ATA News

By David De Hart, ATA President

There is no doubt that too many teachers started this year with classrooms nearly filled to capacity, if not exceeding the class size limits outlined in our contract. At the high school during the first week, one teacher had 58 and 56 students in one class on 2 different days. But just like the reputation of the professionalism and high standards that teachers in this district are known for day in and day out in the classroom, he took it all in stride, and did the best job he could under impossible conditions to impart his expertise and knowledge of geometry to his students.

As teachers, we all realize the hardship this causes not only for ourselves, but also more importantly for our students. Changing schedules and teachers by moving students to different classrooms during the first few weeks of school negatively impacts their ability to learn. This is especially difficult for elementary school students not to mention the emotional adjustment teachers have to make when their students depart from their classrooms.

Why do classes start so full year after year? For the most part it is done to save money, but ironically it extracts a huge toll on students and teachers. On one hand, the district can be commended for doing all it can to save money during extraordinary economic conditions by not opening unnecessary sections and classes, which leads to an excess in the hiring of teachers. On the other hand, we must acknowledge the disruption caused and the real cost to learning. We can only hope that the district does its best each year to minimize the hardship and extra costs, financially and academically, by honing in more precisely on the exact number of students that will be attending our schools in the Fall and on the corresponding number of teachers needed to be hired.

Our saving grace is an excellent contract that keeps overall class sizes low compared to surrounding districts, and one that compensates us for going over the contractual limit. It stipulates the following class size limits:

• Grades k-3=28
• Grades 4-6=29
• Grades 7-12=150 per day
• Grades 6-12 P.E.=200 student contacts/day, no class to exceed 44

According to Article 18, Section 18.3 in your contract: “If class size maximums are exceeded, the affected unit member shall be notified of his/her eligibility for overage payment for every week or partial week during which the maximum class size is exceeded. No credit shall be accrued for the first 20 days of any semester or in the case of  k-12 the first 20 days of any school year unless the maximums continue to be exceeded following this 20-day grace period. In this event, overage shall be retroactive to the date the maximums was exceeded.

If class size maximums are exceeded, the teacher shall be paid the overage rate of $48.00 per week. For part time teachers, the overage rate of $48 shall be prorated proportionally to their full time equivalent assignment. Overages shall not be paid during winter, midwinter and spring breaks.

In no event shall the class size maximums or teacher load maximums be exceeded by more than two students and for seventh grade no class size shall exceed 31 students. This includes special day class students who are mainstreamed into the regular classroom. If all available classes are at contract limits and an additional student enrolls, the District and ATA will meet to consider a solution to the additional enrollment short of establishing an additional class.”

By September 23, the district must comply by the contract. I cannot stress this enough, you must inform your Site Faculty Representatives immediately should any violation of the contract ensue. Our union can only be strong if the teachers in our bargaining unit vigilantly monitor the enforcement of their contract. I wish you all a productive and fun year.

Location : Albany High School: Room 309, 3:45 p.m.

Snacks : Provided by AHS

1. Approval of June meeting minutes

2. Treasurer’s Report

3. Presidents Report-local and state issues

A. New teacher reception
B. Class size issues
C. Monthly meetings with Marla

4. Committee Reports

A. Negotiations
B. Grievance
C. Political Action: Campaign 2010
D. Membership
E. Elections: vacancy in office of vice-president

5. School Site Reports

A. Children’s Center
B. Cornell
C. Marin
D. Ocean View
E. Albany Middle School
F. MacGregor High School
G. Albany High School
6. Old Business

7. New Business

A. Stipend for newsletter editor

8. Adjournment

ATA officers will be hosting a reception for all new teachers to the district on Friday, August 27 at 4:00 pm at T-Rex, located on Gilman Street, at 10th Street, one block west of San Pablo Avenue. It will be a chance to meet the union officers, to learn a few tips for surviving without tenure in the AUSD and to ask any questions about the contract.

ATA Site Representative Council Meeting Dates

August 23, 2010 Institute Day, General Meeting
September 16, 2010 (snacks: AHS)
October 14, 2010 (snacks: AMS)
November 18, 2010 (snacks: Marin)
December 9, 2010 (snacks: Mac High)
January 13, 2011 (snacks: Cornell)
February 10, 2011 (snacks: Children’s Center)
March 10, 2011 (snacks: Ocean View)
April 21, 2011 (snacks: Marin)
May 12, 2011, General Meeting (snacks: AMS)

Agenda ATA rep council meeting – Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

(Snack provided by AHS – for full schedule go to Site Representative Council page)

Room 309 Albany High 3:45 pm

1. Approval of May meeting minutes.

2. President’s report – local and state happenings

3. Political news

4. Treasurer’s report

5. Committee reports (several minutes)

a. negotiations – discuss direction of negotitions

b. grievance

c. membership

d. elections:

6. School site Reports (several minutes each)

a. AHS

b. MacHigh

c. Children’s Center

d. Cornell

e. Marin

f. Oceanview

g. AMS

7. Old business

8. New business:

9. Adjournment

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President’s Corner
I am coming to the end of my second term as your ATA president.  It has been educational, challenging, and interesting. But most of all it has been a pleasure to work with, and for the great teachers we have in Albany.  I have had a chance to meet, talk, and see what many of you do.   I am constantly amazed at the wonderful things you do and the magic you make daily with your students.   Your new president, David DeHart and your new treasurer, Tedra Tanner will be taking over during the summer and are excited to join continuing vice president Liz Avery and secretary Loree Bruckmann-Harmon.

Difficult times continue with the state budget.  Right now the Governor’s proposal to cut CalWORKS and the accompanying child care programs is wreaking havoc with our district budget at the children’s center and we may be seeing layoffs of some of those teachers and staff.  Our other school programs and budget seem to be holding up so far, but as the summer wears on we need to be alert. We can no longer just close our doors and teach.  Politics threaten to overrun our nation’s social contract to provide a great public education to all.  Education is one of the cornerstones of our democracy and that is one of the reasons it is under attack by corporations and wealthy foundations and individuals.  Teachers and unions are blamed as a distraction to keep the public’s eye off what might be called the criminal defunding and privatizing of our society’s infrastructure.  We need to stand tall, make it clear what we are for, and why it is important.  We need to use our teaching skills to educate the public.  We need to let our Governor, our state and national legislators, and the Obama administration know that the problem is not teachers and unions.  The problem is lack of funding, lack of trust of teaching professionals, and poorly thought out and expensive testing programs.  Educating students is not like running a private corporation.  We can not just manufacture less of our students in bad years, we can not just send back damaged students to the supplier.  We take all students and do our best to help them become participating citizens in all the meanings of the word.  It is such important work.   Yet so heartbreaking when we are doing this with one hand tied behind our backs while hopping on one foot.

Remember to vote. CTA is strongly endorsing Tom Torlakson for State Superintendent of Education.  We need to make sure that he makes it to the November ballot.  There are several “education reform” bills bottled up in committee right now.  Some of them could have a severe impact on your job, please pay attention and let Sacramento hear from you.

District news: The district will be adding to your June paychecks an amount from the 2005 parcel tax.  We are owed $150,000 divided by the number of FTE working as of May 31st minus any taxes and retirement costs.  I am expecting it work out to around $400-$500 for a full time teacher.  We are owed this money each year for the following  three years as well, although there may be future negotiations over it as I have discussed with many of you during site meetings.

Remember you get health care for 12 months if you worked the whole teaching year from August 2009 through June 2010.  If you are leaving the district this June for any reason – moving away, non re-elected, retiring – the district is obligated to provide health care through August 2010 for you and your dependents.  Sometimes they have to do it by reimbursements to you because of CalPERS rules.
Have a great summer

Loring Barker

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Planning to retire this year?

As you prepare for this new chapter in your life please don’t forget that you and your loved ones can continue a portion of your current, active CTA-endorsed Life Insurance if you maintain a CTA-NEA Retired Lifetime Membership and apply within 120 days of retirement. To learn more contact The Standard’s dedicated CTA Customer Service Department at 800.522.0406.

Six Districts Participate In National Standards Pilot.

McClatchy Newspapers (5/7, Heinz) reported that Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) “is one of six districts around the country chosen to pilot math and reading standards that could someday set the bar for education nationwide.” APS, “along with school districts in Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Paul, Minn., and Cleveland…will be one of the first districts to try out and comment on the standards.” According to McClatchy, “The Common Core State Standards Initiative seeks to establish standards that can be used to compare student achievement nationally.”

Groups Call For Provision In Education Jobs Bill To Address Seniority-Based Layoffs.

Education Week (5/19, Sawchuck) reports, “With districts across the nation sending off thousands of pink slips, the issue of seniority-based layoffs has leapt front and center into the debate about changes to the teacher-quality continuum.” Now, some education groups, most of them “signatories of the Education Equality Project,” are calling for the “$23 billion education jobs bill up for consideration on Capitol Hill” to “be contingent on states abandoning seniority-based layoff policies.” Meanwhile, NEA president Dennis Van Roekel pointed out that “favoritism and ageism could enter into the layoff equation if principals alone get to determine who stays and who leaves.” Said Van Roekel, “I’m just not willing to put in the hands of one person all the biases that led to seniority in the first place.” Moreover, he added, “This idea that if you’re young you must be a good teacher and if you’re a veteran you must not be, that’s a very false assumption.”

Lawsuit Seeks To Overhaul California School Finance System.

The AP (5/21, Chea) reports, “A coalition of students, school districts and education groups sued the state of California on Thursday, seeking to force the governor and Legislature to develop a new system to fund its cash-strapped public schools.” Education Week (5/20, Maxwell) reported that “the plaintiffs — including nine school districts and 60 students and their families — argue that although the state prescribes what teachers must teach and what students must learn, it does not provide the resources to deliver on those requirements.” The parties “are asking the courts to order” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) “and the state legislature to scrap the current finance system and design a new one that is ‘sound, stable, and sufficient.’”

The New York Times (5/21, Mieszkowski) notes that when California’s per-pupil funding is “adjusted for regional cost differences in the price of educational services,” the state “spends $2,856 less per pupil than the national average, making it No. 47 on the state rankings, according to the National Education Association.” The Whittier (CA) Daily News (5/21, Garcia), KABC-TV Los Angeles (5/21, Miranda), and the Los Angeles Times (5/20) “LA Now” blog also covered the story.

Include Accountability Mandates For Districts.

The Los Angeles Times (5/21) editorializes that if “the country is going to continue to invest in jobs as part of the economic stimulus, it only makes sense for some of those to be the jobs of teachers.” The Times adds, “We have strong reservations about the $23-billion Keep Our Educators Working Act, expected to reach the Senate floor by the beginning of next week, but those are outweighed by the alternative scenario in which millions of students around the country would lose their teachers.” However, the “bill is poorly designed, a giveaway that demands nothing in return, including real accountability,” as a “district receiving money should be prohibited from laying off or rehiring teachers, or reassigning them to other schools, strictly on a seniority basis.”

Scholar Advocates “Careful Experimentation” Of Merit Pay Programs.

Dr. Dan Goldhaber, “an Affiliated Scholar at the Urban Institute,” wrote in an opinion piece for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (5/21) that “the weak relationship between teacher credentials and productivity…has prompted some to call for using more direct measures of performance to determine teacher pay.” He asserts that while “there certainly are good reasons to doubt the efficacy of the current compensation system…people’s views on the value of implementing “risky” teacher compensation reforms are likely to be shaped by their perspective on the current state of teacher quality and student achievement.” According to Goldhaber, “certain elements of teacher compensation reform” such as “eliminating the Masters pay premium and providing financial incentives to teach in disadvantaged schools…should have happened long ago.” But regarding performance pay, he would “argue for careful experimentation.”

Recession Taking Heavy Toll On Teacher Jobs.

The New York Times (5/20, Hu) reports, “Superintendents, education professors and people seeking work say teachers are facing the worst job market since the Great Depression. Amid state and local budget cuts, cash-poor urban districts like New York City and Los Angeles, which once hired thousands of young people every spring, have taken down the help-wanted signs.” According to the Times, “school officials and union leaders estimate that more than 150,000 teachers nationwide could lose their jobs next year, far more than any other time, including the last major financial crisis of the 1970s.”

Texas Education Board Approves New Social Studies Standards.

The AP (5/22, Castro) reported that the Texas State Board of Education “adopted a social studies and history curriculum Friday that amends or waters down the teaching of religious freedoms, America’s relationship with the UN and hundreds of other items.” The new standards were adopted “after a final showdown by two 9-5 votes along party lines, after Democrats’ and moderate Republicans’ efforts to delay a final vote failed.” In one of the “most significant” changes, the board “dilutes the rationale for the separation of church and state in a high school government class, noting that the words were not in the Constitution and requiring students to compare and contrast the judicial language with the First Amendment’s wording.” The Washington Post (5/22, Birnbaum) reported that the board also “removed references to capitalism and replaced them with the term ‘free-enterprise system.’”

The Houston Chronicle (5/22, Scharrer) noted that “angry minority members of the board reacted harshly against the standards, which they claim glorify white America’s role in history while avoiding the issues of racial discrimination.” But board member Terri Leo rejected the claims, saying, “We have put in many more minority figures than ever before, more minority events than ever before.” Meanwhile, the Dallas Morning News (5/22, Stutz) noted that according to board member Don McLeroy, with the new standards, “the panel was trying to make up for the liberal-slanted curriculum now being used in schools.”

Bill Aims To Prevent Texas Curriculum Changes From Affecting California Textbooks. Valerie Strauss wrote in a blog for the Washington Post (5/22), “A bill introduced in California seeks to protect the country’s largest school system from the Texas Board of Education. … A new bill introduced in the state Senate by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) seeks to ensure that none of the Texas standards are allowed to be used in California in any fashion.” According to Strauss, “Under Yee’s bill, SB1451, the California Board of Education would be required to look out for any of the Texas content as part of its standard practice of reviewing public school textbooks.”

NEA Joins Push For $23 Billion Teacher Jobs Bill.

Education Week (5/26, Klein) reported that the NEA, along with the AFT, has joined the push “to drum up support for legislation that would provide $23 billion to help school districts” avert “a looming tidal wave of layoffs.” The unions are “working on a media blitz called ‘Speak Up for Education and Kids’” that “includes an NEA commercial in which children dressed in suits and carrying briefcases ask whether Congress would be more willing to save their teachers’ jobs or keep their classes small if the children were Wall Street bankers.” In addition, the NEA has “established a hotline to help supporters of the bill reach their representatives in Congress.”

The Washington Post (5/27, Anderson) reports that the House Appropriations Committee may take up the bill “as early as Thursday.” Yesterday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told lawmakers, “We desperately need Congress to act — to recognize the emergency for what it is. … We have to keep hundreds of thousands of teachers teaching.” Meanwhile, some lawmakers from both parties “say the government can’t afford an extension of last year’s economic stimulus that would add to the federal deficit.” According to Duncan, if the measure does not pass, “100,000 to 300,000 education jobs” would be “at risk, including support staff.” The Post also notes that the NEA’s television ads will be shown “in markets that are home to potential swing votes among House Democrats.” The Politico (5/27, Rogers) also covers the story.

Oakland School Officials, Teachers Reach Impasse In Contract Negotiations.

The San Francisco Chronicle (5/27, Tucker) reports that teachers in Oakland, California, “walked away from the bargaining table this week, leaving little hope that they could broker a deal with the district by summer break and drawing out the threat of a long-term strike.” Talks began between the school district and Oakland Education Association “this month after a one-day teacher walkout on April 29.” But, “after four bargaining sessions, the teachers called off” on Monday, due to conflicts “over teacher pay, class sizes and staffing for adult education.” District officials “offered teachers a two percent raise,” while teachers asked for “an 8 percent raise over a three-year contract.” Oakland Education Association President Betty Olson-Jones said that “a strike before the last day of school” is unlikely, but one may take place “when students head back to school in August.”

Effort To Pass Teacher Jobs Measure Stalls In House.

The AP (5/28, Kellman) reports, “A $23 billion payout to save thousands of educators’ jobs faltered Thursday — perhaps for good” — after getting “only lukewarm support from the White House.” The AP notes that even as House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D) and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called for passage of the teacher jobs measure at a news conference, “there were signs from the top down that not everyone considered the situation so dire.” Some lawmakers even “complained privately that the effort cried out for presidential advocacy,” as “Duncan seemed the only member of the administration making a case for it forcefully.”

WPost: Teacher Jobs Bill Flawed, Would Perpetuate Status Quo. The Washington Post (5/28) editorializes that White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina D. Romer has failed to make a compelling case for passing the teacher jobs bill in her op-ed for the Post as she “did not explain why retaining teachers stimulates the economy better than retaining, say, construction workers,” nor does she “weigh the costs and benefits of not borrowing another $23 billion from China.” The Post adds that if the goal of the $23 billion teacher jobs bill now before Congress is “to preserve the maximum number of good K-12 teachers at minimum cost, the bill would encourage states to lay off teachers according to ability, rather than seniority — as current rules, sacrosanct to unions, dictate. … Many jobs could be saved if more teachers accepted wage and benefits restraint, as workers in other hard-pressed industries have done.”

Louisiana Governor Signs Teacher Evaluation Overhaul Into Law.

The AP (5/28, Deslatte) reports that on Thursday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) gave “final approval to a revamp of the state’s teacher evaluation process that [was] pushed against the wishes of teacher unions.” The new law will tie “at least half of a teacher’s review to student performance data – not the flat standardized test scores, but the growth in student achievement on those tests.” The AP notes that the measure was rushed “through final passage in recent days, with education officials arguing it could help bolster the state’s application for federal Race to the Top grant dollars.”

Agenda ATA rep council meeting – Thursday, May 13, 2010

(This is a General Membership meeting – all ATA members are invited and encouraged to come.)

(Snack provided by Cornell – for full schedule go to Site Representative Council page)

Room 309 Albany High 3:45 pm

1. Approval of April meeting minutes.

2. President’s report – local and state happenings

3. Political news

4. Treasurer’s report

5. Committee reports (several minutes)

a. negotiations – discuss direction of negotitions

b. grievance

c. membership

d. elections:  Finish up election for ATA president and treasurer

6. School site Reports (several minutes each)

a. AMS

b. AHS

c. MacHigh

d. Children’s Center

e. Cornell

f. Marin

g. Oceanview

7. Old business

8. New business

9. Adjournment

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President’s Corner

Going to school.  In the U.S. that is pretty close to a universal experience.  It is one of our great strengths.  It helps to bring all the diverse cultures in the country together to some shared values.  We expect a lot of our citizens and for our political system to work to its fullest potential , we all need to have some common trust in our understanding of that system.  If you study hard you can change the course of your life and that of your family.  You can learn about things that enrich life such as music, art, literature, physical activities, languages, and math and science concepts.  You learn about fairness, responsibility, and helping others.

It’s what we as teachers do.  These are the main reasons we are so passionate about what we do.  We could almost no more stop breathing than give up on our students.  We are experienced and trained professionals in education.

Somehow though, it seems that everyone is now an expert on education policy.  After all, everyone went through school and has experience with the system.  Legislators, commentators, politicians, and others have decided that our schools are failing because too many teachers aren’t doing their jobs.  These people all have plenty of solutions but, they haven’t asked teachers for guidance because we evidently are the problem.  Interestingly enough if you ask people about their own children’s teachers, people mostly say these individual teachers are great.  It is just other mythical teachers somewhere else that are failing us as a society.

We need to keep telling our stories.  We need to engage with the failure mongers and activate our power to organize and educate.  We need to demand to be respected as hard working, devoted, education professionals who should be the first ones consulted on education reform.

There are some cynics who have made it their life’s mission to starve our most cherished institutions and then blame the people left working in those institutions for failing.   As a nation we need to put our money and action into these  institutions.   We must stand together to support education, libraries, public health, public safety, and public infrastructure financially, verbally, and physically.  Otherwise we will be left fighting these battles alone and embittered.  It all starts with education.

“If you think education is expensive,  try ignorance.”

Derek Bok

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The district is sponsoring a Budget Summit with California House Speaker John Perez and local Assemblymember Nancy Skinner on Thursday, May 13 at 7pm in the AHS Little Theater.  Please come and participate.  There will be an interactive budget simulation that will give everyone the opportunity to weigh in on how to resolve the state budget issues.  Send our legislators back to Sacramento with the feedback they need to make sound decisions.

There are some key elections coming up in the June primaries and in November.  Please educate yourselves and pass on the messages to friends and relatives.  One of the most important positions is State Superintendent of Public Instruction this June.  Tom Torlakson has been a teacher in a local school district and is interested in working with teachers on issues in Public Eduction.  Gloria Romero has stopped listening to teachers and is promoting counterproductive, anti-union, anti-teacher legislation.  Please consider voting for Tom Torlakson.

Two other reminders:

1.  You need to make sure you take care of renewing your credentials on time to ensure that the county will continue to pay you.

2.  You need to get P.O.s to the district by May 7th and reimbursement receipts to the district by June 4th.   The district is changing policy on reimbursements to no more than $50 in response to School Board concerns about fiscal responsibility.  Please plan accordingly as we move into next year.  Use P.O.s for as many purchases as you can.  Turn in receipts for reimbursements as soon as you make purchases.  Do not save up receipts for different items and then bundle the receipts.

If you have issues at your sites please contact one of your terrific and hardworking site reps or contact me at lbarker20@hotmail.com or (510) 526-1876

thanks

Loring Barker, ATA president

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Message from David Sanchez, CTA President:

As I said, May is full of opportunities for us to shape the conversation around public education and to call on all legislators to keep their promises and stay focused on the state budget until there is a solution that doesn’t rob our students of a quality education. In order to keep this message focused in your local communities, we ask you to look at holding local events on California Day of the Teacher on May 12, and on California Education Support Professionals Day on May 18. Check www.standupforschools.org for event ideas and other organizing opportunities in May.

In addition, the Assembly Speaker is holding public hearings about the state budget across the state. It’s important that CTA members attend these meetings so lawmakers hear very loudly about the importance of restoring the money owed to public education and protecting the minimum school funding law. Visit the www.asmdc.org/issues/budget for a complete list of hearing dates, times and locations.

Finally, be sure to use the CTA toll-free legislative hotline and the CTA website to send messages to your local legislators. Members and parents can call 1-888-268-4334 and will be immediately connected to their lawmaker.

So as you can see, May is full of opportunities to make sure our politicians not only hear from us, but commit to the students of this state that they will not further rob them of a chance at a brighter future. Let’s keep the momentum and keep up the pressure. I know we can make a real difference for our schools. As new information unfolds I’ll be in touch.

David A. Sanchez

CTA President

It is critical that members know the differences between Gloria Romero and Tom Torlakson.

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Florida House Approves Teacher Performance Pay Bill.

The St. Petersburg Times (4/9, Solochek, Matus, Catalanello) reports, “Protests reached a fever pitch Thursday as the Florida House of Representatives approved a controversial bill tying teacher pay to student performance.” In a debate that lasted “late into Thursday night,” Representatives discussed “the push to overhaul how Florida teachers are evaluated, paid and fired.” Proponents touted the bill “as a way to reward the state’s best teachers.” Critics, however, say that “the tenets of SB 6…come straight from the [Jeb] Bush handbook.” The St. Petersburg Times points out that if Gov. Charlie Crist (R) “signs the tenure bill, local school district leaders will have to immediately plunge into a number of thorny issues – rewriting of salary schedules, revising evaluations, developing course exams and finding the money to pay for it all.”

The Miami Herald (4/9, Sampson) reports, “In a session that followed hours — and days, and weeks — of rancorous debate, lawmakers” Thursday passed a bill that changes “the way teachers are evaluated, compensated, and fired in Florida.” Once the bill goes to Gov. Crist, the Herald adds, “what he does with it is anyone’s guess.” On Thursday, Crist said, “There are things about it that I like and things about it that give me some concern. … I just want to weigh it out and continue to listen.” The Herald adds, “Thousands of educators, parents and students around the state have picketed, e-mailed, called and traveled to Tallahassee to vent their ire.”

Teachers Petition Governor To Veto SB 6. The St. Petersburg Times (4/9) “The Gradebook” blog reports that “teachers in Gov. Charlie Crist’s home county of Pinellas took to the streets Thursday, hoping to convince him to veto SB 6.” The group of “more than 200″ waved signs, “getting supportive honks from hundreds of passing motorists. At one point, a plane flew over with a banner: ‘Gov. Crist pass teacher tenure bill you won’t pass November.’” Although “Crist’s comments this week have given teachers hope that a veto might actually happen,” sources close to the governor say that a veto is unlikely.

Florida House Approves Three Other Education Bills. The Orlando Sentinel (4/9, Postal, Hafenbrack) reports that prior to taking up SB 6, “the House sent three other major education bills to Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday that would” increase graduation requirements by “mandating students take harder math and science courses and pass new end-of-course exams;” request that voters decide whether “to scale back the state’s class-size law;” and “expand a voucher program (SB 2126) that gives poor children scholarships to attend private schools.”

Columnist Calls Teacher Merit Pay Bill “Simple-Minded”, “FCAT Worship.” Scott Maxwell writes in the Orlando Sentinel (4/8) “Taking Names” column that Gov. Crist “is acting like a 5-year-old boy who just yanked a new Star Wars lightsaber from its packaging and is now slashing it everywhere he can, just to get a reaction.” When it comes to merit pay, Maxwell asserts that “a veto might actually force teacher-bashing politicians and reform-resistant teachers unions to come together and work out a plan for real reform.” He adds, “We need a way to reward the best teachers and exorcise the worst. But this simple-minded version of FCAT worship ain’t it.” Instead, Maxwell suggests that “a good compromise would be a merit-pay plan that gives much of the responsibility for rewarding teachers to their bosses, which is the way most of the real world works.”

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Teachers Suspended Without Pay After Performing Lap Dance At School Assembly.

The Canadian Press (4/9) reports, “Two Winnipeg teachers who simulated a lap dance at a student rally are no longer being paid while they wait to learn their fate.” According to a school board trustee, Mike Babinsky, “the two teachers were originally suspended with pay. … The male and female teachers made sexually suggestive motions during a pep rally at Churchill High School in February.” A student captured the dance on video and the video was posted on Youtube, prompting “calls from some parents for the teachers to be fired. The Winnipeg School Division is deciding whether to take further disciplinary action.”

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Schools, Prosecutors Struggle In Dealing With Sexting.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (4/22, Scott) reported that sexting “has infiltrated school systems and involved law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in Georgia and across the nation, and left them unsure yet how to stop and how to punish the behavior.” Both “schools and prosecutors have struggled in how to deal with sexting,” which statutes often treat as child pornography, but some argue is “no more of a crime than streaking was three decades ago when college students ran naked across campuses and through towns and were seldom arrested or prosecuted.” Currently, at least 14 state “legislatures are considering rewriting sex laws to update them and separate sexting from child pornography, and make punishments less severe.”

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Colorado Education Reform Bill Stirs Controversy.

The Denver Post (4/25, Meyer) reported that Colorado Senate Bill 191, which would tie teachers’ pay to students’ performance, change the way teachers achieve tenure, and make it easier to lose it, “has pitted teachers against each other, teachers against superintendents, and the state teachers union against Capitol reformers.” Proponents argue “that the bill could help Colorado fix some of its most vexing education problems: the yawning achievement gap and endemic dropout and dismal graduation rates.” However, opponents say it is “an unfunded mandate that places too much financial burden on cash-strapped school districts,” will “create a school system where educators ‘teach to the test’ to save their jobs and one where longtime teachers are picked off without due process.”

The Colorado Statesman (4/24, Bowe) reports that the Colorado Senate Education Committee voted 7-1 to send the bill to the floor, even as hundreds of teachers were gathered by the Colorado Education Association “outside the Capitol for a rally against the measure.”

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Tenure A “Guarantee Of Due Process” For Teachers.

NPR (4/29, Greenblatt) reports in a story titled, “Is Teacher Tenure Still Necessary?,” that “the century-old system of protecting experienced teachers from arbitrary dismissal — long viewed as sacred — has triggered hot political debates in several states.” For instance, “a bill in Colorado that would” link teacher tenure rules to “student performance passed out of a Senate committee last week and has the support of Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter (D).” Meanwhile, in DC, “a proposal to eliminate tenure and seniority rules in exchange for higher pay led to protracted arguments over the local teachers’ contract.” According to NPR, K-12 teacher tenure is “simply a guarantee of due process — that if a teacher is fired, it will be for cause.” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel is quoted with saying, “These laws were passed in state after state to protect good teachers from arbitrary actions. … It’s very upsetting that in 2010, under the guise of improving schools, we suddenly get rid of protections from firing teachers for inadequate or wrong reasons.”

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Research Links TV Watching To Decrease In Math Achievement.

The Toronto Star (5/3, Rushowy) reported, “TV doesn’t just turn kids into couch potatoes – it also makes them poorer math students, less interested in school and more likely to be bullied, says a long-term study on the toll of the tube on children.” According to the Star, the study, “funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada,” tracked “1,134 Quebec children, looked at their viewing habits at 29 and 53 months, and then their academic and physical development by age 10. For every hour above the average for television viewing in the early years – which in the study was modest, at slightly more than one hour a day – there was a 6 per cent drop in math success, 7 per cent in classroom engagement as well as a 10 per cent increase in being victimized at school.” The Wall Street Journal (5/4, Singer-Vine) also covers this report.

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Agenda ATA rep council meeting – Thursday,  April 8, 2010

(Snack provided by Marin – for full schedule go to Site Representative Council page)

Room 309 Albany High 3:45 pm

1. Approval of March meeting minutes.

2. President’s report – local and state happenings

3. Political news –

4. Treasurer’s report

5. Committee reports (several minutes)

a. negotiations – visits to sites arranged to discuss direction

b. grievance

c. membership

d. elections:  Work on Nominations for ATA president and Treasurer – Nominations due by April 8^th Rep Council Meeting – Election at May General Membership meeting

6. School site Reports (several minutes each)

a. Oceanview

b. AMS

c. AHS

d. MacHigh

e. Children’s Center

f. Cornell

g. Marin

7. Old business

8. New business:

9. Adjournment

____________________________________________

President’s Corner

There have been a number of dispiriting myths and proposed laws about teachers in the news lately  (see some of the articles below).  As we all know teaching can be tiring, fun, vexing, uplifting, frustrating, and just plain hard work.  Unfortunately most of the lawmakers  proposing the new laws and many of the people who create the myths don’t actually know much about teaching and they certainly haven’t asked us or listened to us.  We need to make sure that we get our story out to the public at every chance we get.  There are powerful forces behind much of this that would like nothing better than to break the teachers’ unions ( and other public unions) and end truly public education.

I do know how hard you all work.  Public school teachers receive with open arms everyone that shows up and work small miracles daily and sometimes larger miracles yearly.  We educate and guide our society’s kids.  We help them become happy, knowledgeable, artistic, productive, and healthy public citizens.  This is a tremendous task and by and large we do exceedingly well at it, especially given the other societal and budget factors we have to work with.
We need to remain aware and we need to demand a voice at the table to help shape reforms.  After all, We are the education professionals.
Remember that we are running elections for ATA president and treasurer at the May 13th General Membership meeting.   If you desire to run, send your nominations to me before April 8th.  We will close nominations at the April 8th rep council meeting.

Please pay attention to upcoming district cut off dates for P.O.s  of May 7th and for reimbursements of June 4th.  Reimbursements should only be for small items.  Please use P.O.s whenever you can, they are much easier for the district to track and budget for and safer for you.  We need to try to help the district with their budgeting needs as they help us get the supplies we need to run our classes.  If you have unusual purchase needs, contact your principal or the district business office for help before spending the money.

If you have issues at your sites, please contact one of your terrific site reps and see if it can’t be worked out on site.  If you need further assistance, feel free to contact me at lbarker20@hotmail.com or phone (510) 526-1876.

Loring Barker, ATA president

_______________________________________________

Conflicts of Interest and the Race to the Top

Diane Ravitch  February 16, 2010

Dear Deborah,

It is not surprising that the Race to the Top has generated enormous buzz among educators since it dangles $4.3 Billion to states that do what the U.S. Department of Education wants them to do.  Now President Obama has announced that he is so pleased with the response to the Race that he intends to add another $1.3 billion in prize money to the competition.

Since this is an administration that claims to be about results, it is surprising, is it not, that they are increasing the prize money in the absence of any evidence that the competition is on the right track?

No, it is not surprising because the competition is in the hands of people who arrived in Washington with an ideology.  They are not pragmatists.  There is a nexus of power, and it begins with the Gates Foundation, which has a lock on decisionmaking at the Department of Education.   If this election had been held five years ago, the department would be insisting on small schools, but because Gates has already tried and discarded that approach, the department is promoting the new Gates remedies:  charter schools, privatization, and evaluating teachers by student test scores.

As we both know, personnel is policy.  Secretary Duncan put Jim Shelton, a Gates Foundation executive, in charge of the department’s half-billion-dollar Innovation Fund.  And he selected Joanne Weiss to run the Race to the Top competition.  Weiss was chief executive officer of the NewSchools Venture Fund, whose primary purpose is to launch charter school networks.  I do not know Weiss, and I assume she is an upstanding citizen; but to my knowledge, she has never been an education practitioner or scholar or policymaker.  She is an education entrepreneur, who has sold goods and services to the schools, and who most importantly led an organization dedicated to creating privately managed schools that operate with public money.  So, why should it be surprising that the Race to the Top reflects the priorities of the NewSchools Venture Fund (charter schools) and of the Gates Foundation (teacher evaluations by test scores)?

I try not to be naïve.  I admit to a certain streak of idealism.  I suppose that is why I continue to be surprised when I read about efforts to suppress critical discussions of charter schools.  I was shocked when Education Sector toned down Tom Toch’s friendly discussion of the charter sector, in which he expressed concern about the capacity of charter chains to expand enough to meet Secretary Duncan’s goal of thousands of new high-quality charters.  Leave aside the fact that Toch was one of the founders of Education Sector, there is still the odor that arises when a sensible critique is censored by its sponsors.

Now comes another clumsy effort to silence someone who raises reasonable questions.  Marc Dean Millot, who has been writing incisively about the business of education for many years, posted a blog in which he posed questions about the conflicts of interest at the U.S. Department of Education.  Millot wrote:

I have now heard the same thing from three independent credible sources-the fix is in on the U.S. Department of Education’s competitive grants, in particular Race to the Top (RTTT) and Investing in Innovation (I3).  Secretary Duncan needs to head this off now, by admitting that he and his team have potential conflicts with regard to their roles in grant making, recognizing that those conflicts are widely perceived by potential grantees, and explaining how grant decisions will be insulated from interference by the department’s political appointees.

It turns out that Millot asked questions that someone didn’t want to be heard.  The blog was removed, and his contract was cancelled.  The good news is that the Internet is making is very difficult to censor anyone.  You can be certain that the censors will fail, because the original is almost certain to appear uncut on the Internet within days or hours.

Whatever Secretary Duncan chooses to do the good advice offered by Millot, I have a prediction to make:  As hundreds and possibly thousands more charter schools open, we will see many financial and political scandals.  We will see corrupt politicians and investors putting their hands into the cashbox.  We will see corrupt deals where public school space is handed over to entrepreneurs who have made contributions to the politicians making the decisions.  We will see many more charter operators pulling in $400,000 – $500,000 a year for their role, not as principals, but as “rainmakers” who build warm relationships with politicians and investors.

When someday we trace back how large segments of our public school system were privatized and how so many millions of public dollars ended up in the pockets of high-flying speculators instead of being used to reduce class size, repair buildings, and improve teacher quality, we will look to the origins of the Race to the Top and to the interlocking group of foundations, politicians, and entrepreneurs who created it.

Diane

______________________________________________________________

Experts Say Some Changes To Texas’ Social Studies Curriculum Are Inaccurate.

The Washington Post (3/18, Birnbaum) reports that “historians on Tuesday criticized proposed revisions to the Texas social studies curriculum, saying that many of the changes are historically inaccurate and that they would affect textbooks and classrooms far beyond the state’s borders.” The curriculum revisions play “down the role of Thomas Jefferson among the founding fathers,” question “the separation of church and state, and” claim “that the US government was infiltrated by Communists during the Cold War.” The Post adds that “some textbook authors expressed discomfort with the state board’s changes, and it is unclear how readily historians will go along with some of the proposals.”

____________________________________________________________________

Writer Calls For “Rebalance” Of Texas’ Social Studies Curriculum.

Writer Taraneh Ghajar Jerven wrote in a commentary for the Christian Science Monitor (3/30, Jerven) that “if the Texas Board of Education has its way, many of the 48 million textbooks it buys per year, for 10 years, will represent a Republican partisan agenda and a new emphasis on Christian beliefs.” Jerven asserts, however, that “the purpose of a public school’s curriculum is not to push one particular viewpoint.” The National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) says that “an effective social studies curriculum should provide students with an understanding of the multiple forces that affect civic issues throughout history, in order to create a base from which citizens can contribute to democracy.” Jerven concludes that “with more national attention on this issue, there’s a chance that the” final vote “in May will rebalance the K-12 curriculum.”

________________________________________________________________

New Policy In Houston District Allows Teachers To Be Fired Based On Testing Data.

The Christian Science Monitor (3/18, Khadaroo) reports that a “new policy in” the Houston Independent School District “allows teachers to be fired based on data that some experts say isolates a teacher’s effect on his or her students’ test-score gains.” School officials would use the testing data “in making decisions about teacher-contract renewals.” HISD Board of Education President Greg Meyers said that the new policy “is just a natural progression after Houston’s forays into performance pay and other reforms.” According to the Monitor, “Dozens of districts, including Houston’s, have already incorporated the concept into ‘pay for performance’ systems,” yet “none has gone ahead as boldly as the Texas district.” Some parents support the policy, “but the local teachers union is planning a legal challenge, claiming, among other concerns, that the formula is not public and leaves teachers in the dark about how they’re judged.”

________________________________________________________________

Florida Senate Bill Would Adopt Annual Contracts And Base Pay On Test Scores.

The St. Augustine Record (3/22, Haughney) reports on Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine’s bill SB 6, under which, “Teacher pay would be based on how well students do on standardized tests.” The bill would also “place teachers on annual contracts and force the Department of Education to implement some method to gauge whether students made learning gains over the school year.”

Measure Criticized. The Orlando Sentinel (3/22, Balona, Postal, Weber) reports, “The state’s teachers union and Florida Democratic Party have opened a broadside media attack on Republican lawmakers who are trying to end teacher tenure in favor of a merit-pay system in an effort to beef up school quality without spending more. ‘If your child is a student in Florida public schools, brace yourself because Florida politicians are doing real damage,’ Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association, says in a TV and Internet ad. Ford goes on to criticize recent school cuts and then says, ‘Now some of our best teachers are at risk of losing their jobs.’”

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (3/22) says in an editorial, “No one should mistake the measure linking teacher salaries to student performance on annual tests for a serious effort to reform education.” Instead the bill “seems more of a ham-fisted attempt to stick it to teacher unions and school districts than a serious effort to improve education.”

Ryan Haczynski, a teacher in the social studies department at Durant High School, writes in the Tampa Tribune (3/22), “Am I a teacher or a scapegoat?” He says, “as individual teachers, our students spend 1.7 percent of their time with each of us in one calendar year. If one were to only include waking hours, the number becomes 2.6 percent.” So, “Whether it is crime, dropouts, graduation, FCAT, reading proficiency or any other rate or percentage being pinned on our profession, the truth is we take 100 percent of the blame, though we comprise only 14 percent of each student’s time. It is time for accountability to be spread out evenly.”

________________________________________________________________

California Seen As Losing Best Teachers Due To Quality-Blind Layoffs Law.

Timothy Daly, president of the New Teacher Project, and Arun Ramanathan, executive director of the Education Trust-West, write in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times (3/24), “Over the last several weeks, in what has become a dismal rite of spring, nearly 30,000 teachers throughout California received layoff notices. … Unfortunately, the only tool that California schools can use to make these decisions is a calendar,” due to “an outdated state law that prevents schools from considering anything other than how long a teacher has worked in the school system to decide who stays and who goes.” According to Daly and Ramanathan, “Forcing schools to fire some of their best teachers while keeping less effective teachers is just one of many perverse side effects of California’s quality-blind layoffs law.”

_________________________________________________________________

Florida Will Ask Voters To Reconsider Class-Size Limits; Teachers Rally In Tallahassee.

The St. Petersburg Times (3/26, Silva) reports that on Thursday, the Florida Senate “voted to put class-size limits back on the ballot.” The measure “would let voters consider a new constitutional amendment that would gauge whether class-size restrictions have been met by measuring a school’s average, not by counting students in each classroom.” The proposal has gained support from “superintendents, who argue hard class counts would cost too much and create problems with student enrollment.” Meanwhile, “across the Capitol” on Thursday, “security guards rushed to protect lawmakers from a hostile crowd after House Republicans rammed through a bill that would tie teacher pay to test scores.” About “2,000 parents, students and teachers gathered at the Capitol to decry the education measures and funding cuts.”

WSVN-TV Tallahassee (3/26) reports that “the rally got underway at around 11 a.m. Thursday.” Miami-Dade public schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who was at the rally, told the crowd, “I do not stand alone, I stand with you. … Let us fight wrong policy, protect education funding; let’s protect the arts and music.” In addition to “possible cuts to arts and music classes, protesters” also “clamored for the failure of a bill linking public school teacher pay and employment to student test scores.” The bill “has already passed in the Florida Senate and is now headed to the house after passing a house committee.”

The Tampa Tribune (3/26, Ackerman) reports that Hillsborough County, Florida, “already ties teacher salaries to student test scores,” and has been exempted from SB6 “because so many of its provisions already are included in the district’s plan for” using grant money provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

_____________________________________________________________

Teachers In Illinois District May Have To Re-Interview For Positions.

The Rockford (IL) Register Star (3/25, Bayer) reports that this week, the Rockford School Board “approved the dismissal or reclassification of a projected 573 teachers, administrators and support staff,” but most “of those positions will be filled,” according to Superintendent LaVonne Sheffield. However, she said, “staff members must be prepared to re-interview for their jobs and defend their positions.” Teachers will need “to supply – in addition to their resumes and transcripts – a portfolio documenting specific lesson plans, student assessments, proof of motivating students and earning their respect, communication skills, classroom management and an ability to work with students of different cultural, linguistic, racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.” School principals will hire “their own assistant principals and teachers” as “part of Sheffield’s mandate to hold building leaders accountable.”

_______________________________________________________________

Failing Georgia High School Firing Entire Staff.

The AP (3/26) reports that Beach High School, an academically failing school in Savannah, GA “is firing its entire staff in an effort to avoid further sanctions from the state and to make the school eligible for up to $6 million in federal money, officials said Thursday.” The school’s 200 employees, “will work there through the end of the year but will not be rehired for that school, said Karla Redditte, spokeswoman for the Savannah-Chatham County school district. The teachers can reapply for their jobs but only half can be rehired under federal education law, she said.”

______________________________________________________________

Efficacy Of Standardized Tests As Progress Gauge Analyzed.

In a “The Juggle” blog for the Wall Street Journal (3/25), Sue Shellenbarger analyzed the emphasis on standardized testing in recent education reform efforts like NCLB, noting that many environmental factors play a role in test scores and thus results are not always an accurate gauge of a student’s education progress. Shellenbarger notes that some schools have successfully implemented teacher evaluation systems that are individualized and provide specific feedback, which in turn has led to higher student performance.

Agenda ATA rep council meeting – Thursday,  March, 11, 2010

(Snack provided by Oceanview – for full schedule go to Site Representative Council page)

Room 309 Albany High 3:45 pm

1. Approval of Feb meeting minutes.

2. President’s report – local and state happenings

3. Political news

4. Treasurer’s report

5. Committee reports (several minutes)

a. negotiations

b. grievance

c. membership

d. elections:  Return Election results for NEA reps to Judy Sinclair.    Work on Nominations for ATA president and Treasurer – Nominations due by April 8^th Rep Council Meeting – Election at May General Membership meeting

6. School site Reports (several minutes each)

a. Marin

b. Oceanview

c. AMS

d. AHS

e. MacHigh

f. Children’s Center

g. Cornell

7. Old business

8. New business:

9. Adjournment

________________________________________________

President’s Corner

Thursday, March 4th saw events in support of full funding for education from pre-school through college all across the state.  Thanks to everyone who came out and Stood up for Schools.  We must continue to work to stop the dismantling of the social contract that provides opportunity access through public education, care for our most vulnerable, protection of the environment, recreation opportunities, infrastructure stability, and safety.  California has been a leader in many areas, but we are putting our future at risk.   It will take investment in our citizens, schools, transportation, and energy systems to reclaim and maintain our lead.  The wealthiest 10% of Californians now pay less total taxes as a per cent of their income than do the bottom 10%.  Corporations have received billions in tax cuts in the last few years and continue to reap prop 13 property tax windfalls as citizens pay a larger and larger share of property taxes.   We must find the courage and will to break the logjam in the legislature where lobbyists, big money, and a minority continue to control our outdated process.  Tell your stories to people.  Help inform California.

We will be running elections for ATA president and ATA treasurer in May.  These are two year terms.  If you are interested in running please get your nominations to me or Judy Sinclair by the April 8, Rep Council meeting.

If you have issues at your site, please see one of your fantastic site reps or contact me at:   lbarker20@hotmail. com   or phone (510)526-1876

Remember to email me with your own articles of interest to include in future ATA newsletters.

thanks

Loring Barker

_____________________________________________________

Other tidbits of education news

Houston District Leader Wants To Make It Easier To Fire Teachers If Students Don’t Show Progress On Tests.

The Houston Chronicle (2/11, Mellon) reports that Houston Independent School District (HISD) Superintendent Terry Grier “is asking the school board to give final approval…to a policy that would allow the district to fire teachers whose students don’t make enough progress on standardized tests.” According to the district, “more than 400 teachers…have performed so poorly that their students have lost ground.” Still Grier and “board members have emphasized that [HISD] will provide training and mentoring to those who are struggling and will not oust them based solely on a year of bad test scores.” Said Grier, “We have an obligation to provide assistance to teachers who are not meeting the needs of their students.” But, he added, “Teachers who cannot or will not meet district standards could lose their positions with the district.”

New Study Questions Effectiveness Of Learning Styles Theory.

Jay Mathews writes in a column for the Washington Post (2/11) that the authors of a new study titled “Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence” published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest find that in essence, learning styles “are hogwash. … The problem with learning-styles theory, the psychologists who wrote the paper say, is that it has rarely been tested in a randomized, scientific way.” According to Mathews, “The authors found that studies that claimed certain learning styles benefited from similar teaching styles were not rigorously randomized, and studies that embraced the scientific method showed no significant advantage for students taught by their preferred teaching style.”

“Extreme Makeovers” Of Chronically Failing Schools Expected To Become More Common.

The AP (2/24, Matheson) reports that “extreme makeovers” of chronically failing schools “are likely to become more common because of more money from Washington, a growing consensus on education reform, and newfound willingness on the part of teacher unions to collaborate, experts say.” In Minnesota, for instance, plans are underway “to remake 34 schools by the time students return next fall — more than the federal No Child Left Behind legislation did in the state since it was enacted in 2001.” And in Philadelphia, a “turnaround effort, dubbed Renaissance Schools,” that “is backed by a union contract approved last month…requires teachers at failing schools to reapply for their jobs; eliminates their seniority rights when it comes to rehiring them; and extends the school day by up to an hour, with the possibility of class up to two Saturdays a month and 22 days in July.”

Plan To Fire Staff Members At High School In Rhode Island Is Approved. The New York Times (2/24, Zezima) reports, “A plan to dismiss the entire faculty and staff of” Central Falls High School in Rhode Island “was approved Tuesday night at an emotional public meeting of the school board. The board voted 5 to 2 to accept a plan proposed by Schools Superintendent Frances Gallo to fire the approximately 100 faculty and staff members at the chronically underperforming” school in June. According to the Times, “The plan will also create a new school governance structure and requires the high school’s new teachers to take part in ‘professional development’ that meets federal standards.”

Mass Firings At Rhode Island School Seen As Part Of National Accountability “Phenomenon”.

USA Today (2/25, Toppo) reports, “The mass firing of teachers at a Rhode Island high school this week is hardly new.” However, “Tuesday’s move by Central Falls, R.I., Superintendent Frances Gallo to remove all 74 teachers, administrators and counselors at the district’s only high school may be the first tangible result of an aggressive push by the Obama administration to get tough on school accountability,” USA Today adds. Andy Smarick of the DC-based think tank noted, “This may be one school in one town, but it represents a much bigger phenomenon. … Thanks to years of work battling the achievement gap and the elevation of reform-minded education leaders, we may finally be getting serious about the nation’s lowest-performing schools.”

The Christian Science Monitor (2/25, Belsie) also descirbes the move as “part of a national shake-up that US Education Secretary Arne Duncan hopes to engender in public schools.” Duncan “is forcing states to identify the bottom 5 percent of their schools and take one of four actions with each one: closure; takeover by an independent organization; transformation; or turnaround, which calls for firing all the teachers and rehiring no more than half of them in the fall.” The Providence Journal (2/25, Jordan) also covers the story.

Firing Of All Teachers At High School In Rhode Island Called “Illogical.”

The Nashua (NH) Telegraph (3/1) editorialized, “The decision by the impoverished school district of Central Falls, R.I., to fire the entire high school staff — teachers and administrators — was the inevitable, albeit illogical, result of a decade’s worth of No Child Left Behind.” According to the Telegraph, the basis of No Child Left Behind “has been to identify ‘nonperforming schools’ on the basis of test scores and to structure sanctions accordingly.” At the center of that effort “has been the notion that there’s no such thing as a failing child, only failing schools.” The Telegraph asserts, “If we continue down this path of expecting our schools and teachers to overcome all the factors contributing to poor student performance, we will only drive the best and the brightest to other professions.”

Ravitch Shifts Stance On Education Reform.

The New York Times (3/3, Dillon) reports, “Diane Ravitch, the education historian who built her intellectual reputation battling progressive educators and served in the first Bush administration’s Education Department, is in the final stages of an astonishing, slow-motion about-face on almost every stand she once took on American schooling. Once outspoken about the power of standardized testing, charter schools and free markets to improve schools, Dr. Ravitch is now caustically critical.” Ravitch “underwent an intellectual crisis, she says, discovering that these strategies, which she now calls faddish trends, were undermining public education.”

Agenda ATA rep council meeting – Thursday,  Feb 11, 2010

(Snack provided by Children’s Center – for full schedule go to Site Representative Council page)

Room 309 Albany High 3:45 pm

Special discussion with Eric Heins, CTA district C director, at this meeting!

Please try to keep reports short and to the point.

1. Approval of Dec meeting minutes.

2. President’s report – local and state happenings

3. Political news – Meeting with Eric Heins,CTA director district C

4. Treasurer’s report

5. Committee reports (several minutes)

a. negotiations – calendar (please bring tabulated reports from your sites about the vote and comments on the calendars for the next two years)

b. grievance

c. membership

d. elections

6. School site Reports (several minutes each)

a. Cornell

b. Marin

c. Oceanview

d. AMS

e. AHS

f. MacHigh

g. Children’s Center

7. Old business

8. New business:

9. Adjournment

________________________________________________

President’s Corner
The Governor’s budget is again a disappointment.   While he says he is not touching education, there would in actuality be deep losses between no cost of living increases and  shifting programs and costs with smoke and mirrors.  Although in Albany we do have a nice reserve and our community supported parcel taxes, there are continuing dangers to our district finances.  Hopefully we can weather this year’s budget mess.  However, it is important that we continue to advocate for adequate funding for public education in the state of California.  Our economic and moral well being depend on every child receiving a great education.    CTA is planning a day of activities around the state on Thursday, March 4.  It will be called Start the Day for Students.  Districts all around the state are being asked to join in the effort by saving March 4 as the day for their spring disaster drills  (this budget qualifies as a disaster for California students).  Our school board will discuss joining with ATA for activities to educate the public.

Some issues that CTA is working on and stands for (from the most recent CTA board briefs):

(Remember you too can run for CTA reps and help decide on policy)

CTA believes every student attending a public school in California is entitled to equal access to all educational opportunities.  This access shall not be denied because of gender discrimination, ethnicity, language, special needs, or socio-economic status.  The goal of public education is to provide students with the skills necessary to become responsible and healthy members of society.  Any monetary disincentives that penalize students create barriers to future success and should not exist.

CTA approved the Health Benefits Advisory Coordinating Committee to support the California Public Employers/Employees Health Care Coalition.  CTA has continued to support Health Care reform for all.

CTA has been working on developing recommendations for the rewriting of ESEA Reauthorization (No Child Left Behind).

CTA reaffirms its historic defense of public education for students of every race, ethnic group, national origin, regardless of citizenship, immigration status or family income level.  We oppose any proposal to reorganize the American educational system on a basis that would allow certain schools to “cherry pick” students, prescribe separate and unequal educational models for inner city students, or allow publicly funded charters to exclude the most vulnerable students.

CTA has developed a Traumatic Events Assistance and Management Cadre.  This is a specially trained group of CTA staff who can come to districts that have experienced a traumatic event such as earthquakes, fires, shootings, suicide clusters, etc and help provide skills and resources to assist school site CTA members.

CTA believes majority rule is a fundamental of our democracy.  Any initiative, local measure or state policy should be passed by 50% plus one.  CTA supports efforts to lower current supermajorities at the state and local level.

CTA is working to reform the state’s tax structure and repeal tax breaks handed out to large corporations.

CTA and NEA are working with Congress to eliminate the GPO and WIN legislation that severely impacts some public employees social security benefits.

CTA believes that the policy of tying standardized testing to funding and teacher evaluation created an incentive to discriminate against our students, which results in denying them equitable access to quality education.

CTA supports consistent application of clear, concise, and publicly articulated criteria based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession for evaluation of all teachers and for the awarding of professional clear credentials for beginning teachers.

If you have issues at your site, please see one of your fantastic site reps or contact me at:   lbarker20@hotmail. com   or phone (510)526-1876

Remember to email me with your own articles of interest to include in future ATA newsletters.

thanks

Loring Barker

_____________________________________________________

Other tidbits of education news

National PTA Targeting States In Campaign To Promote Common Education Standards.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (12/8) reports that Georgia “is one of four states being targeted by the National PTA as it begins a campaign to build support among parents for common national academic standards.” Florida, New Jersey, and North Carolina are also being targeted for the campaign that begins in January. Other states will be added “by the middle of next year.” The push for common academic standards “is being led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers” with support from several other education organizations, including the NEA.

Sick Day Costs Teacher Her Job.

Pennsylvania’s Intelligencer Journal (12/10, Commero) reports that Lampeter-Strasburg (PA) school board members “voted 6-3 Monday night to accept the resignation of an elementary band instructor who says she was unfairly forced to resign because she called off sick to go to a music conference.” Jennifer Theilacker, “who was in her eighth year of teaching in the district,” was “the band instructor at Hans Herr Elementary School,” and “said she used a sick day to take a conducting class in New York. … After being called in to the district office, Theilacker said, she was asked to resign or be fired.” Theilacker “said she admits she was wrong, but feels the ultimatum was unjustified.”

Boston Teacher Performance Pay Program Violates Contract, Arbitrator Rules.

The Boston Globe (12/14, Vaznis) reported, “An attempt by Boston school officials to pay teachers bonuses for students who do well in college-level courses — a highly contentious move opposed by many teachers — violates the city’s teacher union contract, according to an arbitrator’s ruling that was obtained yesterday by the Globe.” Boston public schools “had wanted to give math teachers at the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury $100 for each of their students with a high score on the Advanced Placement college exam, as part of a grant program funded primarily by Exxon Mobile Corp. … But the arbitrator ruled that Boston officials failed to negotiate the bonuses and other aspects of the program with the union before” launching the program. The ruling “puts the program in jeopardy at O’Bryant, and would probably prevent an anticipated expansion to 10 other city schools next year, said Morton Orlov II, who runs the AP initiative for Mass Insight.”

Teacher Challenges Florida District’s Proposed Copyright Policy.

The St. Petersburg Times (1/6, Solochek) reports that the Pasco County, Florida School Board recently proposed a new policy, under which “employees would have to ask the district to ‘relinquish’ copyright ownership to books, plays or other materials they developed on their own time,” only after granting the district the right to purchase the materials free of royalty charges.” High school math teacher Pat Connolly “challenged the board to fix the policy so it does not take away employees’ rights.” Superintendent Heather Fiorentino is now also “recommending the policy be rewritten to avoid the appearance that the district is trying to take away independent creativity.” She does however, “want to see the work before it goes to print in order to make sure it reflects well upon the district’s philosophy and goals.”

Florida Education Commissioner, Teachers Agree: Over-Enrollment Is A Problem For AP Classes.

The St. Petersburg Times (1/8, Matus) reports that echoing the “growing chorus of teachers” in Florida that have for years “complained that they’re being swamped by kids unprepared for the rigors of Advanced Placement classes,” Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith told the St. Petersburg Times on Wednesday that “there is a problem in overenrollment in AP.” He added, “There needs to be some selectivity in how kids are guided into AP, and which AP work they’re guided into.” The Times notes that in the past ten years, “Florida has quadrupled the number of students taking AP classes.” But many “teachers and others…fear” that “pushing more ‘average’ students into AP” is “compromising quality to reach lower-performing students and potentially shortchanging those at the top.” Similar sentiments have been expressed throughout the country, as shown in “a survey of 1,000 AP teachers” by the Fordham Institute “that drew national attention last year.” Results showed that “more than half said too many AP students are ‘in over their heads.’”

Opinion: Business Model Not Appropriate For Schools.

Former UCLA Graduate School of Education lecturer and 28-year teaching veteran Walt Gardner wrote in an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee (1/17), “If schools were allowed to be truly run like businesses, they (employers) would be able to deny enrollment (hiring) of students (workers) who have neither the ability nor desire (qualifications) to be there. But public schools, unlike private and religious schools, must accept virtually all who show up at the schoolhouse door.” According to Gardner, “This is the antithesis of how business operates. … If taxpayers were to spend time in the classroom, they might gain more respect for the work that public schools do in the face of daunting challenges. At the least, they’d come away realizing the futility of running schools like businesses.

Obama Administration Proposing “Sweeping Overhaul” Of NCLB.

The New York Times (2/1, A1, Dillon) reports on its front page that the Obama administration “is proposing a sweeping overhaul” of NCLB “and will call for broad changes in how schools are judged to be succeeding or failing, as well as for the elimination of the law’s 2014 deadline for bringing every American child to academic proficiency.” However, the Times adds that the “administration is not planning to abandon the law’s commitments to closing the achievement gap between minority and white students and to encouraging teacher quality.” The Times notes that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “foreshadowed the elimination of the 2014 deadline in a September speech, referring to it as a ‘utopian goal,’ and administration officials have since made clear that they want the deadline eliminated.”

Obama Administration Proposes NCLB Overhaul Within 2011 Budget Request.

USA Today (2/2, Toppo) reports that the Obama administration “will seek Congress’ help in overhauling a key part of the 8-year-old No Child Left Behind education law,” proposing that “a requirement that states increase the percentage of students meeting standards each year” be eliminated. Instead, President Obama “wants lawmakers to consider rewarding states that show progress toward internationally benchmarked, nationally developed standards.” According to USA Today, Education Secretary Arne Duncan “told reporters the law ‘often does little to reward progress’ of schools that help students achieve – and lets states set standards that are too low to allow U.S. children to get into college or compete internationally.”

The AP (2/1, Quaid) reported that President Obama is proposing an NCLB overhaul, “replacing the school accountability system that has slapped a failing label on more than a third of schools, including many that made big gains but just missed their annual targets.” According to the AP, President Obama’s budget plan aims to “recognize and reward schools for helping kids make gains, even if they aren’t yet on grade level.”

The Washington Post (2/2, Anderson) reports, “As legions of schools nationwide fall short of academic targets, the Obama administration proposed Monday to toss out the pass-fail measure that for 15 years has been the bedrock of the school accountability system and replace it with an index that would reward educators who prepare students for college and careers.” Duncan “credited” NCLB “for exposing achievement gaps but said it has focused too much on reading and math and unfairly labeled many schools.”

The Christian Science Monitor (2/2, Paulson) reports, “Included in Monday’s 2011 budget proposal were some significant – and controversial – shifts in federal education policy, even though a formal” NCLB reauthorization plan “has yet to be submitted. … The administration would like to replace the annual yearly progress (AYP) benchmarks with new standards based on college and career readiness.” Bloomberg News (2/1) reports that according to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, “the largest U.S. teachers’ union is ‘very pleased’ with the administration’s planned changes to the law.”

Op-Ed: School Accountability Push Will Fail Without Proper Metrics.

University of Virginia Psychology Professor Daniel Willingham writes in an op-ed in the Boston Globe (2/4), “In an effort to improve public schools, President Obama wants to hold individual teachers accountable for student test scores; indeed, states that prohibit the practice are ineligible for the ‘Race to the Top’ funds.” However, “we do not have good tools to measure teachers, and when you hold people accountable with poor measures, things…get worse. The reason is simple: Accountability changes workers’ focus from ‘do a good job’ to ‘do a job that looks good according to the measure.’”