Week in Review – May 5, 2017
ABCFT This Week –
ABCFT Site Rep Meeting on Thursday.
Each month the your site representative meet to get new information on curriculum and testing,, share concerns, share best practices, board reports, and get political updates. We will begin to share the site rep talking points in our week in review emails for those of you who would like a copy of the information.
ABC School Board Recognizes Newly Tenured ABC Teachers
Last Tuesday at the school board meeting more than forty newly tenured teachers were honored and recognised for their achievement. If you see any of these teachers on your campus give them a fist bump in congratulations. Congratulations to all these wonderful teachers! May your tenure in ABC be long and rewarding..
ABCFT attends OC Department of Education to Give Presentation
Ray Gaer, Ruben Mancillas, and Megan Harding from ABCFT along with Dr. Mary Sieu and Dr. Gina Zietlow participated in a symposium on “The Recruitment and Retention of Teachers”. This symposium centered around the data and research examining the teacher shortage that is currently happening nationwide. Superintendent Dr. Sieu and ABCFT President Ray Gaer gave a presentation illustrating how ABC remains a lighthouse for teacher recruitment and retention. If you are interested in receiving a share of the presentation slides send us an email at ABCFT@abcusd.us
A recent video on collaboration where ABC was featured can be found here:
Gavin Riley, ABCFT Chief Negotiator for more than twenty-five years resigns:
Gavin Riley resigned from the ABCFT Executive Board and the ABCFT Negotiating team this last week. His resignation comes before this month’s ABCFT board election which he played an important role on for twenty-three years. Gavin retired from ABC almost ten years ago but has stayed active in ABCFT as a chief negotiator and mentor to a new generation of union activists. ABCFT will be forever a stronger union because of Gavin’s influence over the years. If you would like to write directly to him here is his email address: Gavin562@aol.com
ABCFT Officer Elections:
Officer elections will be held at posted times and dates at each site May 9th-10th. Or you may vote at the Union Hall on May 10th-11th from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
President’s Report-
I attended/worked on teacher representations, contract resolutions, site concerns and mediations. I also attended this week's school board meeting and site rep council meeting. I met with potential board member Olga Rios and current board members Soo Yoo and Lynda Johnson to discuss teacher issues and overall district vision and direction. Among a number of topics ABCFT is also advocating for additional mental health services for teachers as teaching continues to be an unusually high stress occupation.
On Wednesday, I participated in a presentation at the OC Department of Education on the nationwide teacher shortage. ABC has been exceptionally successful in retaining staff in hard to staff schools due to the number of teacher supports for teachers in ABC. A preliminary report by Dr. Saul Rubenstein from Rutgers University on ABC teachers stresses the support of teachers and teacher voice as the most important reason why teachers remain in ABC. On Friday, I am attending the CFT Division Council for EC/TK12 and CFT State Council meetings to get reports on State issues and to participate in sharing best practices and solutions for common local union issues.
As part of our information ramp up we are going to revive our ABC Federation of Teacher FACEBOOK page so go there and friend us so you can share pictures and thoughts.
May is a busy month for us all, hang in there!
Ray Gaer
ABCFT President
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
AFT’s Weingarten on the AHCA
WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten released the following statement on the American Health Care Act:
“Today is a dark day in the Republican-led House of Representatives. They have perpetrated a cruel hoax on America’s families and their quality of life.
“Seven years ago, Congress acted to create a healthier America. Today, President Trump and House Republicans turned back the clock to a time when many families were one illness away from bankruptcy or destitution and unable to access affordable healthcare.
“Without reading the bill or knowing the cost to the American taxpayes, Trumpcare strips healthcare coverage from millions of families to create new tax breaks for the wealthy.
“Let’s be clear: This bill robs millions of Americans of essential benefits like maternity and pediatric care, makes deep cuts to Medicaid that disproportionately punish low-income Americans and special needs students, and maintains the excise tax on working families’ group plans. And for the half of all Americans who obtain insurance through their employers, this bill puts them at risk of losing the current legal protections that cap out-of-pocket costs.”
NATIONAL NEWS
Congress stands firm against Trump’s education cuts
The bipartisan congressional budget agreement reached over the weekend cuts back total federal spending on education by $60m but upholds or increases funding for a series of higher-education programs aimed at low-income students. Barmak Nassirian, director of federal relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said: “This agreement is at once a confirmation of the institutional supremacy of Congress on budgetary issues and a serious bipartisan pushback against the administration’s rather extreme proposals. I can only assume that the 2018 budget will be similarly mainstream and constructive”.
Special education at risk from new health care bill
The U.S. House of Representatives is to vote today on legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, with senior Republicans confident of having the 216 votes needed to send it to the Senate. The latest iteration of the American Heath Care Act, which failed to pass muster a couple of months ago, cuts Medicaid funding by $880bn, or 25%, over a decade, and imposes a “per-capita cap” on funding for certain groups of people, such as children and the elderly. AASA, an advocacy association for school superintendents, estimates that school districts receive about $4bn in Medicaid reimbursements annually; the cuts would strain the ability of school systems to provide services mandated under the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. John George, executive director of the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit in Pennsylvania, said “It’s devastating. Our most vulnerable citizens are going to be suffering the most. If any legislator votes for this, it’s unconscionable”.
Voucher initiative hampers student achievement
According to new federal analysis from the Education Department, students in the country’s only federally funded school voucher initiative performed worse on standardized tests within a year after entering D.C. private schools than those who did not participate. The study follows several other recent studies of state-funded vouchers in Louisiana, Indiana and Ohio that suggested negative effects on student achievement.
Student test scores and US economic growth analysed
Many US economists believe there is an important link between student standardized test scores and economic growth in the country. Critics have argued that a link doesn’t really exist, but the debate reignites when new scores from the Program for International Student Assessment are released. Eric Hanushek, who develops accountability systems, says the US is missing out on economic growth and that a revamping of the public education system is necessary for the country’s economic health.
Trump takes aim at Obama-era schools initiatives
The Trump administration has taken aim at two of Michelle Obama's schools initiatives, rolling back nutrition regulations which formed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and potentially dropping her Let Girls Learn program, which works to educate adolescent girls abroad. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the programs had resulted in increased costs for school districts and declining participation in the federal school lunch program. Beginning next school year, schools can request an exemption from whole grain requirements, delay the sodium mandate and also serve 1% flavored milk instead of non-fat. The Post notes spokesperson Heather Nauert denied the Let Girls Learn program was being rolled back: "We are committed to empowering women and girls around the world and are continuing to examine the best ways to do so," she said.
STATE NEWS
Employers can pay women less
A federal appeals court has ruled that employers can legally pay women less than men for the same work based on differences in the workers' previous salaries. The ruling came during a lawsuit by a California school employee, Aileen Rizo, who learned in that her male counterparts were making more than she was.
DISTRICTS
Low-income, minority students lagging in high school graduation rates
Low-income and minority students continue to lag behind their peers in finishing high school, according to a study by Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University. While the national graduation rate for the year 2015 was 83.2%, it was only 77.8% for Latino students and 74.6% for black students. However, these students' graduation rates are increasing faster than their white peers: graduation rates have increased 7.6% for black students and 6.8% for Latino students since 2011, compared to 3%-4% for white students, said Jennifer DePaoli, a researcher with Civic Enterprises and the lead author of the report.
CLASSROOM
1 in 8 children in California schools have an undocumented parent
Posing significant challenges for educators, about 1 in 8 students in California schools has at least one parent who is undocumented, according to a new brief from the Education Trust-West. Undocumented children as well as U.S. citizen children with undocumented relatives have experienced heightened anxieties for several years as a result of deportation policies begun under President George W. Bush and tightened ones under President Barack Obama. But according to school officials, those anxieties have reached new heights since Donald Trump’s inauguration, with possible consequences on their ability to focus on school work, the willingness of parents to attend school events, or even to bring their children to school.
The changing face of school discipline...
The 74's Matt Barnum explores how school districts across the country are altering how they deal with student misbehavior. From Los Angeles to New York City, he says, schools have reduced the frequency with which they give out-of-school suspensions on the grounds that taking students out of class does "more harm than good". Rebecca Hinze-Pifer, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago who studied school discipline, is quoted as stressing: “Hours in the classroom do affect student learning. By its nature, suspension separates a student from that instructional time”.
WORKFORCE
Last chance saloon before San Diego layoffs
The third and final town hall meeting between San Diego USD board members and educators was held on May 1st, before the district decides how many teacher layoffs will be finalized. By May 15th, the board will have to finalize or rescind its proposed layoffs.
BEHAVIOR
CHARTER
Charters schools backed
An appeals court on Friday upheld a ruling that the state’s controversial parent-trigger law could be used to convert Palm Lane Elementary in Anaheim from a traditional campus to a charter school. The Los Angeles Times says the decision by a three-judge panel from the state’s 4th District Court of Appeal could embolden hesitant charter advocates and parents to try the trigger process at other schools, even though serious questions remain about when the law would apply and how.
TECHNOLOGY
Google’s U.S. classroom dominance up for grabs
Microsoft's new suite of education products, released Tuesday, shows the company's determination to reverse Google's dominance in U.S. classrooms in recent years. The Chromebook has gone from a "standing start" in 2011 to leading the market for education technology, Fortune notes, which tech companies have traditionally viewed as a critical way to win over the "next generation" of users.
Automated future will require new schooling
Two-thirds believe new schooling will emerge in the next decade to successfully train workers for the future, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center and Elon University which surveyed 1,408 technology and education workers. Contributions from respondents included a suggestions that schools will need to teach traits that machines can’t yet easily replicate, like creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, adaptability and collaboration.
FINANCE
HEALTH
HIGHER EDUCATION
Colleges worry about their international profile
Some U.S. colleges are worried that the nation's politics - notably widely reported anti-immigrant sentiment - could be steering international students elsewhere as the country gains a reputation in the eyes of some observers for becoming less welcoming to foreigners. Nearly half the nation's 25 largest public universities have seen undergraduate applications from overseas fall or stagnate since last year, according to data colleges provided to The Associated Press. International applications to California State University, Northridge, are down 26% compared with this time last year. "Students are telling us that they don't feel safe here in the United States. That they're concerned about discrimination, racism," said Katharine Johnson Suski, admissions director at Iowa State University.
College enrollment among high-school grads increases
The share of recent high-school graduates who enrolled in college in 2016 grew to almost reach 2009’s record high, despite improved post-recession job-market conditions, according to the Labor Department. Figures reveal that, between January and October last year, 69.7% of 3.1m high-school graduates between the ages of 16 and 24 went to college or university.
OTHER
More video game time needed
A 7-year-old boy in Utah tried to trick his parents into giving him more video game time by pretending to be his teacher and writing a letter. It read, "Dear parents, Nathan has been doing good in all his classes except for video game class. If he does not stay up all night playing video games he will get kicked out of school."
Good source of information:
Principal News
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