Click Here for your SHARE MY LESSON links to resources for National Hispanic Heritage Month
ABCFT CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY
TUESDAY, 9/27 IS LAST DAY TO REGISTER
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: DoubleTree Hotel (formerly 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.
LAST CHANCE to Register and send payment - TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th
Click here to register then Click here for payment
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
“Hello Peter, what’s happening? Um, I’m going to need you to go ahead and come in tomorrow. So if you could be here around 9 that would be great, mmmk…oh, oh I almost forgot, ah, I’m also going to need you to come in on Sunday too, kay. We, ah, lost some people this week and, ah, we sorta need to play catch up.”
-from 1999’s Office Space, written and directed by Mike Judge
Please indulge my movie quote for a moment but I was reminded of it within the context of Tanya Golden’s article last week regarding professional duty. Office Space is an underrated comedy but there is nothing funny about the office manager Bill Lumbergh casually asking/telling his employee that he will suddenly be giving up his weekend. I have written in the past about the importance of maintaining reasonable expectations. We are professionals tasked with what feels like an ever expanding list of responsibilities. These extra duties often feel like they are added to our plate without commensurate compensation or a reduction somewhere else in our workload.
Thank you to the many members who participated in this week’s YOUnion chat. We heard questions about STIS and adjunct duties, for example, that touched on this larger issue of just what is an appropriate response to being asked to do even more when so many members are already feeling stretched to the breaking point. We can be directed by our administrators. But it is reasonable to look at the larger context of our available time and ask when and how these additional duties are to be performed.
Regarding negotiations, the team will be returning soon to the bargaining table to discuss updating our master contract as well as compensation for the 2022-2023 school year. The state funds our district with a COLA or Cost of Living Adjustment. But, to clarify, the entirety of COLA is not available as part of the base or ongoing dollars for compensation. District costs like the impact of declining enrollment, increased STRS contributions, or the rising benefits costs, must all be factored in and essentially subtracted out of this initial amount of funding to arrive at the amount remaining that can be negotiated. I attended the Finance and Audit meeting last night with our interim superintendent, Mr. Nguyen, to review the latest budget numbers. The negotiating team will continue to be aggressive in terms of maintaining a competitive salary and benefits package.
In Unity,
MEMBER-ONLY RESOURCES:Voter RegistrationBy Tanya Golden
September 19th was National Voter Registration Day. Do not be alarmed if you missed celebrating by making sure you are registered to vote in the midterm November 2022 election. You have time to register to vote but time is ticking so do it today. The deadline to register is 15 days before the election so the deadline this year is October 24th. Californians can register to vote online here. You may have to register again if you have moved or changed your last name. Or not sure if you are registered? Click here to check your voter registration status.
MEMBER-ONLY RESOURCES
Lesson Plans and Resources for Understanding Voting
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.
Where am I at right now? Writing a weekly article can sometimes be a challenge but for the past six years, it has become part of my weekly routine. It’s a way of taking stock of the week, analyzing the conversations I’ve had, assessing the latest situations, and allowing myself to clear my head for the next week. When I was in the classroom, I used my lesson planning in a similar way such as assessing my student's needs, the conversations and interactions we had, the progress we made during the week, the challenges we faced as a class unit, or the adjustments I needed to make in my teaching. But, back to my original question, where am I at right now?
I’d say that I’m in some weird new reality where I feel like we are moving in a different direction than in the last handful of years. There is new energy and I can see it everywhere I go. This week,Tanya Golden and I visited with district TOSAs, the staff of Niemes and Stowers (part of our outreach to visit all schools), and we hosted the monthly ABCFT YOUnion Chat. Overall, even though the year started off with unique challenges, for the first time in years I feel like the entire district is working together to address the major challenges that are impacting your classrooms. The general feeling I’m getting from members is that they are feeling the difference in the engagement of the district leadership. Things are getting done and the holes are slowly being patched.
ABC as a district is doing some serious soul searching and assessing right now. How do we get back to being extraordinary as a district? A place people WISH they could work for or attend as a student. All teachers from ABC child development programs to TK-12 programs to Adult School programs are back to doing what you do best. As I visit schools, I see the human gentle touch you use with your students to help them navigate the academic and socio-emotional world we all find ourselves in right now. If we learned anything from the pandemic is that we also need to take care of ourselves too. In our discussion this week at the ABCFT Executive Board meeting, I spoke about putting eggs back in the basket(s) and the decisions we individually make on where we put our limited energy. As I’ve said many times before, it is not 2019 where I probably put all 12 eggs in so many different baskets. I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to guard my energy eggs carefully. I feel like I’ve put about six eggs back in the general work basket, but I’m not sure what to do with the other six eggs of my new post-pandemic understanding of energy. I’m wondering if you too are thinking about how many of your dozen eggs you put into your work?
ABCFT also cannot be the union it was in 2019. We as a YOUnion will need to reassess what is important to us as a strong and united YOUnion. What are our priorities and how do we engage and activate a whole new generation of teachers to show them how the union has been a source of voice, a guiding hand, and for many an organization that has safeguarded your teaching careers? The concept of a union is changing and as progressive as ABCFT can be as a union, we have not yet figured out the next pathway. Where do the members of ABCFT put their collective energy eggs and how can we work together to share that energy to bridge this transition in education?
Anyway, Ruben Mancillas laughs at me and says that we are guiding ABCFT through a midlife crisis. We are now 50 years strong as a YOUnion and this organization has a past that is rich with tradition and pride and we have a strong future ahead of us. Let’s pool our energy as educators to create the future just as you do for your students each and every day….which is the WORK, right? Forward we go! Guard those energy eggs and place them carefully.
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-----
54% of Americans say their mental health issues like anxiety and depression are directly related to student loan debt
While the previous student debt cancellations implemented by the Biden Administration have been beneficial for some, they haven’t even put a dent in the debt acquired by many others, a new survey finds.
Of 2,000 U.S. participants polled in a survey conducted by online education program, ELVTR, 63% of Americans are still wrestling with debt from student loans.
And 54% of respondents say their mental health struggles are directly related to that debt.
Close to 2% of student loan debt has forgiven by the Biden administration. It is the most relieved by any presidential administration in American history.
In total, nearly $32 billion in loans have been absolved since the start of President Biden’s term.
Additionally, the Biden administration’s larger plan — announced in August — will rid working- and middle-class borrowers of up to $10,000 of student loan debt, and Pell Grant recipients in the same income bracket could have up to $20,000 shaved off of their student debt.
----- HEADSTART CHANGES -----
Universal masking requirements for Head Start to be dropped
The Office of Head Start (OHS), the federal program within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that provides preschool and childcare services to low-income families, will soon be dropping its universal masking rule for its grant recipients. A specific date was not provided, but the finalized rule is expected to be issued sometime in the coming weeks. This move comes about a month after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued more lenient COVID-19 guidance regarding several mitigation methods, including masking and quarantining.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
New Jersey becomes first state to introduce climate change curriculum
New Jersey public school students will be the first in the country required to learn about climate change while in the classroom starting this school year. The new standards were adopted by the state's board of education in 2020, but because of the pandemic, the roll out was halted, giving educators and districts more time to prepare the lesson plans for all students in grades K-12. Lessons will focus on how climate change has accelerated in recent decades and how it's impacted public health, human society, and contributed to natural disasters. The program will also introduce students to careers in climate change, as federal and local officials work to combat natural disasters and create a greener economy by adding new jobs and increased funding. "I want to make sure that the next generation of students and those who come after have the skill set necessary to be able to win and succeed at the incredible jobs that are going to be available as we all shift towards a greener economy," said New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy, who spearheaded the initiative.
America's best and worst places to be a teacher mapped
New York is the best place in America to be a teacher, according to a new report by WalletHub. Utah held the second spot overall, while Virginia, Vermont and Washington rounded out the top five. The personal finance website compared all 50 states and Washington, D.C., along 24 metrics around opportunity, competition and academic and work environment. The publication factored in salaries, projected teacher turnover and public-school spending per student to determine the most teacher friendly places in the U.S. New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, D.C., New Hampshire and Hawaii, are the worst places in America for teachers, according to the report. “Leaders in the community and schools must work to create an environment of respect for teachers and support for their work,” said Rene S. Parmar, Dean of the School of Education at Lehman College within the City University of New York.
Blue Ribbon Schools 2022 announced
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has now formally recognized 297 schools as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2022, to serve as models of effective school practices for state and district educators and other schools throughout the nation. "These schools show what is possible to make an enduring, positive difference in students' lives," he asserted. The Department recognizes all schools in one of two performance categories, based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates; exemplary high-performing schools are among their state's highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests, while exemplary achievement gap-closing schools are among their state's highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school's student groups and all students. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today congratulated 29 California schools that have been chosen as 2022 National Blue Ribbon Schools.
----- STATE NEWS -----
State delays public release of test score results to later this year
The California Department of Education is withholding the release of the results of the Smarter Balanced tests that students took last spring until an undetermined date later this year, so they can be simultaneously released with other data for the California School Dashboard, such as student absentee rates, suspension rates and rates of chronic absenteeism. The result will be a monthslong delay before the public can view results in English language arts, math and science for the state, districts, schools and charter schools. Mary Nicely, chief deputy state superintendent for instruction, said that the state board set the goal in 2017 for a comprehensive approach that would include combining the release of state test scores and other metrics with the updated dashboard. However, the strategy means that, if not released after November 8th, the Smarter Balanced results won’t surface as an election year issue, both for local school board races and for State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who runs the California Department of Education and is facing re-election this year.
----- DISTRICTS -----
LA schools to carry opioid overdose antidote
Los Angeles USD is to provide schools with the overdose reversal drug naloxone, after at least seven teenagers overdosed on pills likely laced with fentanyl in recent weeks, including a 15-year-old girl who died on a high school campus. Naloxone, which often goes by the brand name Narcan and is highly effective at reversing opioid overdoses if administered quickly by a nasal spray or injection, will be provided by the county’s Department of Public Health at no cost to the district, which has also received support from The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho called it a "safe solution" that lasts up to 90 minutes, providing first responders and medical professionals the opportunity to care for a student. The decision to distribute naloxone makes sense, said Dr. Gary Tsai, director of substance abuse prevention and control for the county health department, which issued an alert last week about the growing danger of illicit opioid pills. “Obviously, the best tool is prevention” he explained, adding "the likelihood that [students] might be exposed on campus, bringing counterfeit pills or come into contact with counterfeit pills on campus, that clearly is a risk. It’s necessary and appropriate for schools to have naloxone on campus.”
Los Angeles Daily News San Daily Mateo Daily Journal
Pasadena school principal returns to campus after controversial remarks
San Rafael Elementary Elementary School Principal Rudy Ramirez returned to campus yesterday, weeks after remarks about the handcuffing of a local janitor caused controversy in the local community. Pasadena USD Superintendent Brian McDonald announced the decision to bring back the popular principal Tuesday evening, September 21st, during a community conversation with more than 200 parents and staff of the San Rafael community. The meeting and preceding protest outside of Blair High School — where the meeting was held — follows weeks of conversations in the community and among district leaders about Mr. Ramirez’s reaction after Pasadena police responded August 14th to a non-emergency call that resulted in a local janitor being briefly handcuffed. The detainment sent Mr. Ramirez on what authorities called a “rant,” in which he couched the incident in racial terms, saying that the janitor would not have been treated as he was, and cuffed, if he were White. In a recording of the interaction, Mr. Ramirez is also heard discussing interactions with a neighbor and parent at his school, using a derogatory term about Mexican people. The remarks come less than 12 hours after Ramirez united with hundreds of parents and staff the evening prior at Blair High School, where chants of “Fire Ramirez” and “Character Matters” were prevalent while attendees flowed into the auditorium before the confidential meeting. Andrea Toronian, who donned a “Team Ramirez” shirt to the community conversation, described the protest as “unfortunate, because we are here to to support in any way we can and move forward from all of this,” she said in an interview prior to the event.
San Francisco school board stalls on recognizing Muslim holidays
After passing a resolution last month to include two Muslim holidays on San Francisco USD's calendar, the district's board voted on Tuesday to reverse the decision. The new resolution suspends the board’s initial resolution to recognize Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as holidays in the 2022-23 calendar, and also calls for “further analysis” on how to adequately recognize culturally significant holidays for students.
L.A. Unified cyberattackers demand ransom
The hackers who targeted Los Angeles USD have made a ransom demand, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said on Tuesday. “We can confirm that there was a demand made,” L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho said. “There has been no response to the demand.” Carvalho declined to disclose the amount of the ransom demand or any further information about what information, if any, the attackers may be holding. He said that there have been “no new security breaches” and that the school system is continuing “our ramping up of apps and systems.”
SF teachers' union to receive raise in tentative agreement
Teachers in San Francisco are expected to receive boost in pay this fall, after reaching a tentative agreement with school district leaders. Members of the United Educators of San Francisco will get a 6% raise for the 2022-2023 school year, according to a statement from the San Francisco Unified School District. The move would be retroactive to July 1, once the agreement is finalized.
----- CLASSROOM -----
Book ban efforts 'surging,' librarians warn
The American Library Association has warned that the wave of attempted book-banning and restrictions continues to intensify across the nation. Numbers for 2022 already approach last year’s totals, which were "the highest in decades," the body said. The ALA has documented 681 challenges to books through the first eight months of this year, involving 1,651 different titles. In all of 2021, the ALA listed 729 challenges, directed at 1,579 books. Because the ALA relies on media accounts and reports from libraries, the actual number of challenges is likely far higher, the library association believes. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” laments Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “It’s both the number of challenges and the kinds of challenges. It used to be a parent had learned about a given book and had an issue with it. Now we see campaigns where organizations are compiling lists of books, without necessarily reading or even looking at them.”
----- LEGAL -----
Protections for transgender students reversed in Virginia
Virginia will no longer allow students to use facilities marked for the gender they identify with and will mandate that they file legal documents if they wish to be called by different pronouns. Those directives were among several guidelines for schools that the Virginia Department of Education announced Friday, in a reversal of transgender policies that state officials previewed last year. The "Model Policies" released by Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administration also say that schools must “keep parents fully informed about all matters” related to a child’s health and social and psychological development, and that schools may not “encourage or instruct teachers to conceal material information about a student from the student’s parent, including information related to gender.” The guidelines also say that school personnel will not be required to address or refer to a student “in any manner” that would run counter to an employee’s personal or religious beliefs.
----- WORKFORCE ----
Why Teachers Are Going on Strike This Fall—and What Could Come Next
In a few places, the start of the school year has already been disrupted—not by virus outbreaks, but by teacher strikes. Teachers in Columbus, Ohio, went on strike for the first time in 47 years last month, coinciding with the first day of school. The district started the year instead with substitute teachers and non-union staff leading remote instruction. The teachers secured and approved a new contract that included pay raises, a commitment to add heating and air conditioning to student learning areas, a reduction in class sizes, and a paid parental-leave program for teachers.
Then, more than 6,000 teachers in Seattle went on strike for five days. Teachers there won a 7 percent pay raise in the first year of the new contract, with an additional 4 percent and then 3 percent bump the following years. The tentative agreement, which will be voted on by members this week, would also add workload protections for teachers, school counselors, nurses, and social workers, according to the Seattle Times.
School districts facing shortages use four-day weeks to entice teachers
Districts facing teacher shortages are increasingly turning to four-day school weeks as a means to attract and retain staff, despite objections from some parents over child-care demands and some evidence of lower test scores. So far, the trend has been particularly pronounced in rural communities in some Midwestern and Southern states. Dozens of districts in Texas, Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma have adopted four-day weeks in recent years. A 2021 report conducted by Rand Corp. found that parents, teachers and students in districts with four-day weeks responded favorably to the shortened schedules. Teachers and families said the arrangements provided more time for recovery from busy schedules and that students learned at least as much in a four-day week. However, Rand also found that districts that adopted four-day weeks in the prepandemic study experienced slower gains in math and reading scores on state exams, compared with similar districts with five-day schedules. Christopher Doss, one of the authors of the study, said that the slower academic growth experienced in districts with four-day weeks could be the result of fewer instructional hours. Districts with four-day school weeks in the Rand study had an average of 1,156 instructional hours, compared with an average of 1,214 instructional hours for those with five-day school weeks, according to Mr. Doss.
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
Free college 2.0: To lure students, community colleges add new perks
The pandemic created a number of financial challenges for college students in California. Over half experienced a decrease in income, while about a quarter of students had to spend more money on books and school supplies.
About 60% of students now expect to receive a degree later than planned, reports The Institute for College Access & Success. And struggles to meet basic needs are especially pronounced among Black and Latino students, over half of whom have reported being more food insecure.
“Since we’re all in the same boat and we’ve all been impacted in one way or the other, it’s not that embarrassing to admit I need financial help,” said Modesto Junior College student and student government secretary Stephanie Barajas. “We have so many low income students. So, I always feel comfortable owning all the help that there is.”
At $46 per unit, California already has the cheapest community college tuition in the nation.
But tuition and fees only account for about 5% of costs for community college students living off campus, reports The Institute for College Access & Success.
No comments:
Post a Comment