilities across the nation. These supplemental grants to Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) ensure that all families have the information and training they need to participate effectively in helping their children and navigating the special education system. With the goal of supporting parents of the more than 7m children with disabilities of all ages, from birth through age 26, parent center programs began as a single experimental center more than 45 years ago and have grown into a robust technical assistance program that directs more than $30m in fiscal year 2023 across the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US territories. "Parents are critical partners in our school communities, " said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. "With these new grant funds, the Department of Education is continuing our strong support of the essential partnership between parents of students with disabilities and local schools. Parents, families, and caregivers must be equipped with the quality information they need to advocate for their child and deeply engage in their child’s education. That is truer now more than ever, especially as we know the pandemic impacted students with disabilities in profound ways. These funds will help to ensure students with disabilities are on the road to success. "
----- STATE NEWS -----
California school groups urge veto of bill to remove lead in school water
A2017 state law led schools across California to have their faucets tested for lead in a program to reduce lead in school drinking water. Now, a new bill that proposes to remove lead from schools and state buildings, awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, now faces opposition from school groups. Authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, on behalf of the California State Pipe Trades Council, Senate Bill 1144 would require school districts to write a water efficiency and quality report determining lead levels in every building and replace or install filters on every fixture with high levels of lead. Districts could have to replace lead pipes in buildings, if the state dedicates funding to do so. A letter opposing the bill, signed by groups including the California Association of School Business Officials, the California School Boards Association and Los Angeles USD, claims the bill would create an expensive unfunded mandate potentially costing hundreds of millions of dollars and a costly, complicated new program that “failed to identify a persistent problem in schools” it would solve. Gov. Newsom has until the end of September to decide to sign, veto or let SB 1144 become law without his signature.
Other states likely to follow California’s lead on school start times
California middle and high schools began the academic day later this year, implementing a state law other states are now considering. New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and the Virgin Islands legislators are already now considering mandated school start time changes. After long-standing research showed the negative impact of early classes on teens’ health, California’s district middle schools will start no earlier than 8 am; and high schools will start no later than 8:30 am. Rural district schools are exempted from the state mandate. Troy Flint, chief information officer of the California School Boards Association, which represents about 900 schools districts and county offices of education in California, did not oppose the law to change school start times “in concept,” but wasn't happy with the "universal mandate which required every school district to adopt the law regardless of individual situation.”
----- DISTRICTS -----
L.A. student scores underline pandemic setbacks
L.A. Unified test scores released Friday underline the harsh reality of the pandemic’s effects on learning across all grade levels, with about 72% of students not meeting state standards in math and about 58% not meeting standards in English. The results of the state’s 2022 Smarter Balanced assessments in L.A. Unified reflect a five-point increase in the percentage of students who don’t meet math standards and a two-percentage-point increase for English language arts, when compared with the 2018-19 pre-pandemic academic year. About 81% of 11th-graders did not meet grade-level standards in math. About 83% of Black students, 78% of Latino students and 77% of economically disadvantaged students did not meet the math standards. Girls saw some of the biggest declines in performance, with nearly 73% were not meeting math standards in 2022 compared with 67% before the pandemic. The scores show that about five years of gradual academic progress in the nation’s second-largest school district have been reversed, L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho lamented. “This is a regression that merits deep, deep analysis and research.”
----- CLASSROOM -----
Are two teachers better than one?
A study of test scores for students in Massachusetts, where co-teaching has experienced rapid growth, found positive effects on academic achievement for students with and without disabilities in the years they are enrolled in co-taught classes. The analysis, by Nathan Jones and Marcus A. Winters, associate professors at Boston University, shows that for students with and without disabilities in the years they are enrolled in co-taught classes. For students with disabilities, attending a co-taught classroom boosts test scores by 2.6% of a standard deviation in math and 1.6% of a standard deviation in reading, on average. For students without disabilities, test scores improve by 1.2% of a standard deviation in math, while reading scores are not affected. This is the case even though students without disabilities who never participate in a co-teaching classroom have higher math and reading scores, on average, than their peers who do.
Only 67% of 3rd graders performed at grade level in reading this spring
Although schools focused on learning recovery during the 2021-22 school year, new research suggests students didn’t fully regain ground lost during the pandemic in reading and math achievement. The largest differences in learning outcomes came in the formative years, the early elementary and middle school years when students are building and solidifying foundational reading and math skills. According to Curriculum Associates, only 67% of 3rd-grade students assessed on reading performed on grade level in spring 2022, which was only a tiny increase from 66% in spring 2021 and still below the historical rate of 72%. A lower percentage of students were at grade level in math when compared to pre-pandemic achievement, particularly in grades 3-5. In 3rd grade, for example, just 54% performed on grade level compared to 65% prior to the pandemic. “We’re seeing that for students who are on grade level, there is some degree of recovery, and in some grades and subjects we’re even approaching pre-pandemic levels,” said Kristen Huff, vice president of assessment and research for Curriculum Associates. “But when we look on the other end of the performance distribution, students who are two or more grade levels below, we see some backtracking from 2021 to 2022 data.”
----- WORKFORCE ----
Teachers feel politicians 'stressing them out'
Parents and politicians are the top sources of stress for teachers, according to survey data from online platform Teachers Pay Teachers. Nearly 40% of teachers ranked politicians as the largest source of “a lot of stress,” followed by parents (36%) and social media (34%). When asked about respect for the profession, teachers in the South were more likely to say respect has decreased compared to two years ago. Florida and Texas saw high proportions of teachers reporting declining respect.
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.com
Click here to schedule an appointment
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