KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
The ABCFT negotiating team met with the district on Tuesday, November 29 and again on Thursday, December 1. On Tuesday, the district team responded to some questions and clarifications regarding some master contract language in our last proposal. The ABCFT team then presented our latest salary and master contract proposal. On Thursday, the district gave us their response. Our next session is tentatively scheduled for December 16.
In terms of a timeline, there is no set schedule of how many total sessions we need to have or a particular date on the calendar we need to finish by. I have joked with the district team that we could end negotiations quickly if they would simply accept our initial proposal. This typically elicits only polite chuckles and tight smiles. It is, in the end, a process. Both sides have their own respective priorities and a “wish list” of sorts. Each side would like accommodations or concessions from the other as we work towards a tentative agreement. Everything doesn’t come with a specific price tag but many elements do have a cost so that is something that needs to be factored in when considering budgets and the amount of ongoing dollars available. The ABCFT team is aware of what neighboring districts have been receiving. While each district is an entity unto itself, these percentages that other districts are settling for do inform our bargaining since our goal is to remain competitive enough to continue to attract and retain the best professionals to better serve ABCUSD students.
Regarding the back and forth nature of bargaining; some models are based on the concept of each side starting far from where they could end up and then “inchworming” towards a compromise number in the middle. For example, a union could hypothetically ask for 20% and the district’s opening number would be 1%. If 20% isn’t truly available it doesn’t support good faith bargaining to ask for an untenable number just as it erodes trust when the other side proposes only 1% when both teams are aware that a higher number is reasonable. In ABCUSD, our goal is to look at the same set of budget numbers and work towards creative solutions to maintain our competitiveness. The ABCFT negotiating team is realistic about the budget and the particulars of our district’s finances but aggressive when it comes to getting as much as possible on our salary schedules.
I hope everyone had a safe, healthy break with plenty to be thankful for. My college football team came up a little short in our big rivalry game but the Mancillas family was able to tailgate and enjoy the day together. An unexpected holiday bonus was a photo with a very personable Donny Osmond at Disneyland. I then got to explain to my son just who that is!
In Unity,
MINI GRANTS AVAILABLE FOR TEACHERS/NURSES
The ABC Education Foundation is excited to bring back our annual Mini-Grant Program this year! We have a new set of dates and deadlines, with funding coming in mid-January 2023. This year, due to the generosity of Toyota of Cerritos, we are happy to announce the opportunity for you to apply for one of two larger grants. The Toyota of Cerritos Tundra Grant will fund two grants of up to $10,000. Please review all of the attached documents for all of the grant information, which includes:
Official Announcement,
Calendar/Timeline
Applications (general and special programs)
The ABC Education Foundation, along with our generous sponsors and donors who have contributed to this program, is excited to see all of the outstanding programs you will be submitting this year. While this is a competitive grant process, the ABC Education Foundation seeks to fund as many projects as possible to support our students.
The Mini-Grant submission deadline is December 9, 2022, by 4:00 p.m. and must be turned in to the Superintendent's Office.
If you have any questions regarding the 2022-23 ABC Education Foundation Mini-Grant Program, please contact either Scott Smith at scott.smith@abcusd.us / 562-229-7864 or Sasha Leonardo at sasha.leonardo@abcusd.us / 562-926-5566 X 21197.
Thank you!
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.
“A pebble in your shoe, fear it” -unknown source
This quote is meaningful to me right now because there continues to be little incentive for teachers to put any effort into STIS (Short Term Independent Study) as we head into flu season and the holiday season increases the chances of students being out. ABCFT has been approaching the district both formally at the table and informally since the school year began about the impact of STIS on teacher time and efforts. ABC encourages teachers to make their own choice about how much time if any they will give to these requests. To quote a friend, “put as much effort into it as you get compensated.” It is unfortunate that STIS continues to be pebble in our collective shoe.
Next week, the ABCFT site representatives will be meeting with their administrative counterparts in the annual PAL Retreat (partnership of administration and labor). At this annual gathering, both organizations will look at survey data results from the Educators Thriving survey that teachers took earlier this school year. Administrators also took this survey which was designed to provide data that will help to guide future implementation of supports for educators to help them cope with the increased stress level all educators are experiencing. These site teams of admin and site rep(s) will then discuss what site specific projects that can be implemented that would address the individual needs or their school site or program.
I am currently working from Salt Lake at the annual NEA Presidents Conference. In my talks with teachers across the ABC District many of you have commented on the fact that in the past ABC teachers would often to go away for professional development opportunities so that they could return and share new and innovative ideas with their colleagues. These opportunities were not only a time to gather new ideas but also an opportunity to connect with educators from across the country. The opportunity to network and share ideas or problems solving solutions that impact classrooms is invaluable. The ABCFT leadership team has been informing the district for this need for different types of professional development opportunities and that there is a desire to grow and learn. Professional development has been the backbone of innovation. I hope in the future that ABC teachers and nurses will have more opportunities to bring back to ABC innovative ideas that will help to continue to feed our collective need to improve curriculum delivery for our students.
I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving Break and that your December weeks are fruitful and fast.
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-----
----- ABC PRINCIPAL INTERVIEWED -----
Miguel Marco interviewed
An interview with Miguel Marco, who earlier this month went to Washington, D.C. to receive the annual Terrel H. Bell Award, given by the U.S. Department of Education to outstanding principals. Marco, principal of Helen Wittmann Elementary in Cerritos, is one of nine recipients and the only one from California this year. Wittmann is one of 30 schools in ABC Unified, with 18,000 students in Los Angeles County. On how the pandemic helped him grow as a leader, Marco asserts: "I have learned to be flexible and pragmatic. It’s OK to take input from people and think differently. One reason we were able to navigate that period so well is we figured out as a staff it’s not business as usual. The relationship is very different than other places. We are not contentious. We listen to each other. Don’t get me wrong, it has not been easy. But at the end of the day, we walked away saying, we’re all in agreement on this matter and we’re gonna move forward."
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Supreme Court to keep Biden’s student loan cancellation blocked for now
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to decide whether the Biden administration can cancel student-loan debt for millions of Americans, putting the matter on a fast-track timeline that should produce a final ruling by the end of June. The administration had wanted a court order that would have allowed the program to take effect even as court challenges proceed. The justices didn’t do that, but agreed to the administration’s fallback, setting arguments for late February or early March over whether the program is legal. The lawsuit before the Supreme Court was brought by Republican officials in Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and South Carolina, who claimed that the program was an unlawful exercise of presidential authority that would affect state revenues and tax receipts. The program was also blocked by a federal judge in Texas, who said that the administration had improperly used powers only available to Congress to design the plan. That case, brought by two student loan borrowers with support from a conservative legal organization, is currently pending before the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
PBS. The Texas Tribune. Wall Street Journal
Schools braced for potential ‘tripledemic’
Schools nationwide are bracing for a potential surge in the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which continues to spike among children. Facilities with younger children such as day cares and pre-K programs face a potential “tripledemic” of RSV, COVID-19 and the flu this season. Major U.S. school districts told The Hill that, while they are not mandating mitigation methods, they are encouraging parents, teachers and students to return to the practices that became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Los Angeles Unified School District acknowledged in a November news release it was experiencing “extremely high respiratory infections among children” and encouraged parents to remind their children of proper hygiene etiquette, to consider masking while indoors and to get vaccinated against both the flu and COVID-19. Both Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Chicago Public Schools have made similar recommendations this season, while stopping short of issuing outright mandates. Cindy Lehnhoff, director of the National Child Care Association, says parents should be “very, very mindful” of the facility where they take their children, asking the providers questions about hand washing policies, sanitizing regimens and what the eating setup is like.
----- STATE NEWS -----
In California, 10% of legislature now identifies as LGBTQ
At least 10% of state lawmakers in California identify publicly as LGBTQ, believed to be a first for any U.S. legislature, NBC reports. At least 519 'out' LGBTQ candidates won elected office this year, in positions ranging from school board up to Congress and governor, said LGBTQ Victory Fund press secretary Albert Fujii. The group, along with Equality California, have calculated that California is the first state to pass the 10% threshold. The U.S. census has found that 9.1% of Californians identified as LGBT — compared with 7.9% for the U.S. overall.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Covina school district and teachers reach last-minute deal
Officials with Covina-Valley USD and the Covina United Education Association ended a late-night bargaining session Wednesday with a tentative agreement that averts planned strike action, meaning that classes will go ahead as scheduled today. The main sticking points had been an increase to the workload for special-education teachers and a hard cap on healthcare benefits, which would have significantly impacted newer teachers.
----- FINANCE -----
Property Taxes Fuel K-12 Budgets. How Well Does That Work?
Local property tax revenue covers more than a third of all of America’s annual spending on K-12 public schools. But is that a best-case scenario, a necessary evil, or an outdated relic?
A new report from the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, a nonprofit think tank based in Massachusetts, poses those questions by examining the landscape of school funding in five states. The authors conclude that it makes sense to continue using property taxes to pay for public education—but with some reforms to eliminate existing inequities.
Here’s why this report matters. Property taxes are rising as home values soared during the pandemic and inflation puts the squeeze on consumers’ wallets. Political fights over property taxes are a perennial fixture of election season. And the complexities of school funding may be opaque to educators, even as it undergirds their livelihood.
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/property-taxes-fuel-k-12-budgets-how-well-does-that-work/2022/11
Improved property tax system could better support K-12 budgets
With local property tax revenue covering more than a third of all of America’s annual spending on K-12 public schools, Daphne A. Kenyon, an economics consultant and public finance expert, Bethany Paquin, a senior research analyst at the Lincoln Institute, and Andrew Reschovsky, an economics professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argue in favor of a nationwide school funding system that combines progressive property tax programs with robust and flexible state aid that accounts for financial disparities among districts, the evolving pressures of inflation, and variable needs among diverse students. A new report from the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy in Massachusetts supports using property taxes to pay for public education, but with some reforms to eliminate existing inequities.
----- LEGAL -----
California schools cannot mandate vaccines, court rules
An appeals court has now ruled that California school districts have no authority to mandate vaccinations. "The Legislature has mandated that public health officials, not school authorities, determine the diseases for which vaccinations are required," the state's 4th District Court of Appeal in San Diego said this week, rejecting the San Diego Unified School District's attempt to require vaccinations for students 16 and older. San Diego, the state's second-largest school district with more than 121,000 students, proposed in September 2021 to require its older students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in order to attend classes, sports and other in-person events. Its order would allow exemptions for medical reasons but not for religious or personal objections. Later, the district said it would postpone any mandate until at least July 2023, but by then it was already being challenged in court. Tuesday's ruling was the first on the issue by a state appeals court, and will be binding on lower courts statewide unless it is overturned by the state Supreme Court or contradicted by another appeals court. Other districts seeking to require vaccines have also run into legal hurdles. Piedmont Unified in the East Bay required students 12 and older to show proof of vaccinations by mid-November 2021, one of the first in California to impose a mandate, but withdrew its order two months later after a judge halted enforcement in response to an anti-vaccination group's lawsuit. Oakland and Los Angeles had also planned vaccine mandates in early 2022 but postponed them while also facing potential legal challenges.
----- WORKFORCE ----
Teacher shortages aren't universal
K-12 teacher shortages are a hyper-local phenomenon, according to a paper from Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform, which asserts that fully staffed schools exist in close proximity to those that struggle to hire and retain teachers. Using a combination of survey responses and statewide administrative records from Tennessee to create a framework for identifying how and where teacher shortages emerge, the paper also indicates that a 0.5 percentage point increase in teachers’ scheduled salary bumps was correlated with a 36% decline in vacancy rates. Increases in a combined measure of self-reported working conditions, for example better school culture, more administrative support, strong relationships among faculty members also drove down teaching shortfalls at the beginning of the year. Matthew Kraft, a Brown economist and one of the paper’s authors, said that ambiguity around shortages arises from the "decentralized nature of K-12 employment," which can bely the realities experienced by many teachers and administrators. “Teacher shortages are real, period. Teacher shortages, however, are not universal. We’re trying to help people understand that it’s actually accurate for people to disagree about this because they’re answering from different perspectives.”
Recruiting and retaining school board members of color
Almost 90% of school board members are white, according to a 2020 EdWeek Research Center survey, often not reflecting their districts' student body. Just 38% of current board members are planning to return amid the politicization of board races and the national pushback against inclusive lessons and books on race, racism, and LGBTQ issues, according to a survey by School Board Partners. Recruiting and retaining school board members of color in particular is a challenge for many reasons, including little to no pay; a lack of background, expertise, and assistance in policymaking; and increasing scrutiny from parents and community members of equitable school policies. “It’s probably one of the most thankless jobs as elected officials go. And then on top of that, you really don’t get service, you don’t get paid for it,” laments Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, deputy executive director for the National School Boards Association. Ethan Ashley, co-founder of School Board Partners, recommends that school board members of color, or of other historically marginalized identities, need greater financial assistance and also community-building support to not feel isolated.
Student mental health provisions suffering amid workforce challenges
districts across the country have struggled to staff up to address students’ mental health needs that have soared since the pandemic hit. Among 18 of the country’s largest school districts, according to an analysis by Chalkbeat, 12 started this school year with fewer counselors or psychologists than they had in fall 2019. Districts included in the analysis, which serve a combined 3m students, started the year with nearly 1,000 unfilled mental health positions. As a result, many school mental health professionals have caseloads that far exceed recommended limits. Some of the extra need for support has been absorbed by social workers, whose ranks have grown by nearly 50% since before the pandemic, federal data shows, but they have different training from other mental health professionals and many other duties - including helping families. “Here’s this conundrum that we’re in,” laments Christy McCoy, the president of the School Social Work Association of America. “It’s like we are trying to put a Band-Aid on something that needs a more comprehensive and integrated approach.”
----- CHILD DEVELOPMENT ----
Pandemic pushed down Head Start enrollment
A fresh report by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), a nonprofit research organization at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, asserts that the pandemic hindered access to federally funded Head Start programs for young children living in poverty, exacerbating inequities in enrollment, staff salaries and quality of services. Enrollment dropped by 257,000 children (33%) between 2018-19 and 2020-21 in the Head Start program for preschoolers and by 22,000 (10%) in the Early Head Start program for infants and toddlers. The report found significant state-by-state differences in Head Start and Early Head Start funding, enrollment, program components and quality, and that Head Start funding per child was lower in states that enrolled a higher percentage of Black children and employed a higher percentage of Black teachers, compared to other states. Additional funding for Head Start and Early Head Start would allow programs to enroll more children from poverty-level families, especially in states and localities that do not offer public early childhood education programs. Steven Barnett, NIEER senior co-director, laments: “Head Start has never been funded to serve all the eligible population. That forces tradeoffs between quality and quantity or enrollment.” To get to a system that is accessible to all qualified children, researchers estimate an additional $10bn is needed. They also suggest that a reauthorization of Head Start, which was last updated in 2012, is needed to improve equity of access.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
More students enjoying school meals
The number of middle and high school students who said they would “very likely” and “somewhat likely” eat school meals increased from 61% to 86% between 2021 and 2022, according to survey results released this month by nonprofit No Kid Hungry. The two top motivating factors drawing students to eat a school meal are knowing the food served is something they enjoy and whether meals came at no cost to them. Notably, 64% said they were “much more likely” to eat a school meal if the dish includes food they know they like, while 28% said they were “somewhat likely” to be swayed by that factor. If a school serves free meals, 59% of students said they are “much more likely” to partake, 26% said they were “somewhat more likely,” thogh 12% said “it makes no difference.” The study also underlines the potentially significant influence universal school meal policies can have on school meal uptake. Data released in September by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows food insecurity among households with children dropped by 2.3 percentage points between 2020 and 2021. During that time, universal school meals were available nationwide via a waiver granted by Congress at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wellness experts champion ways to support teacher retention
The annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children heard speakers agree this week that being attentive to early childhood educators’ well-being is critical, not only to retaining teachers but to helping them be better classroom leaders. “Chronic occupational stress due to long hours, excessive workload and a lack of autonomy is really impacting teachers,” said Heather Walter, an assistant professor of early childhood education at George Mason University. Several activities coaches can use to support teacher well-being were championed, including; the wellness wheel, an exercise developed by the University of New Hampshire which can help teachers determine if their efforts are aligned with their values by "reflecting on how they spend most of their time," the "best positive selves" exercise, whereby teachers are encouraged to respond to problems with confidence and autonomy, and the "stealth kindness" exercise, which encourages empathy and self-compassion.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Remote learning linked to negative outcomes
Districts that stuck with full-time remote learning for longer in the first year of the pandemic saw larger declines in enrollment in subsequent school years than districts that prioritized getting kids back in school, according to a report published Monday by the American Enterprise Institute think tank. Districts that spent the longest time in remote mode saw enrollment drops during the first two pandemic years that were 1.3 percentage points larger than schools that offered the most in-person learning (more than 90% of the school year, on average), and 0.4 percentage points larger than schools in the middle of that spectrum (60% of the school year, on average). For schools that stayed remote the most, the drops were steeper in the second post-pandemic year than in the first. The findings build on previously published research showing clear signs that remote learning was among the factors, along with poverty and racial disparities, that impacted students' academic achievement. Nat Malkus, senior fellow and deputy director of education policy for the American Enterprise Institute, comments: “We took pretty good pains to find something else that could plausibly explain the differences that we found with all the controls we had on there. Is it possible? It is. But I can’t imagine what it could be.”
Ed ucation Next. Education Week
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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