KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
This week, let’s meet the ABCFT negotiating team!
We currently have ten members on the team, with a broad range of experience at different levels and with specific programs. The members of the team offer insights from their years of service as site representatives, district committee representatives, CFT committees, AFT committees, as well as delegates at both the state and national level.
Patty Alcantar has been with ABCUSD for twenty-three years. She first started as a
paraeducator at Gonsalves for the Extended Day Program (EDP), then transitioned to a
teacher position at Mary Bragg for EDP. For the last three years Patty has been working at Niemes as a teacher for the Head Start Program. It is her pleasure and honor to serve ABCFT as Vice President of Child Development and a member of the negotiating team.
Edith Corrales is a first-grade Spanish Dual Immersion teacher at Furgeson Elementary. She has worked in ABC Unified since 2011 at Furgeson Elementary and enjoyed a year in TK at Melbourne Elementary. As well as being a former Site Representative at Furgeson, she has also participated in the ABCFT Teacher Leader program.
Kelley Forsythe is a sixth-grade teacher at Niemes Elementary. She is one of the newer members to the negotiating team but brings years of union experiences and has participated in many different capacities within ABCFT. Her current union roles are long time site rep for Niemes Elementary, PAL Survey Coordinator, PAL Council Coordinator, and PASS Program Coordinator. Her previous union works includes an ABCFT Teacher Leader participant and co-facilitator as well as Elementary Vice President.
Ray Gaer is a twenty-seven-year educational veteran who spent fourteen years as a classroom teacher and ABCFT representative and is now in his thirteenth year as ABCFT President. He has served twenty-three years on the negotiating team. In addition, he is a Vice President for the California Federation of Teachers, A member of the Program Policy Committee for the American Federation of Teachers, a founding member of The California Labor Management Initiative, and a board director for the educational support non-profit organization Catalyst for Educational Change.
Tanya Golden is celebrating her twentieth year with ABC eleventh year on the negotiating team. She is currently working in the union office as the Membership Coordinator and was recently re-elected as the Executive Vice President for ABCFT. She previously worked at Willow and Carver elementary schools primarily as a 6th grade teacher. She is currently an active member of the workgroup of CA educational partners updating and refreshing the 2009 CA Standards of Teaching Profession (CSTP) with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) . Tanya also serves as the Senior Vice President for CFT’s EC/TK-12 Division Council where she supports local union presidents across the state and advocates for educational related issues at the state level when she is not cheering on the LA Rams.
Cami Hadden has been teaching in ABC for twenty-one years and she is very excited to be a part of the ABCFT negotiating team. She accepted a long-term substitute ELA position at Carmenita MS. Then was hired at Fedde MS teaching PE, math, and science. Approximately a year and two months later, she moved to Ross MS, and has been there since. This is her twentieth year at Ross where she is currently teaching 8th-grade English and Journalism/Yearbook. She has also been a site rep at Ross for approximately sixteen years.
Daren Ham is a veteran teacher with twenty-two years in the district. He worked twenty years at Fedde Middle School and is currently teaching English at Cerritos High School. In the past he has served as the Vice President of Middle Schools for ABCFT and has served for multiple years on the negotiation team. In his spare time, Daren is a writer, composer, musician, and avid bike enthusiast)
David Hind is an English teacher at Cerritos High School. This is his seventeenth year as a full-time teacher at Cerritos, but he was with the district as a sub and a temporary teacher for over two years before that. He is in his eleventh year as a site rep at CHS. In addition, David is on the district's Strategic Planning Committee, the union's COPE Committee, and the CFT's Labor and Climate Justice Education Committee.
Ruben Mancillas has been a special education teacher, first in the SDC program and now in RSP, at Tracy High School for twenty five years. He has served as Executive Vice President, Vice President of High Schools, and Vice President at Large, as well as on the negotiating team for ABCFT. He is currently on the district Finance and Audit committee. Ruben has been active as a delegate and committee member for both CFT and AFT. He learned bargaining skills from Gavin Riley, his predecessor as chief negotiator.
Jill Yasutake began in ABC in 2001 at Stowers as an Intervention Teacher. She then moved to kindergarten and was elected as the site rep at Stowers before being working as Assistant to the Principal at Melbourne. Also worked part time at Leal as a TOSA and worked one year as an IT TOSA. Then moved to Wittmann as a Kindergarten teacher. Served as ABCFT Rep on the Board Policy Committee, Negotiation Team member, AFT Teacher Leader participant, CFT Retirement Committee member, and convention delegate to CFT and AFT conventions. In 2021, moved to Hawaiian as the Intervention Specialist.
Thank you to these team members for volunteering their time to represent their colleagues. The negotiating team continues to fight for the best possible compensation package, working conditions, and contract language for all members. We will negotiate again with the district on Thursday, October 12.
In Unity,
MEMBER-ONLY RESOURCES
Teaching to Discern Fact from Fiction
Join AFT’s Share My Lesson for a free Debunking Disinformation: Empowering Educators with Tools and Strategies on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 6:30 p.m. EDT.
In an age where information is readily accessible with just a few taps on a screen, the ability to discern fact from fiction has never been more crucial. Teachers can provide students with the tools to critically evaluate sources, understand the motives behind disinformation campaigns, and navigate the digital landscape with discernment.
In this upcoming webinar, veteran teachers will be highlighting the AFT’s recent Defining Mis- and Disinformation Toolkit and focusing on portions of the toolkit that seek to equip educators (and parents!) with the tools and resources they need to sensitively and responsibly respond to disinformation in the classroom and at home.
SPEAKERS: Toni Bourgea, English language arts teacher, AFT Massachusetts and Joe Boyle, social studies teacher, Toledo (Ohio) Federation of Teachers.
ABC SCHOOL BOARD HIGHLIGHTS
There was an ABCUSD School Board meeting last Tuesday and here are some of the highlights of that night. A number of new teachers who have completed the ABC Teacher Induction Program with Program Specialist Stacey Hamagiwa were recognized for their accomplishments at the board meeting. Congratulations to those teachers who have completed this two-year induction program. In attendance to support their achievements were many site administrators, fellow colleagues, family, and friends.
Here are a few clips from the meeting:
Carver Elementary National Blue Ribbon Achievement
Superintendent Dr. Zietlow Board Report
Public Comment in support of teachers by Kirit Chauhan (Educator, Active ABC community member)
ABC School Board Clerk Ernie Nishii met Civil Rights Icon Dolores Huerta as he accepted the Equity Champion Award for the Asian Pacific Islander School Board Association.
By Linda J. Hernández (ABCFT-Retiree)
The California Latino School Boards Unity conference at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach was postponed due to a Labor Dispute. With over 300 registered participants, scheduled speakers were Tony Thurmond (CA Superintendent of Schools), Ms. Sylvia Méndez from the Méndez vs. Westminster School District Lawsuit, which paved the way for the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case, and Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers co-founder with César Chávez. A Labor Dispute between the hotel workers and The Hyatt (and other surrounding hotels) convinced the organizers to postpone the conference.
On Friday, September 29, at the Queen Mary (an entity that was not subject to the job action), The California Asian Pacific Islander School Board Association, through Ernie Nishii, ABC School Board Clerk, accepted the Equity Champion Award from CLSBA.
ABC Unified School District Representatives were set to present The Artesia High School Success Story. AHS Principal Sergio Garcia, Board Member Dr. Olga Rios, Superintendent Dr. Gina Zietlow and Board Clerk Ernie Nishii, discussed how Artesia High School beat the odds regarding academic success and created a school that has a 100% college application rate. Their presentation is entitled Igniting and Elevating Multilingual Learners at Artesia High School. Hearty Congratulations are in order to the hard-working AHS staff and students to make this level of academic achievement possible!
KEEPING YOU INFORMED- Elementary Update
Megan Mitchell - Vice President of Elementary School
6th Grade Teacher- Cerritos Elementary School
“I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitous.”- Michael Scott, Regional Manager of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of Dunder Mifflin Inc.,
Not only is October one of the longest months of the school year due to its lack of holidays or days off, this year we also have to survive Friday the 13th and Halloween on a Tuesday. For teachers, this is the equivalent of splitting a pole, stepping on a crack, and being stalked by a black cat.
Heading into the month of October, a lot is going on in the district, especially in the elementary level. On Tuesday, October 10th, elementary teachers are invited to attend our first monthly town hall. My hope is that this will be a space for elementary teachers and nurses to connect with colleagues across the district to shed light on any concerns or questions that pertain specifically to elementary teachers and nurses. These monthly town halls will take place on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, which is the day before my scheduled PAL meetings with Dr. Balbuena on the 2nd Wednesday of the month. Having the opportunity to hear directly from elementary staff will have any questions or concerns fresh on my mind prior to my meeting with Dr. Balbuena. If you are interested in attending, please register here.
Important dates to remember:
October 10, 2023: Elementary Teachers Monthly Townhall
October 11, 2023: 6th Grade District writing assessment. (Students cannot opt out)
October 18, 2023: Make Up Day
October 24, 2023: Required Scoring Training, 3:30-5:00 pm
October 30, 2023: WHS Scoring Begins (will be about a 6 week process)
Reminder: Teacher resources in the ABCUSD Elementary Teacher Resources file
Elementary Academic Services Resource link (Use your abcusd.us account)
*For Elementary Education Issues please email Megan at Megan.Mitchell@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
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. This weekly report informs members about issues impacting their working/learning conditions and mental well-being. Our work as a Union is a larger conversation and united we make the YOUnion.
I attended the ABC District Safety Committee meeting this Wednesday to discuss the impact of COVID over the last month. ABC numbers are down and are fifty percent of August's positive COVID cases at 133 cases for the month of September (110 students and 23 staff members). I learned that COVID notifications and the tracking of positive cases is still being mandated by CAL OSHA and the LA County Department of Health. These safeguard processes will remain in place until there are changes at the county and state level.
Last week, I attended the ABC School Facilities Capacities and Declining Enrollment AD HOC Committee. This is a school board committee that has been tasked with making possible recommendations for the repurposing of school district property and school sites. This committee consists of school board appointees (one each), labor union representatives (CSEA, AFSCME, ABCFT) and management (administrators) in addition to school board members. This committee is currently looking at the facilities' use data and demographic projections for ABC Schools as it works to create criteria to analyze the maximization of the use of facilities in a trend of declining enrollment. As I have stated in recent reports, as with a majority of districts across the country, ABCUSD is heavily impacted by the declining enrollment numbers in our schools.
As a representative of ABCFT at this committee, my purpose is to voice the concerns of our members while safeguarding the analysis and recommendation process. The voice of educators and the impact of any board decision to repurpose or close a community school is a top concern and I am glad that labor union representatives are part of this historical process. In my YOUnionews reports, I will share the data and criteria used as tools for analysis by the committee. This process is transparent and I encourage you to follow the development of this committee's recommendations.
As a classroom teacher, we never think about the closing or repurposing of a school site but it will most likely become a reality in ABC in the 2025–2026 school year. I will tell you that the process is not being rushed, as we have seen in other districts with disregard for community populations. The process will be people-centered and employees' livelihoods will be honored. If there moves of teachers those will be done with care and dignity. My job as president over the next couple of years is to keep you informed and to ensure dignity and care is taken with all teachers and nurses. There will be change. However, with every change done with teacher/nurse voice included, there will be opportunities, new innovations and growth opportunities.
This is the file I shared last week that shows our current enrollment situation. Take into consideration as you look at it that these facilities once housed around twenty-two thousand students a little over a decade ago. What I will share with you next week is a chart that illustrates the movement of students due to school of choice.
Here are the committee minutes from the August meeting. (once meeting notes are approved, I will share them in the YOUnionews)
Finally, as we explore these data points, you will see that there are no clear-cut cases for a school to be on the final recommendation. There are factors to consider for each school site and facility. This is why a clear criteria and process is extremely important. The advice I will give anyone, including me, who is stressed and concerned about what will happen is that we need to be logical, go slow so we don’t make mistakes, don’t jump to conclusions, and trust the process. Feel free to write me specific questions you might have so that I can address them in future reports.
Have a good weekend.
In YOUnity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Take action on two critical bills for education workers
Please take a moment to sign two critical online letters, urging Governor Newsom to support public education workers.
#1 – Urge Governor Newsom to give part-time classified staff the right of first refusal to open jobs
Please sign this letter, urging Governor Newsom to sign AB 1699, which would require all public TK-14 schools to provide existing classified employees with a right of first refusal for part- and full-time jobs they can reasonably perform.
The majority of classified school employees only work part-time, and many earn less than $30,00 per year. They struggle financially because they aren’t provided enough hours to make ends meet and don’t qualify for benefits such as health insurance or a pension.
AB 1699 is essential to make sure all classified staff have the opportunity for full-time work with the benefits that they deserve.
Sign the petition here.
#2 – Urge Governor Newsom to support public sector workers who want to honor picket lines
Please take a moment to sign this petition, urging Governor Newsom to sign AB 504, which would provide state and local government workers in California the right to refuse to cross picket lines.
If the Governor signs AB 504, it would make it illegal for the UC (or any other public agency in California) to discipline or terminate any employee who refuses to do the work of people on strike. This would take away the power of the UC to pit workers against each other, as they did during the recent UAW strike earlier this year, when they threatened CFT members represented by UC-AFT, forcing them to cross the picket line and even do the work of the striking workers.
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-----
LGBTQ+ students in conservative crosshairs
Seven California school districts pass policies requiring staff tell parents if students are transgender
LGBTQ+ students are the latest target in a campaign to promote conservative policies in California schools under the banner of parental rights. Over the last two months, seven school boards have passed policies that require school district staff to inform parents if their children are transgender.
Chino Valley Unified in San Bernardino County, Murrieta Valley Unified and Temecula Valley Unified in Riverside County, Orange Unified in Orange County, Anderson Union High School District in Shasta County, and Rocklin Unified and Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District in Placer County all require that teachers and other school staff inform parents, generally within three days, if a student asks to use a different name or pronoun, or to take part in a program, or to use a facility associated with a gender other than the one they had at birth.
Other school districts will follow, predicted Jonathan Zachreson, a Roseville City Unified board member and conservative activist. Almost every school district in Placer County, near Sacramento, is expected to consider the policy, he said.
Proponents of the parental notification policies have said that parents have the right to know what is going on with their children at school and that minors do not have a right to privacy. Opponents say these policies could endanger already vulnerable students who should be able to decide when they want to come out to their parents
.https://edsource.org/2023/lgbtq-students-in-conservative-crosshairs/698052
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Teacher pay gap hits record high
The "teacher pay penalty" reached a record high of 26.4% in 2022, according to an Economic Policy Institute report. Rising inflation has exacerbated the wage gap between teachers and other professionals. Teacher wages have remained stagnant for decades, while inflation has eroded any salary increases. In contrast, employees in other sectors have seen their wages grow over time. With inflation at its highest level since 1981, the buying power of teachers has significantly decreased. The report warns that substantial pay increases will be necessary to recover from this significant loss. Low pay is also driving teachers out of the classroom, with many citing it as one of the top reasons for considering leaving their jobs. This data aligns with a RAND Corporation survey published in September.
Schools nationwide still battling chronic absenteeism
Chronic absenteeism worsened in at least 40 states during the 2021-22 school year, according to data compiled by Thomas Dee, a Stanford University education professor, in partnership with the Associated Press. The needle hasn’t moved much in the handful of states that have released data for last school year so far. “The consequences of kids being sporadically in school and not fully engaging take a while to really shift,” comments Hedy Chang, the executive director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that focuses on raising school attendance. “It’s definitely not something that happens overnight, and may take longer than we would like.” In New Mexico, for example, chronic absenteeism shot up to 40% two school years ago and remained at 39% last year, compared to 18% the year before the pandemic. Similar trends have emerged in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Virginia.
Government shutdown averted
President Joe Biden signed a stopgap bill late Saturday night to avert a government shutdown ahead of a critical midnight deadline when funding for federal agencies was set to expire. The Senate passed the measure Saturday evening after the House abruptly reversed course earlier in the day and passed a bipartisan bill to extend government funding after days of uncertainty. The legislation punts a potential shutdown until November 17.
----- STATE NEWS -----
San Diego districts pulling away from LGBTQ+ efforts
Some school districts in San Diego County are facing a backlash for their support of LGBTQ+ initiatives. Parents and conservative groups have urged districts to ban books on LGBTQ+ topics, reject diversity plans, and eliminate references to LGBTQ+ people in schools. In response, some districts have removed LGBTQ+-affirming materials and programs, claiming that LGBTQ+ identities and topics are political issues. However, LGBTQ+ advocates argue that these actions erase and discriminate against LGBTQ+ students and staff. The conflicts have also affected district services and initiatives beyond LGBTQ+-specific programs. While some districts continue to provide support for LGBTQ+ students, others have barred school staff from posting LGBTQ+-supportive materials. The opposition to LGBTQ+ topics in schools comes from parent groups who argue for parental rights and claim that these topics distract students from learning. LGBTQ+ advocates argue that these opponents are using parental rights as an excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. California laws support LGBTQ+ students in schools, but the controversy continues to divide communities and school boards.
California districts largely already compliant with gender-neutral restrooms law
With the announcement of new state legislation, all K-12 public and private schools in California will be required to provide and maintain at least one gender-neutral restroom on campus by 2026. Many school districts in the area already have gender-neutral restrooms available, but the Newport-Mesa Unified School District has offered them for years. The Huntington Beach City School District is in the planning stages to ensure compliance with the new legislation. The Laguna Beach Unified School District has had gender-neutral restrooms on every campus since 2017 and continues to enhance these facilities. The new law comes amid debates over student privacy rights and the Orange Unified School District's parental notification policy for transgender students.
----- DISTRICTS -----
San Francisco USD makes proposal to avoid teacher strike
San Francisco USD has presented a proposal to labor unions in order to prevent an imminent teacher strike. The district's offer includes a $10,000 bonus or a 15% raise for teachers, as well as a $30 per hour minimum rate or a 5% increase for teachers working with special needs students. If accepted, these salary increases would take effect immediately, potentially providing a pay raise for SFUSD teachers before the holidays. The proposal aims to address the concerns of teachers and ensure their dedication to providing quality education.
Learning at Temecula Valley Unified suffers as censorship fears rise
May 12 began as a typical school day for Temecula Valley High School drama teacher Greg Bailey.
But when he opened his mailbox, he found a printed copy of an email, sent on May 7, complaining that he taught the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Angels in America” by Tony Kushner, which deals with the AIDS epidemic in New York during the 1980s.
Allegations mounted that Bailey was grooming students and that he forced them to perform a short, explicit scene involving a gay man who makes questionable choices while dealing with the pain of his partner who was dying of AIDS.
Two days later, he was called to the principal’s office at Temecula Valley High School, and about 48 hours after that meeting, he was pulled out of the classroom and placed on paid leave, leaving his students in the hands of a long-term sub and the theater department that he runs in limbo.
“Most kids who take Drama 1, that’s the only drama class they will ever take in high school, and my whole goal is to bring in the most important, most talked-about plays,” Bailey said during an August interview.
“I tell them that it is about the AIDS crisis in the ‘80s in New York, that it contains adult language, that it has graphic situations in it. And it’s clear from the very first day of class in the fall semester that if students are uncomfortable with anything in the material or the way that anyone talks about them, that they just need to come to me, and we’ll make them comfortable because being comfortable in drama class is really, really important.”
Fresno teachers union headed for strike
The Fresno Teachers Union is on the verge of a strike after the deadline it imposed on Fresno USD officials to conclude negotiations passed on Friday. The union's 4,000 members are expected to vote on whether to strike on October 18th. Fresno USD has started offering $500-a-day pay for substitutes, which the union sees as a sign that the district is unwilling to compromise. Nevertheless, the district and the union are awaiting a report from a fact-finding panel with recommendations on a potential compromise. The negotiation troubles between the district and the union have been ongoing, with the district accusing the union of not adhering to the agreed-upon interest-based bargaining approach.
Fresno teachers association threatens strike over contract
More than a thousand members of the Fresno Teachers Association rallied in late May, vowing to strike if a contract agreement is not reached by September 29, 2023. The union and Fresno Unified, the state's third-largest school district, have been in negotiations since November 2022. The union's proposals aim to improve public education by focusing on teacher support, student support, and increased pay and benefits. For its part, Fresno Unified claims to have offered 11% raises, which would put the average teacher salary at over six figures. Other issues in the negotiations include lifetime retiree benefits, class size caps, and tying student performance to teacher evaluations.
-----CHARTER SCHOOLS -----
Effectiveness of private school choice programs challenged
Advocates of expanding private school choice argue that state dollars are necessary to provide affordable alternatives to struggling public schools. However, data from several states show that a majority of students participating in these programs were already enrolled in private schools or were homeschool students. Reports from Iowa, Florida, and Arizona reveal that a significant percentage of applicants to universal education savings account programs were already in private schools. Critics worry about the implications of state-funded programs that primarily serve students who were already attending private schools, as these programs are not held to the same standards of academic accountability and anti-discrimination requirements as public schools. Additionally, the relatively low enrollment of former public school students in private school choice programs tends to lead to underestimation of costs. Proponents and critics agree that there is still much to learn about the impact and effectiveness of private school choice programs.
----- WORKFORCE ----
Gender gap persists among nation’s superintendents
A new report by the Superintendent Research Project indicates that women still lead less than a third of the nation’s 500 largest school districts. The education strategy and policy group said that, while female representation in district leadership has increased slightly from previous years, as of July 2023 just 30.4% of leaders in the nation’s largest districts were women, while 70% were men. A slight increase from 29.4% in 2022 and 28% in 2021. The Northeast is the first geographic region of the country to achieve equal representation among leadership in its largest school districts, with 51% of 37 superintendents being women. The Southeast had the lowest representation at 23%, with just 34 of the 150 superintendents in its largest districts being women. Notably, majority female school boards were also more likely than majority male boards to choose female superintendents, suggesting that “more diverse leadership at the board level may be a potential path in driving broader change in leadership representation.”
Increasing the Pipeline for Asian Language Teachers
Cal State Fullerton addresses the growing need for Asian dual-language immersion programs
To address the statewide shortage of K-12 credentialed teachers who teach Asian languages, Cal State Fullerton’s College of Education will lead the California State University Asian Language Bilingual Teacher Education Program Consortium.
The consortium received $5 million from the California Legislature to increase the number of educators with bilingual authorization in Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, Hmong, Tagalog and Khmer (Cambodian).
Teacher candidates interested in earning a credential and bilingual authorization in Asian languages are eligible for $20,000 scholarships. Current teachers can receive either a $2,200 scholarship or enroll in the required courses for free.
Natalie Tran, professor of educational leadership and secondary education at Cal State Fullerton, is leading this statewide effort and is an advocate for providing instruction in both English and an Asian language in California schools and beyond.
Tran said: “This funding benefits CSU bilingual authorization teacher candidates, faculty and school districts across the state. The consortium plays a critical role in addressing the growing demands for Asian dual-language immersion programs and teacher shortages in Orange County and California as a whole.
https://news.fullerton.edu/press-release/increasing-the-pipeline-for-asian-language-teachers/
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Are virtual educators an answer to teacher shortages?
One live virtual teaching company, Elevate K-12, notes an uptick in district interest in its services amid severe, ongoing educator vacancies.
Susan Padgett, a veteran math teacher of 28 years, pivoted away from in-person teaching in 2021 to do live virtual instruction as she began to have issues with her knees, which made standing and walking more difficult in a traditional school setting.
“I was struggling in the brick-and-mortar schools because of that,” Padgett said. “They don’t want you to sit down. You always have to be standing, and I was starting to have difficulties with my health.”
Though Padgett still teaches to a classroom full of students, there’s a twist: She now instructs from home, while cameras positioned around the room allow her to see her students. A large screen at the front of her room streams Padgett’s face, and an in-person paraprofessional assists in the actual classroom.
Quick fixes to address shortages and get more adults in front of classrooms — even if they aren’t yet fully certified in teaching — have ranged in recent years from enlisting military personnel and veterans without bachelor’s degrees to teach in Florida classrooms to removing bachelor’s requirements in Arizona so long as the person teaching full time is on track to earn a credential.
Padgett, however, is part of a growing trend in which certified instructors are delivering live lessons virtually to in-person groups of students. An analysis of GovSpend data by The 74 found districts are increasingly paying up for these services. For instance, districts’ annual spending on Proximity, another live virtual teacher company, jumped from $6.3 million in 2020 to more than $21 million in 2022.
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