KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
Happy Cesar Chavez Day! His words, “Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate a person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore” continue to inspire me in and out of the classroom.
Last week I wrote about Memorandums of Understanding or MOU’s as a tool for reaching agreement about time sensitive issues. Such devices are also helpful for dealing with issues that are limited and wouldn’t need to go into our permanent contract language.
One such side letter involves compensation for packing and unpacking due to Measure BB modernization moves.
Teachers will be provided 7 hours of hourly pay or one sub day to pack up their classroom in preparation for Measure BB modernization.
Teachers will be provided with 7 hours of hourly pay or one sub day to unpack their classroom in response to Measure BB modernization.
For staff who teach subjects with significant materials to pack/unpack (i.e. band, drama, chemistry, ASB, art, auto), site principals and the Bond Program staff will work with the teacher to determine how to best support packing/unpacking with additional hours, additional sub days, or use of an outside contractor to pack/unpack and move materials.
Please remember to vote in our local union dues election. And as we get our April paychecks, let’s pause to reflect on the commitment you show to our students and community. Our new raise is just one tangible signifier of a job well done!
In Unity,
CFT CONVENTION UPDATE
ABCFT DELEGATES ATTEND CFT’s 79th CONVENTION
CFT member delegates take part in 2023 Biennial Convention in San Francisco
After four years of not meeting in person, CFT members met in San Francisco this past weekend at our Biennial Convention, under the theme United for Justice, United for Education.
Delegates participated in vigorous debate about key resolutions, attended informative workshops, and heard from inspiring speakers, including Keith Boykin, Jane Elliott, and Randi Weingarten. We recognized newly organized locals and celebrated our members who were elected to public office in 2022.
On Saturday we rallied in Union Square to support UESF and AFT 2121, and their continued campaigns to make sure all San Francisco students and communities have the schools they deserve. Rallygoers heard from UESF President Cassondra Curiel, AFT 2121 President Mary Bravewoman, City College of San Francisco Trustee Susan Solomon and other CFT leaders.
On Saturday evening we held an awards dinner to honor local and state leaders who have gone above and beyond.The Women in Education Award was presented to Palomar Faculty Federation leaders Barbara Baer and Jenny Fererro; Belinda Lum of Los Rios Federation of Teachers received the inaugural Dean Murakami Award, recognizing a member or local’s racial, social, and climate justice work; and CFT’s outgoing Secretary Treasurer Luukia Smith received CFT’s highest honor, the Ben Rust Award.
The CFT Convention is our union’s highest democratic body, and it is where we elect officers. In addition to electing a full slate of Executive Council members, delegates re-elected Jeff Freitas as CFT President. Delegates also elected Lacy Barnes of the State Center Federation of Teachers as the new Secretary Treasurer and UTLA’s Juan Ramirez as the new Executive Vice President. Jim Mahler and Carl Williams were re-elected as President of the Community College Council and President of the Council of Classified Employees, respectively, with Dennis Kelly elected President of the Council of Retired Members, and Steve McDougall President of the Early Childhood/K-12 Council.
Remarking upon the newly elected leadership of the CFT, Freitas outlined his vision for our work going forward: “As public education in the U.S. faces unprecedented attacks, it is more important than ever for our educators and classified professionals to come together, united in our commitment to our students and our communities.”
Check out these great photos from the convention, and look for a special edition of CFT United soon for more in depth coverage.
MEMBER-ONLY RESOURCES
Rights of Farmworkers: Labor Leaders César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Lesson Plans
Do your students know about the role farmworkers play in providing our daily food? This lesson collection highlights the labor struggles and wins of César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and others. Click here for lesson resources.
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.
I like the above quote because it is such a grounding truth as we finally close the book on another long month of March. The long haul to Spring Break is never pretty, and for many it is the busiest month of the school year as teachers prepare for testing and planning how to cover the remaining curriculum highlights in a timely manner. This March in that respect, is not much different than previous years; however, teachers and nurses made it through March 2023 with the utmost professionalism.
An enormous amount of change and pressure has been dished out this month, with the specter of administrative moves, challenging testing prep, contentious school board meetings, job security concerns of all temporary teachers, rainy day schedules and more rainy day schedules, etc. On top of that, we live in a world that seems to be leaping from one crisis to the next. But through it all, ABC teachers and nurses have never lost focus on their dedication to the education of their students. People do not tend to recognize the steadfast work you do. The daily adjustments, the discipline, the curricular hurdles, the inspiration of hope, the guidance, the laughter you provide, and the tears you wipe away. That whole saying that teachers and nurses are superheroes is not untrue because what you do for students is extraordinary. Before I talk about the local union dues proposal, I just wanted you to know that I see the strain on your faces and I can see what you are doing for your classrooms and patients. Even on my longest days, when leaving the office at dusk, I know that what you face in the classroom can be more exhausting and leave you feeling depleted. I am always honored to represent such professional and dedicated educators. You inspire me to work harder and smarter, just as you do with your students.
This week, ABCFT is asking for your support to raise the local dues you pay monthly, which is a decision I didn’t take lightly. When I was elected as President twelve years ago, I knew there would be a day when we could no longer afford to live with the current local dues, but I wanted to instill a high level of professionalism within our union that would make people proud to say they were an ABCFT union member. The first thing we did in 2011 was take advantage of the low rental rates in the area and move our union office of thirty years away to an office space that looked professional and was centrally located within the ABC. The ABCFT leadership made the decision to relocate to our current location for a cheaper rental price. We reduced costs in areas that were no longer a focus and leveraged that into a YOUnion campaign made of services that would touch every member of ABCFT.
That first year I visited every site and had one-on-one member conversations that helped me understand the complexity and needs of our ABCFT members. The ABCFT leadership created a vision and took the steps to put a mission statement into action. Every year as a union we became a little stronger, a little bolder and a lot wiser. More and more members began to wear the ABCFT union blue polo shirts on a regular basis and during the work to rule campaign, more than five hundred members wore those shirts to support that successful effort. In 2017, as the pace of change seemed to be getting faster with each year, I made the decision to start a weekly recap of the union activities, which we called a “Week in Review.” This later morphed into the YOUnionews (named by VP of High Schools, Megan Harding who stated that everyone is a part of the union so we need to illustrate that with our language). The YOUnionews is the cornerstone of our communication and conversation among all ABCFT members. In 2017, the executive board and ABCFT site representatives voted to have a second teacher in the ABCFT office to help with the duties (the work was primarily done part-time by a non-teacher secretary). By bringing Tanya Golden into the union office, not only is there an additional educator to answer your email questions and calls but she has also expanded our capacity through the Teacher Leader Program, robust CFT and local committees, expanded representation resources for members and site reps, and numerous other supporting activities she does daily to support you in the classrooms. Over all these years, ABCFT has become a service-focused organization that is guided and led by the consistent voice of its members. I have worked for twelve years to make sure that you felt that your financial support of the union was repaid to you in services, representation, and compensation. Your continued support has made this YOUnion a powerhouse among California education unions. This little local has heavy representation at the district, state, and national level and the voices of ABCFT members can be heard from coast to coast.
I hope you will continue to financially support this organization that is made up of united individuals bound together for a common cause. We may not all agree on everything all the time, but our strength lies in our communication and united voices. I urge you to continue to support this mighty ABCFT union so that we can pass on to our younger teachers an organization founded in the fight for public education and teachers/nurses rights.
Thank you for all you do. Your strength is unparalleled.
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-----
'Soaring' autism identification rates
One in 36 children were identified as autistic between 2018 and 2020, the most recent period data is available. In 2000, just one in 150 children was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. The prevalence among four-year olds jumped 26% between 2018 and 2020, increasing even more in girls than boys, though boys are still about four-times more likely to receive a diagnosis than girls. For the first time, white children were less likely to carry the diagnosis than children of color. Andy Shih of the Autism Speaks advocacy group. "This increase is really fueled by us doing a much better job in identifying minority children with autism," he adds. The breakdown of autism diagnoses rates among eight-year-olds reveals that 3.3% of children of Asian or Pacific Island descent were identified, 3.2% of Hispanic descent, 2.9% of Black children and 2.4% of white, non-Hispanic children. The racial disparity also extends to the diagnosis of intellectual disability along with autism. Almost half of Black children with autism were also diagnosed with intellectual disability, compared with about 30% of children with autism who are white. This suggests Black children with autism but not intellectual disability are still being missed. Relatedly, a separate paper published Thursday in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that the pandemic disrupted autism diagnoses for four-year-olds. Three years ago, during the early months of COVID, four-year-olds were less likely to be evaluated for or diagnosed with autism than eight-year-olds had been at the same age. It's not clear at present how quickly evaluations rebounded as the pandemic unfolded however.
----- CTA Elections - NEW LEADERSHIP -----
LAUSD teacher David Goldberg elected CTA president
David Goldberg, a bilingual teacher at Los Angeles USD's Murchison Elementary School, has been named as the next president of the California Teachers Association. Currently, the organization's vice president, he will succeed current president E. Toby Boyd and assume the first of two terms as president on June 25th. Current CTA Secretary-Treasurer Leslie Littman, an AP US History, Economics and Government teacher in the William S. Hart Union High School District, will become vice president. Erika Jones, an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles USD, wills serve as secretary-treasurer.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Students with disabilities experience homelessness disproportionately
Overall, 4.7% of students with disabilities experience homelessness across seven states and Washington D.C., according to a study published Tuesday in the Pediatrics journal, compared with 3% among students without disabilities. Emily Bock, from the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues compiled data from state departments of education and federal homelessness data to quantify students with disabilities experiencing homelessness in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. The proportion of students with and without disabilities experiencing homelessness was calculated. The highest and lowest proportions of students with disabilities experiencing homelessness were seen in Washington, D.C., and New York and in Connecticut, respectively. Comparing 2018/19 with 2019/20, statistics in Massachusetts showed little change. "Students with disabilities who are experiencing homelessness are a particularly vulnerable population and quantifying this population for the first time will provide policymakers with valuable information to be able to act to better support these students, " the authors write.
Cardona wants end to corporal punishment in schools
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has written to governors, chief state school officers, and school district and school leaders and urged them to end corporal punishment in schools. This letter reinforces the Department of Education's position that corporal punishment in schools, the practice of paddling, spanking, or otherwise imposing physical punishment on students, should be replaced with evidence-based practices, such as implementing multi-tiered systems of support like positive behavioral interventions and supports, that create a safe and healthy school environments. In addition, the Department released guiding principles on how to maintain safe, inclusive, supportive, and fair learning environments for students and school staff, including specific recommendations for evidence-based practices to give students what they need to learn and grow. Corporal punishment continues to be legal in at least 23 states.
Record number of book ban attempts
Attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries set a record in 2022. A new report from the American Library Association (ALA) indicates that 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association last year, almost double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago. Last year, more than 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. In numerous cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single complaint. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries - and acknowledges that the numbers might actually be far higher. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.”
Cardona warns Republicans against potential education budget cuts
Kara Arundel highlights how a federal budget reduction could affect U.S. Department of Education services. Earlier this month, President Biden released his administration’s proposed FY24 budget seeking to raise the Education Department’s budget by $10.8bn or 13.6% over FY 2023 allocations. While GOP leaders have not yet put forth an official proposal, they have nonetheless stressed a need to trim spending for the FY 2024 budget cycle. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has told Committee on Appropriations Ranking Member Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., that any reductions would have a “very real and damaging” impact on families, communities and the economy. According to Cardona, Title I grants to districts would come down by $850m if spending were reduced to FY22 levels. If the Department of Education's budget were cut by 22%, back down to FY22 levels, Cardona also claims Title I schools would have 60,000 fewer teachers and related service providers. A spending cut of 22% would also reduce state grants for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by $3.1bn and equal about 48,000 fewer special educators. A 22% cut to IDEA would also lower the federal per-pupil support to its lowest share since 1997.
----- STATE NEWS -----
CA bill would require public high schools to provide free condoms
On Wednesday, the California Senate Education Committee passed SB 541 in a 5-2 vote, a bill introduced by Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D-Burbank) that would require California public high schools and charter schools to make condoms available to all students on or before the start of the 2024-2025 academic year. Teens who are sexually active face significant barriers accessing contraceptives, including stigma, judgmental providers, limited transportation and cost, said Maura Decker, associate professor at the Institute for Health and Policy Studies School of Medicine at UC San Francisco, who noted that the idea has already been adopted by the Los Angeles and San Francisco school districts. The bill heads now to the Senate Committee on Health. The Education Committee also passed SB 691, which would require schools to screen K-2 students for dyslexia. The California Teachers Association and two groups that advocate for English learners opposed Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank)'s bill at the hearing, saying it would be overly burdensome for teachers and would misidentify too many English learners, funneling them into special education unnecessarily.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Orange USD faces lawsuit over transparency issues
The parents of a first grader are suing Orange USD and its school board, alleging a lack of transparency and violations of state law. Alexander and Sarah Brewsaugh, both attorneys, allege the school board majority violated California’s Brown Act law when it fired Superintendent Gunn Marie Hansen, placed another administrator on paid leave and appointed an interim superintendent during a special meeting on January 5th. The school board “majority had a pre-planned outcome before the meeting began,” the lawsuit alleges. While the complaint names the school board, “there are individual people driving the board’s current actions,” Alexander Brewsaugh said.
Los Angeles Schools reach deal on pay raises with support staff
The union representing 30,000 education workers reached a tentative deal with the Los Angeles Unified School District Friday, following a three-day strike that had closed hundreds of campuses and canceled classes for 422,000 students last week. The agreement, which still needs to be formally ratified by members, includes multi-year wage increases that add up to about 20% over time; a $1,000 bonus for current employees who worked in 2020; and a $2 per hour raise for all employees effective Jan. 1, 2024. Health care will also be provided to all employees who work at least four hours per day. Mayor Karen Bass announced the deal on Friday at City Hall with Max Arias, the executive director of Local 99, and Alberto Carvalho, the district superintendent. Mayor Karen Bass announced the deal at City Hall with Max Arias, the executive director of Local 99, and Alberto Carvalho, the district superintendent. “I have no doubt that this contract will be seen as a precedent-setting, historic contract that elevates the dignity, the humanity of our work force, respects the needs of our students, but also guarantees the fiscal viability of our district for years to come,” Carvalho said. “Those were indispensable priorities for all of us.”
New York Times Wall Street Journal
Oakland teachers on strike
Hundreds of teachers in Oakland USD joined a picket line Friday morning, citing reduced staffing and low teacher pay. The middle and high school teachers are asking for a 23% raise in wages. By contrast, district officials proposed an 11% raise for teachers and 8% for other staff. The one-day strike was not authorized by the teachers’ union. The Oakland teachers are striking just as Los Angeles Unified teachers return to their classrooms, after last week's three-day strike brought classes to a halt for 420,000 students.
----- WORKFORCE ----
Superintendent demographics researcher reveals wealth of data
There is a greater than one-in-four chance you could start a letter to the male superintendent of your local school district with one of just 15 names - John, Michael, David, James, Jeff, Robert, Steven, Chris, Brian, Scott, Mark, Kevin, Jason, Matthew, or Daniel. Incredibly, according to new research from Rachel White, an assistant professor in the University of Tennessee-Knoxville's Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, it's just as likely for a district to be led by a man with one of those names as it is for one to be led by a woman with any name. About 72% of superintendents are men and about two-thirds of superintendents newly-hired in the past three years were men. More than half of superintendents hired between 2019 and 2023 were men who replaced other men. Another 18% were men who replaced women in superintendent positions. Such male dominance is even more striking given how female dominated the teaching profession is. More than 75% of teachers are female, as well as 56% of principals.
California is preparing more credentialed teachers
California's protracted teacher shortage isn't over yet, although new figures show it is improving. There has been a significant increase in the number of credentialed teachers entering the work force in recent years and a decline in the number of under-prepared teachers in classrooms. Between the school years ending in 2017 and 2021 there was a 35% increase in the number of teachers who completed a California teacher preparation program and earned a preliminary credential, a reversal of the downward trend of the previous decade, according to state data. In the 2020-21 school year, 16,554 teachers prepared in California earned preliminary credentials, according to a brief recently released by the Learning Policy Institute, a nonprofit education research organization. About 3,000 others were prepared out of state. “We are one of only a few states seeing an increase in entrants to teaching while most states are still seeing declines,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, State Board of Education president and chief executive officer of Learning Policy Institute. About 3,300 more fully prepared teachers entered teaching in 2021 than in 2019, and 2,500 fewer people were on emergency permits, she said.
----- SECURITY -----
Nationwide push for harsher school discipline as safety fears rise
In a turn toward stricter discipline that reflects mounting fears about school violence and disorder, lawmakers across the country are moving to make it easier to tackle disruptive students. A bill advancing through the Florida legislature would empower teachers to remove “disobedient” or “disrespectful” students from their classrooms and to use “reasonable force” to protect themselves and others. A proposed Texas law would allow teachers to eject disruptive students after a single incident, while a North Carolina proposal would permit long-term suspensions for cursing and dress code violations. While critics say such legislation would punish young people still recovering from the pandemic and trigger a return to zero-tolerance discipline that could be disastrous for students of color and those with disabilities, the proposed state laws follow a pandemic-era surge in school gun violence and student misbehavior that some parents and politicians have blamed partly on lenient discipline policies. Proponents, including lawmakers from both parties and some teachers, say the new measures are needed to restore safety and order in schools. “School violence is on the rise across the state,” Isau Metes, advocacy director at Nebraska’s teachers union, told lawmakers last month. She said a bill authorizing educators to physically restrain and remove disruptive students would enable teachers “to protect the other students in the classroom.”
----- LEGISLATION -----
House republicans approve parental school oversight bill
The House approved a bill Friday geared toward parental oversight of schools, an issue that has become a mainstay of the Republican policy platform. The legislation, dubbed the Parents Bill of Rights Act, would require schools to make available class curriculums, a list of books in the library and school budgets to parents, while mandating that schools notify parents of violent activity on school grounds. It would also require teachers to inform parents if they begin using different pronouns for a student or allow a child to change their “sex-based accommodations,” like bathrooms. The House approved the measure, which is unlikely to be considered in the Democrat-controlled Senate, 213-208 in a nearly party-line vote.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Social media harmful for many girls
Almost half of adolescent girls on TikTok feel addicted to it or use the platform for longer than they intend, according to a report by researchers from Brown University and the nonprofit Common Sense Media. TikTok leads the way in total time on its platform, with girls who use it logging more than 2.5 hours a day, but YouTube is only a bit behind, at nearly 2.5 hours, with Snapchat and messaging apps at about two hours, and Instagram at 92 minutes. Many of the girls surveyed, ages 11 to 15, use multiple platforms each day. Jacqueline Nesi, co-author and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Brown, also pointed out that three-quarters of girls with moderate to severe depression symptoms who use Instagram report encountering suicide-related content at least monthly. Similarly, 69% reported the same issue on TikTok and 64% on Snapchat and YouTube. Among those most vulnerable to the downsides of social media were girls with moderate to severe symptoms of depression, who were more likely to say their lives would be better without social media. “That’s a really significant number of girls who are already struggling and then are coming across this type of harmful content online,” Nesi laments.
-----CHARTER SCHOOLS -----
Florida signs universal school choice into law
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has now signed universal school choice into law, resulting in the Sunshine State becoming just the fourth state to pass such a law. Florida House Bill 1 expands available school choice options for all 1.3m students in Florida by eliminating financial eligibility restrictions and the current enrollment cap. DeSantis's office claimed the legislation will "further cement Florida's position as the nation's leader in school choice." At present - six states have passed universal school choice, the others being Utah, Iowa, Arizona, West Virginia, and Arkansas. Other states that could potentially soon pass school choice legislation include Idaho, Indiana, Ohio, and Wyoming.
School voucher-like program in Texas could initially cost $1bn
The current push by lawmakers for a voucher-like program that could funnel state money to private schools could cost an estimated $1bn a year by 2028, while draining funds from public schools, according to a newly released fiscal note from the state’s Legislative Budget Board. The analysis is the first to place a price tag on a bill prioritized by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. The legislation would give families $8,000 in public funds to spend on private school or other educational costs. Only students currently enrolled in public school or just beginning their education would be eligible for the newly created “education savings accounts.” The analysis assumes 25,000 children will leave public schools to take advantage of the program in the first year, and that the number will grow to nearly 42,000 by 2028. While the annual cost of the program starts at $512m, the figure balloons to nearly $1bn within three years, the analysis found. Meanwhile, the fiscal note said traditional school districts would face a loss of state funding “as a result of this bill due to students leaving public schools to participate in the program.” Senators will most likely vote in the next committee meeting whether the bill goes before the full Senate.
Dallas Morning News The Texas Tribune
----- 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.com
Click here to schedule an appointment
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