ATA News

Dear fellow teachers,

Welcome back to Albany, where we take pride in having some of the best schools in the Bay Area. I’d like to start by expressing my appreciation for all of our returning teachers who have persevered through the most difficult years of our profession, and welcome all of our new educators. You’re joining an incredible faculty and a strong union, both of which contribute to the outstanding quality of education in our schools. My name is Chris Knight, and Kim Gray and I are your ATA-co-presidents. I want to start by introducing our ATA executive board, officers, and leaders, if you could please stand up when I call your name. Vice President: Patty Bruns, Secretary: Jen Gripman, Treasurer: Tobias Bodine, Bargaining Chair: Emily Surowitz, Membership Chair: Jamie Shepherd , Grievance Chair: Karen DeHart , Elections Chair: Jared Law, Organizing Chair: Linda Kaiser, Social Media expert: Toni Martinez-Borgfeldt, Website guru: Sean Morris.

You might have noticed the beautiful red t-shirts. After Kim and I attended the CTA Presidents conference this summer, the e-board applied for a grant with the help of our amazing CTA support staff member, Zev Kvity. Zev, will you please stand up. With that grant money, we were able to fund new union-made and union-printed ATA t-shirts. We chose “red for ed” to show solidarity with our fellow teachers throughout the state. After this is over, please pick one up, wear it proudly, and stay tuned for actions where we’ll all be wearing these shirts.

We encourage you to join us in ATA leadership. We’re calling all teacher-leaders to serve as ATA site-reps. Site reps serve as the Congress of our union, making sure the voices of our members are heard and acted upon. Our monthly rep council meetings are usually the 2nd Thursday each month, in AMS room 212, from 4:15-5:30. Check our website: www.ata-ausd.org  for more details on being a site rep, and a list of the 2022-2023 meetings dates.

One priority for Kim and I this year is communication. If we learned anything during zoom school, it’s that communication is often more difficult without any in-person contact. Therefore, the ATA executive board and rep council will be meeting  in person this year. We hope other district groups will follow suit. We’re also going to be printing as well as emailing out a monthly newsletter. The first edition is at our table right over there, I encourage you to pick up a copy.

Kim and I are also going to be doing regular site visits this year. We’ve divided the work. Kim is going to be focusing on Ocean View, Cornell, and Albany Middle School. I will be at Albany High, Marin, and Albany Children’s Center. Some of that grant money is going to be funding food during those visits. We’ll reach out beforehand so that you can let us know your site’s favorite snacks.

This Fall we have a school board election. There are 3 seats up for election, which is a majority of the 5 seat board. Board decisions have a real impact on the classroom, and for that reason being a school board member is a tremendous responsibility. In the next month, ATA’s executive board will be creating a process where teachers will be able to get to know the candidates and their views better, with the ultimate goal of deciding whether our union will endorse any of them for the election. We’re also looking for a Political Action Committee (PAC) Chair to help coordinate our electoral activities this Fall. If you’ve got a knack for politics and a passion for informing teachers of the important issues on the 2022 ballot, please let us know.

As many of you know, we are currently bargaining our 2022-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Will the bargaining team please stand up: Emily Surowitz, Tedra Grogans, Beth Dunn, Dan Gottheimer, Sara Haller, Jamie Shepherd.

Keep in mind that the reason Albany’s schools are the best in the Bay Area, is because our teachers are amazingly good at what we do. But we know we face challenges with inflation, the growing cost of living in the Bay Area, and a teacher shortage. With education funding at an all-time high, we must prioritize our ability to recruit and retain the best educators if we want to keep our schools in Albany among the best in the Bay. So let’s do it.

That’s all I’ve got. Don’t forget to get a t-shirt on your way out and stop by Zev’s table if you have any questions about how to join ATA or anything else union-related.

Thanks.

Dear Members of the Board,

AUSD is at a time of transition. A year ago, we were still grappling with how to teach effectively in a pandemic. Today, along with our colleagues in neighboring public and private school districts, ATA teachers are planning on a return to full in-person 5 days a week instruction in the fall.  We look forward to being with our students in person while we leverage our new fluency with technology skills gained over the last year.

As teachers, we continually assess and evaluate our teaching and the educational tools we use with our students.  This pandemic continues to necessitate new skills and technology when working with students – some that will enhance good teaching, others that are tied to circumstances that may longer apply.  As we return to normalcy, we need to use a pedagogical lens to determine how to best educate our students.  As the school board looks to the fall, we ask that you listen to the professional voices of our teachers, especially our amazing staff at AMS, when looking at remote learning options.

Financially, less than a year ago this board was in the position of making drastic cuts at all levels in the face of a looming structural deficit. Today it is the recipient of over $6 million in learning loss funding from state and federal sources. Let’s use this to invest in academic achievement and mental health of our students, as well as furthering our investment in excellent teachers and leadership for the district.

What a year we’ve been through. Let’s keep its lessons close, evaluate the skills we’ve developed through it, and set our sights on what’s ahead.

Sincerely,
Chris & Stephen
ATA Co-Presidents

April 20

Dear Board Members and Albany Community,

ATA has a short statement tonight, just a few things.

First, ATA applauds the verdict rendered today. Our members were heartbroken over the murder of George Floyd, and this small bit of justice–while still far less than necessary–is welcome.

Second, we want to thank Director Borrego, CBO Kim, Director Ritchie, Asst. Superintendent Williams, Superintendent Wells, and Principal McNally as well as our fabulously hardworking custodial and maintenance staff for their hard work preparing the high school for in person instruction. It’s been a joy for the high school teachers to see some of our students in person again. Through the dedicated work of our teachers and district staff, Albany has all schools open for in-person learning.

Finally, after all we’ve been through this year, we hope that we can give these schedules and systems we’ve just established a fair shot. Albany students deserve our best—establishing some stability and consistency right now will go a long way towards making sure that they get it.

Sincerely,

Chris Knight and Stephen Naiff ATA Co-Presidents

April 6, 2021

Trustees of the School Board,

As teachers, our passion and duty is to provide education, care, and stewardship to the children in our charge. It was exciting to re-engage in that core mission as some students have been able to return to Albany campuses. ATA members have been working feverishly for the past two weeks to prepare our classrooms to provide a safe learning environment for Albany’s students. For the children and teachers who have been able to return in person, it has been a joy to be back in school.

However, the rush to reopen has caused serious problems and added additional stress to Albany’s already overloaded teachers. The lack of adequate ventilation in some rooms, lack of soap in some bathrooms, inadequate internet infrastructure at the middle school which caused an outage; these are serious problems that impede our efforts to provide a safe and equitable learning environment for our in-person and at-home students. These problems will eventually be solved. Yet the rush to reopen has forced us to compromise safety for speed. The expertise of teachers and administrators was waved away in an effort to hurry things along. The membership of ATA finds this wholly unacceptable.

It’s too early to assess all of the takeaways from this unprecedented school year. And we need to acknowledge that we’re all doing our best. But we must also acknowledge that we have to do better. Especially when it comes to this school board working WITH our education professionals. We are your strongest allies in the effort of education.

Moving forward, ATA hopes that this board can commit to a collaborative relationship where we can implement and honor solutions that work for the entire Albany Unified community. We ask that prior to wholesale changes to schedules, programs, and safety measures, that you seek out, hear, and listen to the expertise of your committed educators and administrators. We have a deep understanding of these issues, it is our life’s work, and ignoring our expertise does disservice to students and teachers alike. When we work together during these immensely challenging times, we give Albany students our best.

We look forward to rebuilding this relationship together.

Sincerely,

Chris Knight & Stephen Naiff
ATA Co-Presidents

Dear friend of the Albany Teachers Association:

To use a carefully chosen word that parents know well – we are disappointed.

With over 180 signatures on a letter to the Board last Tuesday the 16th, you communicated loud and clear that you support teachers and that you believe Albany must do our best for every student. Regardless, the Board voted against your advice and the advice of our site administrators. They imposed hastily conceived schedules for the elementary and middle grades that contradict legally binding agreements with our union. We commend our high school student leaders for standing strong – the Board decided not to change schedules at the high school!

Among other things, the Board imposed elementary and middle school schedules:

• Risk community spread of the virus by increasing the size of cohorts for students attending in person – and then mixing cohorts,
• Risk student’s emotional wellbeing and academic progress by shifting students to new classes and new teachers late in the school year,
• Compromise the quality of education, by
  • Packing in-person students into rooms with no space to move around,
  • Requiring longer hours of zoom for students who need to remain remote,
  • Limiting access to important special services during the school day.

This is NOT doing our best for every student.

We are not giving up. On Thursday, our union attorney sent the Superintendent a Cease and Desist letter. On Friday, the Superintendent indicated he will press ahead with the new schedules. We are considering our further options according to our union democratic process and keeping communication open.

Sadly, the Board has showed us that they will not listen to everyone who wishes to speak in their meetings. However, we have another way for you to express yourself! You can display a beautiful window sign in your home and car to show your support of Albany teachers and the idea that every student deserves our best! Sign up for delivery by pressing the button at the top of this post.

We are greatly encouraged by your support. We share your love for our wonderful students. We stand together with you in this challenging time.

Yours,

Stephen Naiff and Chris Knight, Albany Teachers Association Co-Presidents

Dear friends,

As you may be aware, Albany teachers ratified a modification to our previous agreement with the district. We remain concerned about the impacts on our
students of the schedules that the Board has imposed. However, we did not want to respond to the intense pressure from the Board in a way that delayed in-person re-opening altogether. We want to be with our students!

Because the circumstances are so very difficult, we are pleased to secure additional one-time funds for our members, similar to what is being done in other districts around the state. For many of us, this funding is a lifeline, a small recompense for vast hours of unpaid overtime. Others among us are planning to pool our funds to create a resource for students, families and staff who are in crisis because of unequal impacts of COVID.

Fundamentally, California public schools are suffering from a half-century of disinvestment, which, especially in times of crisis like this, forces impossible trade-offs and reveals longstanding inequities. Teachers will do what we have always done – our very best for every child. It will continue to be painfully less than what we could do with enough resources and better process. We will insist that the impacts of the Board’s decisions are monitored in a transparent way, and with a focus on equity. Going forward, we hope that the Board will move away from top-down dictates and towards real collaboration with educators and all parts of the community.

You can help us show them the way!
• Share your observations with us as the new schedules are implemented!
• Post a window sign to support us! Click here to request delivery.

We are working on more ways to collaborate and connect.

Until then, yours truly,

Chris Knight and Stephen Naiff
Albany Teachers Association Co-Presidents
albanyteachersassociation@gmail.com
ata-ausd.org

Dear Superintendent, School Board members, and Albany Community,

Our teachers are angry and frustrated.  We worked so incredibly hard on a thoughtful, safe, and comprehensive plan that supports all of our students, only to have it brushed aside within moments of being ratified.  We were then asked to simultaneously prepare for new schedules, teach to the old ones and have thoughtful ideas about how yet another brand new way of teaching would effect students and staff.

As Dr. Wells mentioned, we are not a hurdle to overcome, we are over 200 professional educators with vast experience dealing with children and their needs.  We do not negotiate to waste time and slow down reopening.  We understand that the process is the only way to ensure a safe and successful transition to yet another new way of teaching.  The chasm between your direction and the reality it means for staff and students is huge.  We need time to bridge it.

Treat us like the professionals we are.  Give us the time to make this next transition as successful as it can be.  Albany students deserve our best!

Sincerely,

Stephen and Chris

This letter is being presented at a special Board meeting tonight, March 16th, 2021.  It includes eight pages of comments supporting the following statement:

We write to ask you to collaborate and cooperate with our teachers and their union. We want to do our best for every student. In this time of pandemic, doing our best means taking the time and care to manage difficult limitations and tradeoffs. Please respect our expertise as parents, students, and community members. Please respect the expertise of our professional educators. Please honor your agreements. Please continuously check back in with the complex and diverse needs of all our students. Please support our teachers. Every student deserves our best. Thank you.

ATA Letter to Board – 3_16_21

Next week marks the beginning of in-person learning for most of our youngest learners.  As each week passes, over a hundred additional students will be reunited with their teachers and classmates.  We are thrilled!

This is possible through the culmination of almost a year of hard work from all parts of our community.  Our parents supported us as we recreated remote learning into the multi-faceted experience it is now.  The District provided training and support as we continually improved a brand new way of teaching.  Teachers continued to put their heart and soul into their passion – their students.  We should all be proud of this work.

During this time, the District created reopening task force committees with parent and board member input, schedules were discussed at board meetings, and our bargaining team worked incredibly hard with the District to create a viable plan for hybrid teaching in Albany.  This collaborative effort focused on three main tenets: keeping students with their teachers, allowing a robust option for families that needed to stay remote, and providing students and staff a safe and healthy place to teach and learn.  This plan provides all of those things and is supported by over 95% of our voting members.  We have a plan, let’s put it to work.

Albany students are the center of everything we do.  We appreciate the collaborative effort that has provided us the opportunity to safely bring our educators and students back to the classroom.  We are confident that we can provide the best for our students with the support from our community partners.

Sincerely,

Stephen Naiff & Chris Knight