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Award-Winning Newspaper of United Teachers Los Angeles •
www.utla.net Volume XLV, Number 3, November 20, 2015
UTLA members send citywide message on Broad-Walmart scheme
LAUSD School Board expected to vote December 8 on motion opposing plan.
Chanting “Billionaires can’t teach our
kids,” educators took the fight against the
Broad-Walmart plan to the community
on November 10. Before school, UTLA
members across the city leafleted parents
and protested the scheme to spend half a
billion dollars to take 50% of our LAUSD
students and put them into unregulated
charter schools over the next eight years.
The flyers for parents outlined the harm
the Broad-Walmart plan would do to
student learning by draining funds from
neighborhood schools and forcing sites
to compete for students and resources.
The leaflets also called for investment in
community schools instead of unregulated charters.
UTLA held a news conference in the
morning at Stevenson Middle School,
during which parents, students, educators,
and labor leaders spoke against the plan.
Lola Vasquez, mother of a seventh-grade
student at Stevenson, called the BroadWalmart plan “dangerous.”
“If they are able to implement their
plan, our schools will lose teachers and
resources, leaving the weakest to fend for
themselves,” Vasquez said.
Stevenson student Arely Valencia detailed all the good things happening at her
Stevenson Middle School teachers and health and human services professionals picket on
November 10. They were linked with colleagues across the District who protested the BroadWalmart plan in front of their schools that morning.
Speaking at a news conference at Stevenson Middle School on November 10 were parent Lola
Vasquez (at the mic), teacher Marcela Chagoya, students Kevin Gomez and Arely Valencia,
SEIU Local 99 Chief of Staff Lisa Gude, UTLA Treasurer Arlene Inouye, UTLA President Alex
Caputo-Pearl, CTA President Eric Heins, and CFT President Joshua Pechthalt.
school—including the City Year program,
the UCLA Bruins Career Center, and the
AVID program—that would be threatened
by the loss of resources and support under
the Broad plan.
“Why ruin such an awesome school
with so much to offer when with your
support, our school can become even
greater?” Valencia said. “Don’t support
making more charters, when we are here
now, and we are the future.”
UTLA’s early-morning action sent a
strong message to the LAUSD School
Board in advance of its November 10
meeting that elected officials need to stand
up for students and reject the plan to dismantle public education in L.A.
“The Broad-Walmart plan sets up a
way to open unregulated schools that
are not going to have to serve high-needs
students, are not going to be required to
have public engagement with parents,
and are going to drain the District’s
budget,” UTLA President Alex CaputoPearl said. “It’s important for the School
Board to go on the record against a plan
that doesn’t hold all schools to the same
standards.”
A group of parents, including Josefina
Ramirez from Arminta Elementary, Kahllid
Al-Amin from YES Academy, Marina
Marquez from Grand View Elementary,
and Raquel Martinez from UCLA Community Schools, addressed the School Board
members in open session, urging them to
take action to protect the students they
were elected to serve.
School Board member Scott Schmerelson—a former teacher and administrator
who has taught in communities across
LAUSD—later introduced a motion that
(continued on page 5)
LCAP budget sessions put community
issues front and center
Page 4
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
United Teacher
PRESIDENT
Alex Caputo-Pearl
NEA AFFILIATE VP
Cecily Myart-Cruz
AFT AFFILIATE VP
Betty Forrester
ELEMENTARY VP
Juan Ramirez
SECONDARY VP
Colleen Schwab
TREASURER
Arlene Inouye
SECRETARY
Daniel Barnhart
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
President’s perspective
Note to LAUSD’s next superintendent
Take notice of the movement against Broad-Walmart and for Sustainable
Neighborhood Community Schools.
Jeff Good
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
NORTH AREA: Kirk Thomas, Chair (Eagle Rock ES),
Karla Griego (Buchanan ES), Rebecca Solomon
(RFK UCLA Comm. School), Julie Van
Winkle (Logan Span School)
SOUTH AREA: Ingrid Villeda, Chair (93rd Street ES),
Ayde Bravo (Maywood ES), Ayesha Brooks
(Markham MS), Maria Miranda (Miramonte ES)
EAST AREA: Gillian Russom, Chair (ESP Academy),
Ingrid Gunnell (Lane ES), Gloria Martinez (Rowan ES),
Adrian Tamayo (Lorena ES)
WEST AREA: Erika Jones Crawford, Chair (CTA
Director), Noah Lippe-Klein (Dorsey HS), Rodney Lusain
(Los Angeles HS), Jennifer Villaryo (Grand View ES)
CENTRAL AREA: José Lara, Chair (Santee EC),
Kelly Flores (Maya Angelou), Paul Ngwoke (Bethune
MS), Zulma Tobar (Harmony ES)
VALLEY EAST AREA: Scott Mandel, Chair (Pacoima
Magnet), Victoria (Martha) Casas (Beachy ES), Mel
House (Elementary P.E.), Alex (David) Orozco (Madison MS)
VALLEY WEST AREA: Bruce Newborn, Chair (Hale
Charter), Melodie Bitter (Lorne ES), Wendi Davis
(Henry MS), Javier Romo (Mulholland MS)
HARBOR AREA: Aaron Bruhnke, Chair (San Pedro HS),
Elgin Scott (Taper ES), Steve Seal (Eshelman ES)
ADULT & OCCUP ED: Matthew Kogan (Evans CAS)
BILINGUAL EDUCATION: Cheryl L. Ortega (Sub Unit)
EARLY CHILDHOOD ED: Corina Gomez (Pacoima EEC)
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Linda Gordon
SPECIAL ED: Darrell Jones (Byrd MS)
SUBSTITUTES: Fredrick Bertz
PACE CHAIR: Marco Flores
UTLA RETIRED: John Perez
AFFILIATIONS
American Federation of Teachers
National Education Association
STATE & NATIONAL OFFICERS
NEA DIRECTOR: Sonia Martin Solis
CFT PRESIDENT: Joshua Pechthalt
CTA PRESIDENT: Eric Heins
CTA DIRECTOR: Erika Jones Crawford
CFT VICE PRESIDENT: Betty Forrester
NEA PRESDIENT: Lily Eskelsen Garcia
AFT PRESIDENT: Randi Weingarten
UTLA COMMUNICATIONS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Alex Caputo-Pearl
COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALISTS:
Kim Turner, Carolina Barreiro, Tammy Lynn Gann
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Laura Aldana
EDITORIAL INFORMATION
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2
November 20, 2015
By Alex Caputo-Pearl
UTLA President
a financial review panel commissioned by
LAUSD made a presentation. The panel discussed the finances of active employee and
retiree health benefits. We need to aggressively prepare to protect our benefits. The
panel also pointed out that efforts like BroadWalmart, by draining LAUSD’s enrollment
and leaving the highest-need students to be
educated with less funds, threaten the District’s financial viability. In fact, we know that
this is one of Broad’s goals, consistent with
the goals of a broader set of billionaires to
“run schools like businesses,” open up more
sectors to private influence and profit, and
get rid of “inefficient” large urban systems,
the school boards that are democratically
elected within them, and the unions that
represent workers within them.
UTLA is taking the lead in building a
movement to ensure the financial sustainability of public education in Los Angeles. A
key aspect of this will be organizing intensely
behind the extension of Proposition 30, which
will be on the statewide ballot in November
2016. UTLA has been deeply involved in the
statewide steering committee of the Make
It Fair coalition to reform the commercial
property tax system so that billionaires like
Eli Broad cannot continue jumping through
tax loopholes. This work has helped build a
statewide network of community and labor
organizations that will be key to organizing
behind the Proposition 30 extension.
A second key aspect of ensuring the fi-
testing. In support of these efforts, UTLA’s
Parent-Community Organizing Committee
(PCOC) has played a key role in mobilizing
hundreds of students, parents, and educators
to a series of UTLA/LAUSD-sponsored input
sessions to shape the District’s Local Control
Accountability Plan, which will guide how
the District spends its state money.
This leads us to the third key aspect of
ensuring the financial sustainability of public
education in Los Angeles. We must build
parents’, students’, and communities’ confidence in public schools, and ensure vibrant
enrollment. Building the movement for investment in Sustainable Neighborhood Community Schools is key to this. Parents want
safe schools, which well-resourced restorative
justice programs and wrap-around services
will support. Parents want to know how
their children are doing through appropriate
testing, but parents do not want rampant overtesting that pushes the arts, music, and other
life-inspiring subjects out of the curriculum.
November 10 was an incredible day—a
day that illustrates the kind of superintendent Los Angeles needs.
On that day, LAUSD School Board
Member Scott Schmerelson introduced a
motion opposing the Broad-Walmart plan
to deregulate and dismantle public education; there was vibrant morning picketing
at hundreds of sites against Broad’s plan to
expand unregulated schools and in support
of Sustainable Neighborhood Community
Schools; and students and parents spoke
powerfully about educational initiatives
occurring in their neighborhood schools,
initiatives that deserve more investment.
Stevenson Middle School student Arely
Valencia, in a press conference in support
of the picketing, called for more investment
in the successful mentoring, tutoring, and
STEM programs at her school. She was followed by Stevenson parent Lola Vasquez,
who expressed anger about Eli Broad’s halfBuilding Sustainable Neighborhood
billion-dollar effort to undermine schools like
Community Schools from the
Stevenson through unregulated and unfair
ground up
competition—continuing a long pattern
In my many years of teaching at Crenof behavior by Broad, including when he
shaw High School in South Los Angeles,
funded efforts to defeat Proposition 30,
my proudest moments were in building
the initiative that restored state funding to
one example of a Sustainable Neighborschools after years of crippling recession.
hood Community School. At Crenshaw, we
Stevenson is a mobilized school, with the
called it the Extended Learning Cultural
vast majority of the educators signed onto
Model. A strong union chapter, a powerful
the Build the Future, Fund the
parent organization, student
Fight petition for a dues inleadership, deep connections
crease and joint membership.
to community organizations
These educators understand
and institutional partners, and
that UTLA members must
administrative leadership were
raise our dues and strengthen
essential ingredients. It would
ourselves in local, state, and
not have happened without
national arenas. Taking these
educators like Maynard Brown,
actions will allow us to invest
Jackie Lopez, Cristina Lewis,
more in parent-community orMeredith Smith, Cathy Garcia,
ganizing, school site support,
Frances Quijada, Fred David,
public relations and media,
and James Altuner; parents like
and legal services.
Eunice Grigsby, Nidia SoteloLater on November 10, at the
Fuentes, and Rhonda Adway;
School Board podium, parents
student leaders like Tauheedah
Marina Marquez, Raquel MarShakur and Stephanie Alvarez;
tinez, Josefina Ramirez, and
key partners like Dr. Sylvia RousKahllid Al-Alim—from schools Alex walks the line with UTLA/NEA VP Cecily Myart-Cruz and Stevenson
seau from USC (who also served
spanning West L.A. to mid- Middle School educators on November 10.
as interim principal), Dr. Lewis
Wilshire to the San Fernando
King from the Tom and Ethel
Valley to South L.A.—spoke about how essen- nancial sustainability of public education in
Bradley Foundation, and Manuel Criollo from
tial it is for publicly funded schools to accept Los Angeles is to push LAUSD and employthe Community Rights Campaign; and assisall students and to involve parents deeply in ers at our UTLA-represented charter schools
tant principals like Sherry Rubalcava.
decision-making. They expressed rage at how to invest in practices important to students,
As UTLA’s campaign for Sustainable
billionaires like Broad fund competition-based parents, and educators. When Governor
Neighborhood Community Schools unfolds,
and “students as market share” plans that Jerry Brown releases his initial budget in
I will be writing more about what we can
would make it impossible to guarantee basic January, we will analyze it, look at how
learn from this work at Crenshaw High
resources for all students across all schools.
it shapes LAUSD and charter employers’ School. It was work that absolutely had its
LAUSD needs a superintendent who listens financial situations, and work at the state
flaws and gaps and that had its struggles
to and takes guidance from Arely, Marina, level with our state unions to further shape
as we attempted to build a model while
Raquel, Josefina, and Kahllid, and from the that budget proposal.
working in a community and school that
educators who were picketing across the city.
Just as importantly, here in L.A., we will had been historically marginalized. But, it
LAUSD needs a superintendent who under- continue pressing for investment in what
was the right work for educational justice,
stands the importance of Scott Schmerelson’s schools need, like smaller class sizes, full
and we made great strides.
motion opposing Broad-Walmart, which has a staffing, and key aspects of Sustainable
I want to spend a moment on one key
rapidly growing coalition behind it and which Neighborhood Community Schools: a broad
aspect of our model at Crenshaw High School:
the School Board will consider on December 8. curriculum including the arts and ethnic
restorative justice. Many UTLA members,
studies, a curriculum connected to the com- parents, students, and community partners
LAUSD’s financial review panel
munity, wrap-around services to support are frustrated by LAUSD’s current restorative
families, systematic parent engagement justice programs. This isn’t surprising. While
report underscores fiscal threat
programs, well-resourced restorative justice the programs emerged in response to a powerof Broad-Walmart plan
Earlier in that same School Board meeting, programs, and investment in teaching not
(continued on next page)
PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
(continued from previous page)
ful, positive, years-in-the-making community
movement focused on racial justice and lowering the suspension rates of students of color,
John Deasy’s response to this movement was
warped. Typical of superintendents out of Eli
Broad’s academy, he supported restorative
justice to create national headlines and personal advancement options for himself—not
to create an actual implementation plan for
success. We are still dealing with fallout from
this, and a key part of UTLA’s work on Sustainable Neighborhood Community Schools
must be to correct this and build successful,
well-resourced restorative justice programs.
As we built our Sustainable Neighborhood
Community School model at Crenshaw High
School, under the guidance of the incredible leaders listed above, we constructed a
restorative justice program that was very
intentionally embedded within several sets
of broader supports.
• Through reshaping our own professional development time, supplemented
by grants from the Ford Foundation, we
compensated our educators for collaborative curriculum development that focused
on student empowerment by encouraging
young people to analyze their own identities,
connections to community, and responsibilities to develop their own cognitive skills. We
explicitly tied the curriculum to the community, through thematic, inter-disciplinary
units that connected to social justice issues,
small business development issues, and
more. We explicitly tied our work, in conversations with all stakeholders, to creating
a racially just and socially just society that
served students of all income levels and
backgrounds. Students were immersed in
this, and inspired to take leadership. Student
leadership and ownership is critical to successful restorative justice programs.
• In an underfunded environment, we put
training and appropriate staffing at the center
of our restorative justice program. Learning
academy lead teachers were given an additional conference period to run programs
and meet with students and parents. An additional educator in each academy was given
an additional conference period to specifically address discipline issues and restorative
justice. Assistant principals, counselors, and
educators were trained in restorative justice
practices, and came together weekly, during
the school day, in a Resource Coordinating
Team. The USC School of Social Work provided us with interns to assist with student
counseling. Instead of spending the bulk of
their time in offices in distant hallways, administrators had offices within their assigned
academies and spent the vast majority of
their time in classrooms, in hallways, and in
small group meetings with students, parents,
and educators.
• We created partnerships with community organizations and neighborhood
councils and funded weekly parent meetings
through foundation grants. These focused on
gathering parent insights to guide our work
and developing parent leadership. Through
this, parents got involved in supporting restorative justice practices, organizing other
parents to become involved, working with
their children on community-based internships, and more.
• At the foundation of all of this, we
focused on relationships—educator-student,
student-student, educator-parent, parentstudent, educator-educator, educator-administrator, relationships among all school
staff, and all school staff’s relationship to
community. Through this, we focused on
collaboration—for example, educators knew
they could count on, and were explicitly
encouraged to count on, their next-door
neighbor and the administrator down the
hall when there was a discipline issue.
We didn’t find a magic solution. But,
through hard work, we made progress as a
school community, and we learned lessons
that can help us now in building a movement for Sustainable Neighborhood Community Schools.
In fact, there are many schools across the
city that are instituting their own community
school practices that we can learn from—
schools like Grand View Elementary and
Marshall High. It is no surprise that these
schools have 90% and 92.9% of their staffs,
respectively, signed onto the Build the Future,
Fund the Fight petition for a dues increase
and joint membership. These educators know
that we need to collectively increase UTLA’s
capacity as we build a movement against
privatization and for Sustainable Neighborhood Community Schools.
And, we come full circle to the search
for a new LAUSD superintendent. Building a coalition behind Scott Schmerelson’s
motion opposing Broad-Walmart on December 8, organizing for more revenue in public
schools, and building a movement in support
of targeting those funds toward Sustainable
Neighborhood Community Schools—all of
these will continue shaping the search for
LAUSD’s next superintendent. And they
are part of building our broader movement. UTLA members who have inspired
me, like Maynard Brown, Jackie Lopez,
Cristina Lewis, Frances Quijada, Meredith
Smith, Cathy Garcia, Fred David, and James
Altuner, and the students and parents they
have worked with for so many years and
will work with for so many years to come,
are continuing to lead in that movement
for the Schools L.A. Students Deserve. Let’s
continue building together across the city!
November 20, 2015
Letters to the editor
We welcome letters to the editor and will
print as many as possible in the space
available. Letters may be edited for length
and clarity, and they do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of UTLA or its officers.
BIC a lesson in waste
This letter was also sent to the L.A. Times,
which declined to print it.
It does not require a mental giant to
conclude that the L.A. Times and its editorial board cannot cover the expansion
of charter schools in a fair and balanced
manner—not when its Education Matters
initiative is being indirectly funded by
multibillionaire Eli Broad, who happens
to be the prime advocate of charter school
expansion. What intelligent entity would
bite the hand that feeds it?
Beyond that, the Times cannot provide
balanced coverage because it was a staunch
supporter of former Superintendent John
Deasy (currently under investigation by
the FBI). Deasy is currently working for the
Broad foundation as “Superintendent in
Residence.” Deasy has a strong motive to
attack and undermine LAUSD, the district
that finally mustered the courage to put
an end to his tyrannical reign.
In spite of serious drought, scandalous waste occurs daily throughout
LAUSD. As a substitute teacher, I am appalled by the waste taking place in classrooms Districtwide due to the Breakfast
in the Classroom program. Twenty to 30
cartons of milk go directly in the trash
in countless classrooms daily. Think of
the water it takes to raise the cattle and
produce the thousands of cartons of milk
that get tossed out while lining Walmart’s
pockets, not to mention the suffering of
over-milked cows. I have witnessed students in more
than one class taking the time to open
each carton of milk to pour it down the
sink as the water ran so the sink wouldn’t
smell sour. This was a daily task assigned
to them by their teacher. If the District
insists on continuing this program it
must be adjusted to curb waste. We are
teaching students citywide that it is
okay to take and throw out unwanted
food. The program prior to BIC gave
free breakfast to anyone who needed it
if they came to school 20 minutes early.
This current program wastes our state
resources and our students’ educational
time while creating unsanitary conditions in the classroom. There has got to
be a better way!
—Sam Chaidez
Bellingham Elementary
—Kennon B. Raines
Substitute Teacher
By email: [email protected]
Times not fair or balanced
In this issue
4 LCAP budget forums bring community concerns
front and center
6 Media watch
Students, parents, and educators talk about their priorities for
District spending under the Local Control Accountability Plan.
7 Build the Future, Fund
the Fight
6 The search for the new superintendent
8 Accolades for educators
UTLA members shape the debate on what our schools need.
6 Alliance management hit with temporary
restraining order
Unlawful anti-union campaign leads to rare move by judge.
15 Milestones
17 Practical matters: Personal
necessity leave
21 STRS retirement workshops
22 NEA RA nomination form
25 CFT & AFT Convention forms
Get connected to UTLA
Facebook: facebook.com/UTLAnow
Twitter: @utlanow
YouTube: youtube.com/UTLAnow
Stevenson Middle School teacher Christina Rodriguez talks with a parent about the
Broad-Walmart plan on November 10, UTLA’s citywide picketing day.
3
November 20, 2015
LCAP input sessions put community priorities front and center
Parents, educators, and students push LAUSD to fund the Schools L.A. Students Deserve.
Educators, students, parents, and community members have been turning out
in large numbers to speak out on LAUSD
spending priorities at a series of forums
and input sessions on the Local Control
Accountability Plan (LCAP).
California’s new funding process, the
Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF),
has created new opportunities for community-educator participation in the budget.
Under LCFF, all districts and charter organizations are required to have a Local
Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP)
that describes how they intend to meet
annual goals for all students. The plan is
determined by the school district or charter
organization—not the school site—but
LCAPs provide opportunities to organize
at multiple points: in the development of
the District-wide plan and then, once it’s in
place, at school sites to ensure that administrators are spending appropriately LCFF
funds that are sent to individual schools.
As part of UTLA’s Strategic Plan, we
are working with parents and community
members to shape LAUSD’s and charter
managers’ LCAPs to support our priorities in the Schools L.A. Students Deserve
campaign. To support this ongoing work,
UTLA’s Parent-Community Organizing
Committee (PCOC) organized a series of
LCAP input sessions this month, cosponsored with LAUSD. Turnout was strong
across the board, with a solid mix of
parents, students, educators, and community members. At the forums, participants
broke into small groups to discuss school
needs and then reported out. Many priorities were repeated consistently across the
forums, and together they create a vision
for more educationally just, well-resourced
Students (above, at Mendez High School) have
turned out in big numbers, along with parents
and educators, at the UTLA co-sponsored
LCAP input sessions.
schools. Top funding priorities include:
• Small class sizes for more personal
attention for students.
• Safer and cleaner campuses.
• More counselors, nurses, school psychologists, pupil services and attendance
counselors, psychiatric social workers,
and other personnel to support students’
socio-emotional needs.
• Expanded electives in arts, music, and
ethnic studies and culturally relevant classes.
“What the District witnessed was a strong
and clear message that our community is organized and prepared to fight for the schools
that we deserve through the LCAP process,”
UCLA Community School teacher and PCOC
member Rosa Jimenez said of the North Area
session. “We are ready and willing to speak
loudly to our demands and hold the District
accountable if our demands our not heard.”
In many cases, the priorities were presented at the forums through illuminating
stories shared by educators, parents, and
students about conditions at their schools
and inequities in low-income neighborhoods. Students at more than one session
shared concerns about excessive testing
and overpolicing and told powerful stories
about how large class sizes are bad for their
confidence and their relationships with their
teachers. Forum participants also spoke
about transparency concerns with the LCAP,
such as accountability for the amount of
funds allocated to each school and how
those funds are being spent at school sites.
Jimenez said that some parents at the
North Area forum made connections
between the destructive intent of the
Broad-Walmart plan and the fight to make
sure LCAP money gets spent in ways that
improve our neediest schools. The LCAP
forums and their strong turnout underscore the threat to community engagement
under the Broad plan, which would greatly
expand unregulated schools whose boards
are not required to listen to parents and the
community. Many participants also commented that the new LAUSD superintendent must be committed to participatory
practices and working with the community.
Forums were held in the North Area
at RFK Community Schools, East Area at
Mendez High School, Harbor Area at Steven
White Middle School, West Area at Grand
View Elementary and Dorsey High School,
and the Valley Area at Mulholland Middle
(continued on page 18)
LAUSD instructional
calendar survey
Your chance to weigh in on school start dates.
School start dates have become a hotly
debated issue since LAUSD switched to
the Early Start calendar.
For the first time, LAUSD, under the
auspices of the Instructional Calendar Planning Committee, is holding a Districtwide
survey of parents and employees on their
preferences for instructional calendars. As
part of the survey, the District has posted
four scenarios for single-track schools, with
start dates in early August, mid-August,
late August, and after Labor Day.
The online survey for school-based em-
4
ployees runs from November 18 to December 6, and we encourage all members to
have their voices heard. The District needs
to know your opinion. Survey opinions will
inform Los Angeles Board of Education
members when voting to approve the calendar, and their decision will cover the
next three years.
For more information, including links
to sample calendars for Single-Track
Schools, go to http://achieve.lausd.
net/schoolcalendars.
Parents, students, and educators discuss their funding priorities in a breakout group at the
LCAP forum at RFK Community Schools.
The search for the
new superintendent
UTLA shapes the debate on what our schools need.
The Broad-Walmart plan has made
the choice of the next LAUSD superintendent of even greater consequence. At
the same time that Eli Broad is attempting to destroy LAUSD and any semblance of a true public education system,
he is also attempting to heavily influence
who is chosen for superintendent. Will
the next superintendent continue John
Deasy’s flawed policies and ease the way
for Broad-Walmart’s scheme to expand
unregulated schools? Or will she or he
embrace true collaboration and a vision
for Sustainable Community Schools?
UTLA has been shaping the debate
on the next LAUSD superintendent by:
• Consistently calling for an educator
with deep experience in education, a
track record of working collaboratively
with parents and employees to resolve
issues, and no relationship with the
Broad Academy.
• Reinforcing the danger of the Broad
Academy through our coalition-building and truth-telling about the BroadWalmart plan.
• Encouraging members and parents
to participate in the District survey and
forums on the next superintendent.
• Consistently engaging all LAUSD
School Board members and the Superintendent Search Committee on this
critical issue.
Join the email writing campaign
As part of UTLA’s engagement
in the superintendent search, UTLA
chapters have been getting together
to send emails to LAUSD School Board
members on what our schools need to
see in the next superintendent. If the
Board members get emails from all of
our schools, they will be compelled to
consider our guidelines when choosing
the next superintendent. Here are some
of the strategies chapters are using:
• Hold a chapter meeting and choose
three people to write emails.
• To underscore that we don’t need
another Broad-ite like John Deasy, share
specifics of how Deasy’s tenure impacted your school (MiSiS Crisis, top-down
uncollaborative decisions, etc.).
• Partner with parents to write an
email (this would be very powerful).
• Have a few people sign the email,
or have your whole chapter sign it.
Send your email to all seven LAUSD
School Board members by Friday, December 4. Please also send a copy to
[email protected] so that we can use
your email in other forums. Send the
text in the body of the email, or you
can print it out and sign a hard copy,
then scan/take a picture and email as
an attachment.
LAUSD School Board Emails
President: Steve Zimmer
[email protected]
District 1: George McKenna
[email protected]
District 2: Monica Garcia
[email protected]
District 3: Scott Schmerelson
[email protected]
District 5: Ref Rodriguez
[email protected]
District 6: Monica Ratliff
[email protected]
District 7: Richard Vladovic
[email protected]
November 20, 2015
BROAD-WALMART SCHEME
(continued from the cover)
would put the School Board on record as opposing the Broad-Walmart plan. His motion cites the
“collateral damage” the plan would have on the
students who would be left in an LAUSD system
“precariously drained of resources, programs, and
support systems.”
At the same session, School Board member Monica
Ratliff introduced a measure on charter school transparency. If approved, charters would need to be
more open about their curriculum content, services
to disabled students, whether their teachers are fully
credentialed, and how they comply with public
meeting rules.
The Schmerelson and Ratliff motions are expected
to be up for discussion and a vote at the School Board’s
next meeting, on December 8.
The impact of the Broad-Walmart plan on District
finances was underscored during the School Board
meeting by the report from an independent financial
review panel convened by Superintendent Ramon
Cortines. According to the panel’s findings, LAUSD
will face a budget deficit over the next several years,
starting in the 2017-18 school year. The panel discussed the funding of active employee and retiree
health benefits in its presentation, which is a signal to
UTLA and our sister employee unions that we need
Melrose Magnet
to prepare to protect our health care. The panel also
pointed to one of the key factors contributing to the
projected deficit: declining student enrollment, about
half of which is attributed to the growth of charter
schools. The report made it clear that the deficit would
accelerate sharply under the Broad-Walmart plan,
exponentially increasing the District’s budget challenges and threatening its ability to serve students.
UTLA’s fight against the Broad plan is also a fight
for what our schools need: a deeper investment in
and commitment to Sustainable Community Schools.
These schools are accessible to all, have a well-rounded
curriculum that includes college prep, music, the arts,
and ethnic studies, involve parents deeply, connect
curriculum to the community, rigorously support and
develop educators, and have well-resourced wraparound services and restorative justice programs.
Sustainable Community Schools have a proven track
record in other cities, and in L.A. the concepts are
already at work in many schools. UTLA is pressing
to scale up that success by investing wisely and advocating for more state funding.
December action: UTLA will be planning an action in
December to urge the School Board to vote to oppose
the Broad-Walmart plan. Look for more details soon.
Hamilton High School
YES Academy parent Kahllid Al-Alim was one of a group of parents
at the November 10 meeting who urged the School Board to take a
stand against the Broad-Walmart plan.
Hobart Elementary
Denker Elementary
68th Street Elementary
South Gate Middle School
Bushnell Way Elementary
North Hollywood Adult Learning Center
Vista Middle School
5
November 20, 2015
Delving into the Broad-Walmart document
The 46-page plan focuses on market share, teachers as “human capital,” and pitting educators against parents.
By now, most of L.A. is aware that billionaire developer Eli Broad and allies such as
the Waltons of Walmart are leading a campaign to greatly expand unregulated charter
schools in Los Angeles. It’s worth spending
some time with the 46-page document itself
(disingenuously labeled “The Great Public
Schools Now Initiative”) to truly understand
the scope and tone of their vision.
plans to roll out in other states and cities.
Using L.A. as the proving ground, the BroadWalmart plan is a comprehensive attack on
our historic national commitment to public
education and would fundamentally change
the bedrock democratic principles of transparency, accountability, equal opportunity,
and stewardship of public funds.
CHART FROM BROAD-WALMART PLAN
CHART FROM BROAD-WALMART PLAN
Page 6 of the Broad-Walmart
plan: The numbers
The executive summary confirms the numbers behind the goal
of spending half a billion dollars to:
1. create 260 new unregulated
charter schools in L.A.
2. generate 130,000 seats for
students.
3. reach 50 percent charter
“market share” (the document uses
the phrase “market share” throughout—a phrase lifted from the corporate world that has no place in
public education).
Under this plan, schools would be forced
to compete for resources, students, and
“market share,” resulting in a race to the
bottom in learning conditions. Deregulation
schemes in other parts of the country, such
as New Orleans, have led to massive inequities and civil rights violations for students,
with special education and higher-needs
students falling through the cracks because
unregulated charters will not serve them.
The Broad-Walmart plan also repeatedly
references a discredited study by CREDO
(the Center for Research on Education
Outcomes at Stanford) for evidence that
charters are better than traditional public
schools (read about the debunked study
at http://wapo.st/1LYIstG).
Page 8: First L.A., then the rest of
the nation
The document states on page 8 that the
initiative, if successful, would create a “national proof point” that would allow similar
Page 25: Pitting teachers
against parents
Page 13: Driving down
LAUSD enrollment
The chart on page 13 shows that BroadWalmart’s overarching goal is not to invest
in schools and boost student learning
but to drive down enrollment in LAUSD
schools. The loss of student enrollment
would lead to school closures and the
loss of school space due to Prop. 39 colocations with charter schools (according
to the Broad plan, 20% of growth would
come from co-locations).
The drop in enrollment would trigger
widespread layoffs (up to 50% of staff
Districtwide), and the reduced funding
to LAUSD would increase pressure for
deep cuts to employee and retiree health
benefits. The Broad-Walmart plan includes a section labeling educators as
“human capital” and making it clear
that primary recruiting for unregulated
charter positions will come from sources
outside LAUSD.
Media expose Broad-L.A. Times
conflict of interest
Taking on the Times is part of taking on
the billionaire agenda.
A series of articles have hit
hard against the L.A. Times’
accepting funds from foundations linked to Eli Broad and
other corporate “refomers”
for Education Matters, a new
section expanding the paper’s
coverage of education. As the
pieces detail, three of the Times’
benefactors—the K&F Baxter
Family Foundation, the Wasserman Foundation, and the
Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation—have been major supporters of charter and schoolprivatization efforts and are
hardly disinterested parties in
education matters. The Times
is now running a detailed disclaimer on education stories.
6
“Foundations Fund L.A. Times’ Education
Reporting. A Conflict?”
• Read it at bitly.com/wapoconflict
“Creating a Conflict of Interest”
• Read it at bitly.com/prospectconflict
“A Billionaire, a Fired Publisher, and a
Spectacle at the L.A. Times”
• Read it at bitly.com/cjrconflict
One especially offensive chart
from the Broad-Walmart plan falsely
pits UTLA members against parents and
exposes Broad’s vision of driving UTLA
membership down to lessen opposition
to takeover plans. The loss of members
would severely weaken UTLA financially
and as an organizing force for the Schools
L.A. Students Deserve. Our political power
would also slide, leaving an open field
for the billionaires to control education
in Los Angeles.
The Broad-Walmart plan does not
mention that parents would lose their
voice in their child’s education: Unlike
LAUSD, which has a publicly elected
school board accountable to parents, unregulated charter schools have privately
selected boards that hold private meetings
and do not have to answer to parents or
the community.
Read the full text of the Broad plan and
more about UTLA’s fight at http://utlabuildthefuture.com/site/ourstruggle.
Alliance management hit with
temporary restraining order
Unlawful anti-union campaign leads to rare move by judge.
In a major step forward for educator organizing, on October 29 a judge
granted a temporary restraining order
against Alliance College-Ready Public
Schools for its unlawful anti-union campaign. The move will restore educators’
right to organize a union at the charter
chain and allow Alliance educators to
speak openly about unionization with
less fear and interference. The court
has ordered that Alliance and school
administrators must:
•Notify educators of the court’s
order through email and postings
at each of the schools.
•Not ask employees if they support
organizing.
•Allow employees to meet at school
sites after school hours with union
members or organizers.
•Not monitor employees and must
give space when employees talk to
our union members or organizers.
•Allow employees to use work
email system for union communications.
•Not coerce or threaten reprisals for
supporting organizing.
•Meet with Alliance educators and
their UTLA representatives.
Since the Alliance educators first
went public in March with their drive
to organize a union with UTLA, administration has conducted a campaign
of coercion that included threatening
individual teachers with poor evaluations if they engage in union activity,
paying alumni to call parents and urge
them to oppose the union, and denying
union members and organizers their
right to speak with other educators after
school hours on school property. All
of these activities violate state labor
laws; in California, teachers and other
public-sector workers have a right to
make their own decisions about unionization without fear of harassment or
retaliation.
After issuing four unfair practice
complaints, the Public Employment
Relations Board (PERB) decided to take
Alliance to court and seek an injunction.
The judge agreed that PERB met its
legal burden and issued a temporary
restraining order to restore educators’
rights while an injunction hearing is
scheduled. Issuing a TRO is a rare
move in a case like this and it exposes
the extreme nature of Alliance’s tactics
against its own educators, which are a
stark lesson in what educators would
face citywide if the Broad-Walmart
charter expansion plan were to come
to fruition.
November 20, 2015
Join the campaign for a stronger UTLA
Build our future with a fully funded union.
Thousands of UTLA members have now
signed the petition committing to vote yes
on the Strategic Plan, including our union’s
financial restructuring. As the petition says,
together we are fighting back against the
billionaires and their hand-picked bureaucrats who want to undermine our students’
education, cut our healthcare, take away
our pensions, suppress our voices, and
bankrupt our union. Here’s what you can
do now to support the campaign.
Check out the BFFF website: UTLA has
launched a website—utlabuildthefuture.
org—dedicated to our Strategic Plan and
the Build the Future, Fund the Fight campaign. Read FAQs about the campaign,
watch the video on the Strategic Plan, and
learn more about the Broad-Walmart attack
on our schools.
Wear red on Tuesdays: Every Tuesday,
UTLA members are showing their support
for UTLA’s strategic plan by wearing red
and the new Build the Future, Fund the
Fight button. Email photos of your staff
wearing red and wearing their buttons to
[email protected] so we can share the
unity on social media.
Sign the petition: If you haven’t signed
yet, ask your chapter chair for your
school’s petition and add your name to
the thousands who have already signed.
Chapter chairs: Keep gathering member
signatures on the Build the Future, Fund
the Fight petition. Fax or email them,
along with a copy or picture of your
updated roster, to the UTLA office every
week no matter how many signatures
you have. Signed petitions and updated
rosters can be returned to the UTLA
office by taking a picture and emailing
it to [email protected] or by fax
to (213) 487-1262.
utla build the future.org
Funding allotment for member services
and organizing would jump by 25%
Under the vision of the Build the
Future, Fund the Fight campaign, UTLA
will have the resources to fund our
Strategic Plan for the challenges ahead.
UTLA will use the increase in funding
to augment money spent on Member
Services & Organizing as we implement
our plan to:
• Launch a major public relations and
media campaign to counter the anti-educator narrative that is being funded by
the billionaires and corporate privatizers.
• Invest in strategic research to help
us take on LAUSD, union charter employers, politicians, and the corporate
privatizers.
• Hire more staff and provide more
resources to support school site organizing and parent/community engagement.
• Erase the structural deficit and
build a reserve fund.
• Expand legal protection to UTLA
members through CTA Group Legal
Services.
Under passage of dues increase
EXPENDITURES AS PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE
35.8%
51.2%
Member
services &
organizing
State and
national
dues
13%
UTLA
operations
DIRECT FUNCTIONS IN
SERVICE OF UTLA MEMBERS
Cesar Chavez Elementary teacher Liz Romero has signed on to the Build the Future, Fund
the Fight campaign because she values UTLA’s advocacy for health benefits.
“For me, $19 a month plus a pass-through is a small amount to ask compared to the health
coverage my family receives from the union,” Romero says. “Most workers pay hundreds of
dollars a month just for health premiums and doctors’ visits. As a mother with a son with
medical needs that require quarterly visits and continuous medical dependency, I want UTLA
to keep fighting strong for our health benefits.”
Educators at Santee Educational Complex wear their Build the Future, Fund the Fight
buttons in support of the Strategic Plan and financial restructuring.
Member Services and Organizing
UTLA enforces workplace rights and
fights to advance the interests of UTLA
members through the following:
• Organizing and representation staff:
Area reps, regional organizers, benefits
and special education specialists, and
support staff.
• Strategic research to support organizing, contract negotiations, communications,
fighting back against corporate privatizers,
and struggles with LAUSD and unionized
charter schools over staffing, class size, and
educator and student rights.
• Organizing non-union charter educators as part of a joint program largely
funded by UTLA affiliates (CFT/AFT and
CTA/NEA).
• UTLA’s democratic structure, including the elected Board of Directors, the
House of Representatives, 33 standing
committees of UTLA members, and the
full-time organizing and representational
work of UTLA’s seven elected officers.
• Internal and external communications, including campaign literature, informational material on member rights,
the UTLA website, email communications,
and other communication functions.
• Public relations and media campaigns.
• Resources for parent and community
organizing.
• Grievances and arbitrations
• Professional development
• Resources for Area organizing
• Legal costs
• And more
General UTLA Operations
UTLA’s operating costs cover the items
that keep UTLA running every day and
support member services and organizing,
including office supplies, computers, and
copy machines. This also includes managing the UTLA building, which provides
space for professional development classes,
chapter chair trainings, UTLA member
meetings, National Board Certification
support classes, and more.
STATE AND NATIONAL
UNIONS
UTLA members currently belong to one
of the two state and national unions: CFT/
AFT or CTA/NEA. School funding and a
significant amount of educational policy
are set at the state and national levels. Our
affiliates provide critical support to our
organizing and contract negotiations, and
they lead our policy efforts and our legal
response to anti-teacher and anti-union
attacks such as the Vergara and Bain lawsuits, which seek to eliminate hard-won
rights of educators and defund our movement. Our state unions also fund 80% of the
cost of five key positions that have increased
our organizing capacity at UTLA.
7
November 20, 2015
Latino heritage celebrated at Friedman Occupational Center
Adult education teachers and students plan multi-element event marking National Hispanic Heritage Month.
PAKO ALONSO
National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to
October 15) was celebrated in style at Abram Friedman
Occupational Center thanks to a team of students and
teachers under the direction of Fumi Bankole, math lab
instructor at the adult education facility.
The team transformed the usually drab lobby of the
Occupational Center into a festive and extensive exhibit
of the cultural and political contributions of Latinos. The
exhibit featured photos and information on a wide range
of Latino political, cultural, and artistic figures. Also displayed was a cabinet of Latin American art, jewelry, and
traditional costumes.
The group also produced three well-received assemblies. One featured the film The Motorcycle Diaries about
the travels of a young Ché Guevara. The others featured
student presentations with performances by Hip Hop for
Peace, El Salvadoran rappers who champion indigenous
peoples’ rights, and the multi-ethnic and multi-discipline
dance company 3-19 Dance Art.
Besides Bankole, staff members involved in organizing
the event include Anna Torres, Alejandra Salcedo, and
Gayle Brodie. Student participants included Jairo Cruz,
Jose Gonzalez, Marithza Quiroz, and Ana Mariano.
—Marc Wutschke
A dancer with the company 3-19 Dance Art
performs at Abram Friedman Occupational
Center as part of the school’s National Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.
Accolades for educators
Downtown Magnets teacher is in the running for
National Teacher of the Year.
UTLA member Daniel Jocz, who has
taught social studies for 11 years at Downtown Magnets High School, was named
last month as one of five California Teachers of the Year for 2016. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
also tapped Jocz as California’s candidate
for National Teacher of the Year.
An integral part of the Downtown
Magnets community, Jocz is a teacher, department chair, Associated Student Body
adviser, and member of the Instructional
Leadership Team. The passage rate of
his Advanced Placement students on the
U.S. History exam is among the highest
in the District.
“I strive every day to capture the magic,
complexity, and wonder of history for my
students from across Los Angeles’ innercity neighborhoods,” Jocz said. “My students from neighborhoods as diverse as
South and East Los Angeles and Chinatown rarely see themselves as being part
of American history.”
His use of YouTube and 21st-century
technology to complement his lessons has
been recognized nationally.
“My regular use of popular culture and
music in my lessons has allowed me to
create a curriculum that is rigorous, relevant, and engaging, and helps my students
develop media literacy skills,” he said.
The first in his family to go to college,
Jocz worked full-time to put himself
through school and graduated magna cum
laude from UCLA. During his studies, he
came to realize that many of America’s
minority communities were often underrepresented in the recounting of the nation’s history.
“To not teach this history . . . is to do a
disservice to our nation’s rich, complicated
past. This is why I committed my life to
teaching history in an urban public school
setting,” he wrote in his Teacher of the
Year application.
8
Staff members Fumi Bankole (seated), Anna Torres, Alejandra Salcedo, and Gayle
Brodie gather in front of some of the displays they organized to mark National
Hispanic Heritage Month.
Big Red and Big
Button Tuesdays
When we wear red on Tuesdays, we tell the
District that we are united as colleagues in the
campaign for the Schools L.A. Students Deserve.
Keep the red growing!
Every Tuesday, UTLA members are also
showing their support for UTLA’s strategic plan by wearing the Build the
Future, Fund the Fight button. We cannot take on the threats we face—including Eli Broad’s unregulated, nonunion charter expansion plan, LAUSD attempts
to cut health benefits, and attacks on our pensions at the ballot box—without a
united UTLA, with the resources needed to fund the fight.
RED
Email photos of your staff wearing red and wearing their buttons to
[email protected] for us to share in the UT and social media.
California Teacher of the Year Daniel Jocz was
also a winner of the UTLA Platinum Apple
Award in 2011.
The first level of the Teachers of the
Year competition was at the school district. The L.A. Unified Teachers of the Year
were submitted to the Los Angeles County
Office of Education for consideration as
regional winners. At the next level, a state
selection committee reviewed candidates’
applications and conducted site visits to
evaluate their rapport with students, classroom environment, presentation skills, and
teaching methods, among other criteria.
The finalists were interviewed, at the
office of the California Department of Education, in Sacramento. The state superintendent then selected the five honorees,
and determined that Jocz would move on
to the national competition. The national
winner is named in spring 2016
To submit news for “Accolades”:
Email details and photos to [email protected].
Franklin Elementary Chair: Edna Ikeda Horiuchi; Vice Chair: Heidi Motzkus
El Camino Real Charter High School Chair: Jason Kinsella; Co-chair: Carlos Monroy
While there are certain risk factors you can’t change, like your family history, knowing your risks for
diabetes lets you decide what’s best for your health.
Celebrate healthy changes
As always, the best way to lower your risks is to exercise, eat healthy, and lose any extra pounds.
Stay in check.
Low blood sugar levels can
cause sudden mood swings in
some people, so don’t go too
long between eating meals.
Indulge smart.
When you want to satisfy your
sweet tooth, be mindful of your
choices. A serving of berries
is almost always better than a
pastry or chocolate.
Visit kp.org/diabetes for more on preventing and living well with diabetes.
Services covered under a Kaiser Permanente health plan are provided and/or arranged by Kaiser Permanente health plans: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan,
Inc., in Northern and Southern California and Hawaii • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc., Nine
Piedmont Center, 3495 Piedmont Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305, 404-364-7000 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc., in Maryland,
Virginia, and Washington, D.C., 2101 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, MD 20852 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, 500 NE Multnomah St., Suite
100, Portland, OR 97232. Self-insured plans are administered by Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company, One Kaiser Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612.
Please recycle. 60245313 November 2014
Play detective.
Find out what you don’t know
about your family history,
especially when it comes to
chronic conditions.
November 20, 2015
NEA & AFT affiliate actions
Transforming education with Sustainable Community Schools
UTLA and our affiliates push for proactive alternatives to privatization.
By UTLA/NEA Vice President Cecily Myart-Cruz
& UTLA/AFT Vice President Betty Forrester
Over the past 16 months UTLA has
been engaged in an active campaign
for the Schools Los Angeles Students
Deserve, and to that end, our state and national unions have not only supported our
work here on the ground but they have
also begun a new trajectory of supporting our Strategic Plan, which addresses
the needs of the organization and how
we connect to the community and our
natural allies: our parents.
UTLA and our schools are facing un-
precedented attacks, including the BroadWalmart initiative, which is an eight-year
plan to systematically destabilize and dismantle LAUSD schools and, with them,
our rights and the improvements we have
made as educators and school personnel. One of our challenges is to present a
positive alternative to privatization and
unregulated charter schools.
We must also speak truth to power and
profess loudly that there are real inequities
that exist for students of color and low-
We’re with you
all the way
Supporting communities with union
expertise and long-term alliances.
At UnitedHealthcare, we’re dedicated to those
we serve — providing affordable, innovative
health care programs that honor hard work and
commitment with comprehensive solutions.
We provide a broad portfolio of customizable
health care plans as well as dental, vision, life
and disability offerings to help you get the right
coverage at the right price.
For more information, call
Anthony Campbell at 415-778-3845.
©2015 United HealthCare Services, Inc. Health plan coverage provided by or through
UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company and UnitedHealthcare of California. Administrative
services provided by United HealthCare Services, Inc., OptumRx or OptumHealth Care
Solutions, Inc. Behavioral health products are provided by U.S. Behavioral Health Plan,
California (USBHPC) or United Behavioral Health (UBH). UHCCA732195-000
10
income students in LAUSD. A campaign
for Sustainable Community Schools can
link UTLA’s existing work on issues such
as restorative justice, smaller class sizes, increased staffing, and relevant curriculum to
a broader strategy that has proven successful
in other districts. This work unites parents
and teachers to fight for more funding for
great public schools for every student.
This campaign fits neatly within the
UTLA Board-approved strategic plan for
the Schools L.A. Students Deserve and the
work that the UTLA Parent Community
Organizing Committee (PCOC) has been
building for the last year. Our strategic
plan calls for becoming deeply involved
in the District’s Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to shape the process
and outcomes at the District level and at
school sites. The PCOC has been developing expertise about the Local Control
Funding Formula (LCFF) and LCAP and
is currently holding joint community input
sessions with the District to identify priorities for spending. These sessions will
provide a real opportunity to show what
we stand for, not just what we are against.
Our national affiliates (NEA and AFT),
along with UTLA, are part of a movement
called the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools
(AROS). One of the calls to action states,
“Our schools belong to all of us: the students
who learn in them, the parents who support
them, the educators and staff who work in
them, and the communities that they anchor.
No longer will we allow ourselves to be
divided. We have developed these principles
and are committed to working together to
achieve the policies and practices that they
represent. Corporate-style reforms that disregard our voices, and attempt to impose
a system of winners and losers, must end.
None of our children deserve to be collateral
damage. We call on our communities and
commit the power of the organizations that
we represent, to pursue these principles in
our schools, districts and states. Together,
we will work nationally to make this vision
of public education a reality.”
When we read this call to action, we
get fired up because it’s what we want all
schools to be, and we know that all educators can agree that this is exactly what
every student in L.A. deserves.
UTLA has started partnering with the
community, and this notion of Sustainable
Community Schools is the key strategy to
transform our neighborhoods and schools
and provide the alternative to more nonregulated charters and privatization. But
what do we mean when we say Sustainable
Community Schools?
UTLA is committed to the farthestreaching model of Sustainable Community
Schools, which includes:
• Excellence and breadth across the curriculum, including multilingual education
• Cultural relevance and ethnic studies
• Personalization (low class sizes, full
staffing)
• Restorative justice
• Wraparound services and school safety
available to students and their families
• Teaching not testing
• Run by the public (respect for voice
of parents and educators)
• Curriculum connection between classrooms and community
• Transparency in all aspects
• Equity and access for all students
• Rights for all workers
The Community Schools model has
proven successful in other cities, and elements of this model are already at work
in many of our schools across the city.
The central idea of UTLA’s campaign is
to fight for site-level examples of Sustainable Community Schools that contain the
above elements, in the here and now, and
to scale those up over time to include more
and more Sustainable Community Schools
across Los Angeles. It is time for UTLA to
really engage with our schools, parents,
and communities as full partners to transform our schools into sustainable models
that every student in Los Angeles deserves.
UTLA Harbor Board of
Directors election results
Below are the results of the special election to fill an open seat
on the UTLA Board of Directors.
HARBOR AREA NEA
VOTES
PERCENTAGE
Karen Macias-Lutz52
72%
Ginger Rose Fox
20
28%
Results need to be certified by the UTLA Board of Directors.
Financial statements
As required by the UTLA Election Rules, all spending on UTLA
election campaigns must be reported to the election committee and
printed in the UNITED TEACHER.
Karen Macias-Lutz
Expenses: $10
Income: $10
Ginger Rose Fox
Reported not submitted
as of press time.
November 20, 2015
From the secondary VP
Being an authentic part of the solution
Empowering school sites on funding, PD, and more.
By Colleen Schwab
UTLA Secondary Vice President
During our visits to schools, UTLA
officers, staff, and Board of Director
members are conversing with UTLA
members about the importance of engaging our communities around the Eli
Broad-Walmart plan to end the public
school system in Los Angeles. We’re also
working with the community about ways
to influence the spending priorities in
LAUSD’s Local Control Accountability
Plan (LCAP) to truly support the Schools
The educators of our youngest students: Early Education members gather at UTLA to discuss issues and be part of the fight for the Schools L.A.
Students Deserve.
Los Angeles Students Deserve. We know
that we have a battle ahead of us that is
part of the war on public education, but
we will be ready! Part of getting ready
is supporting UTLA’s Build the Future,
Fund the Fight campaign to give us the
resources to implement our Strategic Plan
and take on the challenges ahead.
On an ongoing basis, UTLA continues
to work with individual schools in establishing an organizing and problem-solving
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climate. Obama Preparatory Academy
has done substantial work in developing
a changed school climate after their attempted reconstitution last year. Markham
Middle School continues to work on
teacher-led professional development and
problem-solving techniques when it comes
to student discipline. Next week, UTLA
will be meeting with Local Superintendent
Roberto Martinez to continue to dialogue
about issues in high-needs schools and
ways to work collaboratively on solving
problems at the school site. This is what
our members want: your voices heard,
your professionalism respected, and to be
an authentic part of the solution!
Moreover, UTLA is working with
LAUSD in hosting LCAP sessions for
parents, students, and teachers to tell
the District how to spend the increased
funding coming from the LCFF, Local
Control Funding Formula. The LCFF, as
you know, is the new formula for funding
education that is driven by equity, allows
for flexibility, and demands accountability. The LCAP is the “road map”
for spending the money, and it is currently determined at the District level,
not the school site level. Remember,
more funding does not mean we have
yet reached adequate funding. We need
full funding, and we need to be involved
in the decision-making for the education
dollars at our school sites. Currently,
LAUSD has given principals full discretion for spending the LCFF money, so
we, as UTLA members, must demand
shared decision making.
As we approach the upcoming holiday
breaks, know that UTLA’s elected leaders
want to continue to empower our members
at the site level. With the strength of 32,000
united professional educators, we can turn
the tide of this battle and win the war
on public education. Looking forward to
seeing you at your schools!
Happy well-deserved holidays!
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11
November 20, 2015
From the treasurer
Teachers are powerful allies for
undocumented students
UTLA steps up support for immigrant youth.
Supporting undocumented students
is part of the Schools L.A.
Students Deserve
Did you know that California has the The Summer for the People training builds leadership in low-income high school students.
largest number of undocumented students
in the country? It is also estimated that convenings of the task force and increasing awareness of contemporary social justice
LAUSD has the most undocumented stu- support for labor leadership and member- issues and movements. The curriculum
dents of any school district in the country ship in a coming series of “teach-ins” on im- and staff provide a well-rounded program
and that undocumented students may com- migration and naturalization. The Miguel that offers college- and job-readiness, and
prise 30% to 50% of students in LAUSD Contreras Foundation partners with UTLA a long-term passion for social justice.
Immigrant Student Leadership & Organizschools. Ilse’s story reveals the unique chal- and the Labor Task Force on Immigration
lenges and support needed from the school to provide educational and legal resources ing Program: Building on five years of work
district and teachers. Without more support, on immigration. Specifically, the foundation with immigrant high school students,
undocumented students will suffer in and UTLA have partnered to train educa- the foundation launched a year-round
silence and not connect college and career tors and students on the challenges faced by program to support the large number of
encouragement with their own lives. This undocumented students and the resources undocumented students in the LAUSD.
Led by immigrant youth leaders, this
is why UTLA has stepped up our support that exist to support them.
By Arlene Inouye, UTLA Treasurer,
Through the Build the Future, Fund the program is carried out through several
with Araceli Campos and Ilse Escobar for undocumented students alongside the
Fight initiative, UTLA will gain a larger series to build communities of support
broader organized labor community.
Ilse’s story
To support students, UTLA works closely voice and more support in our fight for within local high schools. Beyond supportAt the UTLA Local 1021 meeting in with grassroots organizations and our state social justice, educational equity, and ing students with resources on financial
October, Ilse Escobar shared her story of and national unions to provide comprehen- access by having dual membership in our aid and DACA, the foundation fosters
growing up undocumented.
sive resources to undocumented students state and national unions and the County long-term activism.
“Teachers played the most important role and their families. UTLA specifically sup- Federation of Labor.
Parent/Family Leadership & Organizing:
in my leadership journey,” Escobar said. ports students in obtaining protection from
The Miguel Contreras Foundation builds
“Growing up, they were the only people deportation and work permits through the About the Miguel Contreras
upon its immigrant youth programming
I spoke to about my immigration status.” new Deferred Action for Childhood Ar- Foundation
by supporting the working parents/famiWhile her classmates focused on college rivals (DACA) program. UTLA partners
The Miguel Contreras Foundation is a lies of our students. This includes trainings
planning and prom, Ilse was secretly with California State University Northridge 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded for parents on issues related to supporting
focused on her fear that, at any time, immi- (CSUN) and
out of the Los their children’s educations, knowing their
gration officials could knock on the door of A d v a n c i n g
Angeles labor rights in the workplace, and long-term
her family’s apartment, ask to see proof of Justice L.A.
movement to civic engagement.
their immigration status, and deport them. on a training
For more information about the Miguel
honor union
“I was suffocating in my silence,” she program for
leader Miguel Contreras Foundation’s programming or to
said. “I was accepted to many four-year youth and
Contreras. It is request support in serving your immigrant
universities, but could not attend because weekly legal
housed at the students and parents, please contact (213)
I was ineligible for financial aid [undocu- clinics in seven
Los Angeles 351-9560 or info@miguelcontrerasfoundation.
mented students are now eligible under languages to
County Feder- org. If you would like a youth to present about
the California Dream Act]. I did not even ensure stuation of Labor. DACA in your classroom or parent center,
tell my parents because it would break dents apply
The founda- please contact Arlene Inouye ainouye@utla.
their hearts. Finally, I told an educator and to DACA. We
tion supports net or (213) 368-6218.
everything changed.”
also develeducational
This teacher was ready to guide her to oped a unique
success, immiFacts about
resources. Most importantly, he connected network to
grant integraundocumented youth
her to other undocumented students who bring college
tion, and civic
also had sought his guidance.
• Undocumented students are
students into
engagement
Once Ilse found support from teach- classrooms or Arlene Inouye (second from left) with Ilse Escobar and other in low-income
aspiring citizens who came to the
ers who addressed her challenges as an parent centers presenters from the Miguel Contreras Foundation at the communities
U.S. without legal documentation
undocumented student, things changed. to learn about Homies Unidos Central American Leadership Conference t h ro u g h o u t
or overstayed their visas.
She eventually joined other immigrant weekly com- at Santee Educational Center on September 19.
• 2.5 million undocumented youth
Los Angeles
students as an activist demanding changes munity and
live in the U.S., and California has,
County. The
to state and national immigration policy legal clinics for DACA.
by far, the highest number.
foundation offers several programs that
so that other students would not have to
• About 65,000 to 80,000 undocuIn addition, UTLA supports the Los serve local immigrant students and many
suffer as she did, including efforts that Angeles County Federation of Labor’s are in partnership with UTLA:
mented students graduate from U.S.
led to the California Dream Act. She also new Labor Task Force on Immigration, a
high schools each year. Only 5% to
Annual Scholarship Program: The Miguel
graduated from UCLA. Today, she is a group comprised of union leaders repre- Contreras Foundation awards scholarships
10% of these graduates go to college.
nonprofit leader, directing programming senting a cross-section of organized labor in to graduating high school students from
• Many students don’t know
at the Miguel Contreras Foundation.
they’re undocumented until they
Los Angeles County. This includes regular low-income communities in Los Angeles.
begin the college process.
In 2015, the foundation awarded $50,000 to
• Undocumented students don’t
25 students. Beyond supporting students
Resources
qualify for state or federal grants
financially, the foundation offers yearor loans, even if their parents pay
round mentoring and support to scholarGuide for Teachers Helping Dreamers: This guide was created for teachers
taxes. Undocumented students may
ship recipients to ensure their retention
and service providers who teach, mentor, and help undocumented youth. It is
be eligible for in-state tuition only
and
success
in
higher
education.
intended to be a brief, easy-to-read guide on how to help undocumented youth
in certain states (California, ConSummer for the People: Summer for
and where they can get support. bitly.com/guideforteachers
necticut, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky,
the People is a free five-week summer
Top 10 ways to support undocumented students: A list of 10 powerful ways
Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska,
program that builds the leadership of
educators can support undocumented students. bitly.com/EducatorTop10
New Mexico, New York, Oklaholow-income high school students in Los
Supporting undocumented youth through community engagement: A synthesis
ma, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and
Angeles, focusing on immigrant students.
of relevant research and a list of recommendations for how schools can support
Washington).
This innovative program is led by immiundocumented youth. bitly.com/idranewsletter
grant youth leaders to deepen students’
12
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November 20, 2015
From the elementary VP
PD for professionals
UTLA launches new teacher-driven workshops for members.
By Juan Ramirez
UTLA Elementary Vice President
During UTLA’s summer leadership
conference, we launched our Strategic
Plan for 2015-2017. One of the issues
we promised to work on was school site
empowerment, which includes providing relevant professional development.
As professional educators we understand
the needs of our students and know what
is best for them. UTLA’s Build the Future,
Fund the Fight campaign is about saving
our profession and funding our union
for the opportunities and challenges
ahead—including the chance to take
charge of our development as professional educators.
On November 7, UTLA held the first of
three new teacher-developed, teacher-led
PD workshops scheduled for this school
year. It was quite successful, and we had a
great turnout. The theme of the workshop
was “School: A Place for Mutual Respect”
and the sessions covered institutional
racism, anti-bullying and peer mediation,
and an update on the new evaluation plan.
We had a strong discussion on restorative justice. This is a topic that we have
to continue working on, since the District is supposed to implement restorative
justice at all schools, but LAUSD has not
given sites the resources and support to
implement it properly, and many of our
members are still in the dark about the
program.
Some of the feedback I received during
the conference was that the workshops
were focusing on issues that are currently affecting the classroom environment.
Other teachers were glad that we were
doing this project and promised to come
back and bring some colleagues.
Teachers’ unions taking the lead in
Small group work at the UTLA PD workshop on November 7.
providing professional development is
not a new idea. The United Federation
of Teachers in New York has a great professional development department in its
union building. Here in California, the
teachers’ union for the ABC district provides most if not all PD for their teachers.
UTLA’s goal is to offer professional development as an option for our members or
maybe even working in conjunction with
LAUSD. For a long time our chapter chairs
have asked for meaningful PD—and not
just PD as a compliance issue. Teachers
understand that, as one of our workshop
participants expressed it, “PD is vital for
the extended education of our teachers and
their upward growth and awareness and
to bring new teachers into their evolving
strategies.”
We have many challenges as educators.
Our detractors always claim that teaching is a profession that anyone can do.
However, all of us who teach because it
is our vocation understand that it takes a
lot more than keeping attendance, reporting grades, and prepping for and giving
tests. Our professional development must
reflect the spectrum of skills and talents
we need to succeed in the classroom, and
using the knowledge and experience from
our own teachers is a powerful way to
do that.
The next “Pedagogy, Politics, & Professional Practice” workshop will be
January 30, with a theme of “Curriculum
and Student Assessment in Real K-12
Life.” One salary point available with
homework. For more information, see the
article on page 16.
UTLA online voter registration form
To sign up to vote online for UTLA balloting, please
fill out and submit the below information.
Name
Employee number
Non-LAUSD email (required)
Cell phone (required)
I wish to register for online voting for UTLA elections.
Signature and date
To submit: Mail it to UTLA Membership Dept., 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th
Floor, L.A., CA 90010; fax it to (213) 368-6231; or send a high-resolution
cell phone picture of the completed form to [email protected].
14
November 20, 2015
Milestones
Passings
Former LAUSD teacher and administrator Angela Ma Wong passed away
on July 12, 2015.
Angi was born in 1947 in Nanjing,
China. At the time of her birth, the political situation in China was extremely unstable, and her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Kwan-Yu Hsu, decided to give
her up to be raised by Mr. and Mrs.
Shiu Tong Ma in New Zealand, where
she would be safe and have the chance
of a better life. At eight, her family
then moved to Taipei, Taiwan, where
she attended the Taipei American
School. She was a very pretty young
lady but was quite a tomboy as well,
climbing trees and riding her bicycle
everywhere in the city of Taipei. She
was the ringleader among her cousins.
The “village” of people who raised
Angela included her many aunties,
uncles, and cousins in New Jersey,
Hong Kong, and Taipei, and Angela
was encouraged to be outspoken and
a leader later in life.
At age 15, her parents moved to
Washington, D.C., where her father
worked in the Chinese Embassy and
Angi graduated from Virginia Tech,
majoring in journalism. At Tech, she
Angi Ma Wong
was the only Chinese female student at
the time and was outnumbered by 27 male
cadets to one female. In 1964 she met her
future husband, Norman Wong, and it
was love at first sight. Angela graduated
from USC with a degree in education in
1968 and she obtained her teaching credential at Cal State Long Beach.
Angi and Norman lived a very active
and fun life traveling, camping, skiing,
and hiking. She taught in the Los Angeles
Unified School District at Horace Mann
Junior High School, beginning in 1968, and
then in adult education in the English as
a second language classes. She advanced
to administrator of adult education in the
1990s and retired from LAUSD.
Angi also had a passion for history—
especially the history of Chinese in the
United States—and she wrote several
books on this topic. Angi was one of
the founders and past presidents of the
Historical Society of Chinese Americans
of Southern California. She was also an
advocate for intercultural relations, as
she studied and wrote books on how to
work effectively between Chinese and
American businesses. Her belief and
training in feng shui, the art of placement to promote harmony, health, and
wealth, lead to a successful consulting
business. She wrote and published many
books, including two children’s books
about President Barack Obama.
Angi belonged to many service organizations. She was a dedicated member of
the Rotary Club for more than 20 years
and became president of her local club and
assistant district governor of Los Angeles’s
5280 District. Angi touched many people
with her energy, joy of life, and positive
outlook, and she inspired all who came
to know her.
While holding a full-time job with
LAUSD, being an author, publisher,
community activist, and entrepreneur,
Angi was also a loving mother to four
wonderful children: Jason (Bill), Wendy
(Javi), Jamie (Bob), and Steven. She
has one grandson, Aiden, 1½ years
old. She is survived by her loving
husband, Norman, to whom she had
been married for 48 years, and her
brother, Andrew Ma.
For anyone wishing to make a donation in Angi Ma Wong’s name, here are
the charities she supported: Rotary International Foundation
(c/o Lew Bertrand, 2068 Avenida Feliciano, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275),
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California (415 Bernard St., Los
Angeles, CA 90012), Sisters of Charity
of Rolling Hills (28600 Palos Verdes Dr.
East, Ranch Palos Verdes, CA 90275),
and Friends of Banning Museum (P.O.
Box 1927, Wilmington, CA 90748).
To submit an item: Send details
to Milestones, UNITED TEACHER,
3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los
Angeles, CA 90010 or utnewspaper@
utla.net. Material must arrive at least
three weeks before publication date,
and please include a daytime phone
number. Photos welcomed. We reserve the right to edit text for length
and clarity.
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15
Bilingual education issues
Multilingual education: Presente.
We need to make our schools places that
our students deserve. And they deserve to
be educated in the most holistic way possible. Our kids need to leave our schools
as educated, aware, committed members
of their communities and of the world.
They need to be prepared to compete, to
respond, to contribute to the betterment
of all the people they will come in contact
with for the rest of their lives.
If the Multilingual Education for a
Global Economy Bill passes at the ballot
box in November 2016, this can be a reality
for all of our students. Communication
skills are at the base of everything. Whether
our students, as adults, can communicate
with their neighbors, their families, their
co-workers, their competitors, their employers, and their employees is on us.
Ethnic studies is where our students
learn to honor their own heritage and
respect that of others by studying the
history and contributions that their own
communities and their neighbors have
made over generations, and this course
of study has become a reality. But for too
long bilingual, multilingual, education has
been relegated to remedial, compensatory,
second-class status. That’s over. It’s time for
LAUSD and our own members to realize
that withholding this amazing opportunity
for our students to become world citizens
is doing them an unforgiveable disservice.
Seven thousand of our teachers are authorized to teach in multilingual programs.
Only a few hundred do so. Only 50 schools
out of almost 1,100 have multilingual programs. Why is that? LAUSD succumbed
to the politics of Proposition 227, the ballot
measure restricting bilingual education, in
1998 and decided that, in spite of every piece
of national research, bilingual education
was, as I stated before, remedial and not the
best way to educate our English learners.
But now is the time to speak out. Multilingual education is not remedial. It is
both enriching and critical. We owe it to
our students to give them the best education possible and this is it—a route to
learning for all students. UTLA can be
the voice for this demand, but we need to
educate our own members. Multilingual
education needs to be front and center of
our demands and that can only happen if
we all understand how it works. (If you
are interested in working on the UTLA
campaign for the Multilingual Education
Bill, please contact Cheryl Ortega at the
email below.)
Hold meetings at your school site and
introduce this amazing approach to education to your parents and colleagues. The
Asian Pacific and Other Languages Office
(APOLO) Department will come to your
site, but only if you invite them. Contact
me, Cheryl Ortega, UTLA Director of Bilingual Education, for information. Come
to our Bilingual Education Committee
meeting on December 9 at 4:30 p.m. in
Room 828. Everyone interested in information is welcome. It is not necessary to be
currently teaching in a bilingual or duallanguage program to attend.
—Cheryl Ortega
Director for Bilingual Education
[email protected]
November 20, 2015
UTLA PD Day January 30
on Common Core
On January 30, the UTLA Institute for
Standards, Curriculum, and Assessments
(ISCA) will present a mini-conference,
“Curriculum and Student Assessment
in Real K-12 Classrooms Teaching to
Common Core & Next Generation Science
Standards” at the UTLA building from 8
a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Participants can earn five professional
development class hours to bank toward
one salary point (30 class hours can be
converted to a salary point). Participants
who attend all three Saturdays (including
the upcoming March 5, 2016, session and
the already-held November 7 session) can
earn a salary point if they do 30 hours of
homework in conjunction with their 15
class hours.
Workshop content
Following the opening and overview by
UTLA officers and ISCA Director Charlotte
Higuchi, participants will share a common
experience, a teaching strategy for the Argument Standard from the students’ point
of view. The Argument Standard spans
the curriculum from the Common Core
English Language Arts and Mathematics
Standards to the coming Next Generation
Science Standards.
This sets the stage for Session One, a set
of 60-minute seminars where presenters
will share lessons and assessments they
have designed, taught, and redesigned
based on student results and reflection.
The lessons and units focus on the Argument Standard and other Common Core
or Next Generation Science Standards.
There will be workshops for elementary, middle, and high school. Subjects
include English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. The content for
the middle school English Language
Arts workshop will be Civics (the Bill
of Rights). Participants will receive handouts of the presenters’ lessons, assessments, rubrics, student work samples,
and student handouts. The seminars
will exemplify how the UTLA lesson
design study process enables teachers
to create well-crafted performance assessments, rubrics, lessons, and units
for all our students, special education,
gifted, advanced placement, general ed,
and English language learners.
Session One: Workshop
titles and presenters
Close Reading Leads to Critical
Thinking Leads to Writing
English/Language Arts Grades 3-5
Presenters: Sybil Sperber, NBCT, and Carol
Siembieda, retired VP and an author of ISCA’s
Language Arts Handbook, Serrania Avenue
(Affiliated) Charter ES
How Many Times?
How does one formulate an argument and
justify it with adequate evidence?
Mathematics Grade 8
Presenter: Wendy Schroeder, NBCT, Nobel
(Affiliated) Charter Middle School
The First Amendment: Two Ways
How should the Supreme Court rule with
regard to the constitutionality of the use
16
of Bible verses on run-through banners at
a public high school?
English/Language Arts (Civics Content)
Grade 8
Presenter: Mary Kay Luczynski, NBCT, Nobel
(Affiliated) Charter Middle School, and an
author of ISCA’s Language Arts Handbook
That’s Why: Teaching Justification
and Reasoning
English/Language Arts (Science Content)
Grades 9-12
Presenters: Katherine Gullo, NBCT, and Catherine Underwood, NBCT (taught unit together
at East Valley High School)
Genetics: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
Presenters: Alicia Esparza and Craig Gross,
Foshay Learning Center High School
Session Two: Focus on
teacher evaluation form
Participants will remain with their
Session One presenters for Session Two.
The purpose of the second session is to
use the lessons and materials presented in
the first session to complete the LAUSD
teacher evaluation form. For those who
intend to register for the March 5 UTLA
Professional Development Day, this will
be good preparation for understanding the
negotiated changes in the LAUSD teacher
evaluation process that are on the agenda
for March 5.
Session Three: School-site PD
After lunch, provided by the California Credit Union, Session Three workshops will present options for teacher-led
Tuesday professional development, examples of organizing teacher-led professional
development at a school, and other topics.
Teacher-Led Professional Development:
A Year-Long School Plan
Presenters: Katherine Gullo, NBCT; Catherine Underwood, NBCT; and Sherry Stewart,
NBCT (led plan at East Valley High School)
Learning From the National Board
Presenter: Michael de la Torre, NBCT, UTLA/
LAUSD Support Network for National Board
Certification Coordinator
Collaborative Internet Smart
Search for Lesson Resources
Presenter: Derick Ulac, ISCA Staff
Teachers Organizing Common Core
and Next Generation Science Standards
Roll-out is here: Be the expert at your site
Presenters: Diane Newell, Rosie Van Zyle
Rubric-Aligned Student Reflections
Presenters: Mary Kay Luczynski, NBCT (ELA)
and Wendy Schroeder, NBCT (Mathematics),
Nobel (Affiliated) Charter Middle School
For registration and additional information go to utla.net/predevelopment
(click on “Pedagogy, Politics, and Professional Practice”). Enrollment is limited.
Register now and select your workshops
to guarantee your place. Workshops subject to change. If you have questions,
contact Day Higuchi at (213) 639-0802.
November 20, 2015
Practical matters
Personal necessity leave explained.
member (or their property).
• for the birth of the employee’s child or
the employee’s adoption of a child.
• for a religious holiday of the employee’s
faith.
• in the case of imminent danger to the
employee’s home due to a disaster (such
as a flood, fire, or earthquake).
• if the employee is required to appear
in court as a litigant (must be certified by
the clerk of the court) or as a non-litigant
under subpoena.
• to attend a conference or convention
pursuant to Section 19 of this article and to
visit the classroom of one’s own child and
meeting with the child’s school administrator due to a suspension or to attend
school activities for their own child, ward,
or grandchild.
A new Personal Necessity Leave subsection (h) was added beginning April
15, 2015. It allows use of PN for “Other
significant event of a compelling nature
to the employee, the gravity of which is
comparable to the above, which demands
the personal attention of the employee
during assigned hours and which the employee cannot reasonably be expected to
disregard, limited to one (1) occasion in
any school year.”
PN also ties in with Kin Care when the
PN is to attend to the illness of the employee’s child, parent, or spouse. Kin Care
(coded as KN) allows the use of an additional six days for this purpose. Be aware
that, unlike Personal Necessity, which is
based on the school year, Kin Care is based
on the calendar year. Personal Necessity is
not granted during a strike, demonstration,
or any work stoppage.
The District insists that all PN time
be used as specified under the collective
bargaining agreement. It is suggested that
employees do not tell their administrator
they are taking a “personal day” unless
that day is justified under Article XII,
Section 14.0.
For more info: The text above is just
a general outline. Detailed information is
contained in the UTLA-LAUSD Collective
Bargaining Agreement (Article XII: Leaves
and Absences, Section 14.0). If you do
not have a copy of the agreement, log on
to www.utla.net and click on “Contracts/
Negotiations” in the blue banner, then
read Article XII, Section 14.0.
EE
FR
B
Latino Pre-Ks
ABC Time
ER
ST
PO
Questions have arisen about the proper
use of Personal Necessity Leave. Article
XII: Leaves and Absences, Section 14.0,
of the UTLA-LAUSD contract covers the
use of such a leave and specifies what
activities can be included. Be aware that
Personal Necessity (known as PN time)
is for a maximum of six days and is paid
only out of an employee’s full-pay illness
hours. If there is no full-pay illness time
out of which PN can be paid, then the
time is unpaid (if it is unpaid then the employee will not meet the contract hours of
paid status required to earn their annual
salary and will owe some pay back to
LAUSD).
Use of PN also requires that the employee verify the necessity for use of this
time. A form is available at school sites and
needs to be filed with the administrator at
least five days in advance of the requested
leave. The administrator takes reasonably
necessary steps to verify the need for an
employee’s use of PN time.
Under Article XII, Section 14, PN can
be used:
• for the death of someone not included
under the covered persons outlined for
a Bereavement Leave or the death of
a family member when the time need
exceeds that of what is allowed on a Bereavement Leave.
• to attend to the serious illness of
an immediate family member or an accident involving the employee (or his/her
property) or that of an immediate family
Get
connected
to UTLA
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Joyful ABC success.
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P.O. box 5314 Culver City CA 90231
Facebook:
facebook.com/UTLAnow
Twitter: @utlanow
YouTube:
youtube.com/UTLAnow
(310) 836-6730
17
LCAP INPUT SESSIONS
(continued from page 4)
School, with a session to be held December
1 in the South Area at South Gate Middle
School. There was also a well-attended
student-organized and student-led forum,
supported by the Schools L.A. Students
Deserve Grassroots Coalition, at a church in
South Los Angeles. In advance of the input
sessions, UTLA held strategy sessions so
that parents, teachers, and students could
dig into the issues that they wanted to bring
up at the co-sponsored forums. In addition,
UTLA has been holding trainings for site
November 20, 2015
leaders on organizing around the LCAPs.
According to the District’s LCAP calendar, the District will review input from
all LCAP input sessions in the winter, and
present proposals to education stakeholder
groups in the spring.
South Area LCAP input session December 1: 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at South
Gate Middle School (4100 Firestone
Blvd., South Gate, CA 90280). For more
info call UTLA Parent-Community Organizer Esperanza Martinez at (213) 368-6268
or email [email protected]. Please
RSVP at least two days before the event.
UTLA meeting board
Upcoming meetings
DECEMBER 9
Substitute Steering Committee
Meeting: UTLA building.
The following committees meet on the
same day as the House of Representatives
from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. (unless noted) in
the UTLA building: Arts Education Committee, Asian-Pacific Education, Bilingual
Education Committee, Chicano/Latino
Education, Gay & Lesbian Issues, Health
& Human Services, Human Rights, Inner
City, Instructional Coaches, Kindergarten
Teachers, Library Professionals (4:45-6
p.m.), Middle Schools, Multi-Track/
Year-Round Schools, Non-Classroom/
Non-School Site, Options Committee,
Physical Education Action and Dance,
Professional Rights & Responsibilities,
Pre-Retirement Issues, Salary & Finance,
School/Community Relations, School
Readiness Language Development
Program, Secondary School Counselors,
Special Education, Substitutes, Violence
Prevention & School Safety, Women’s
Education.
DECEMBER 15
Unjustly Housed Teachers Committee:
UTLA building, 4 p.m.
Upcoming conferences
FEBRUARY 6
African-American Education Committee Conference: “Celebrating Our Blackness: Culture, Curriculum and Community.” See flyer in this issue.
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November 20, 2015
P
Teacher-Organized Professional Development
UTLA 35th ANNUAL
Elementary/Secondary Professional Development Conference
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Scholarship Fundraiser
Building our capacity to fight for our students and profession
Sponsored by
UTLA / African American Education Committee
Thursday, January 14, 2016
3:30 to 4:30
Kings Kids Talent Contest
“When I participate in a process like this where all of the teachers are creative and dedicated, it makes me feel like we have the opportunity to improve our students’ education, our own education, and the educational system itself.”
-Travis Miller, Augustus Hawkins High School SAVE THESE DATES
Speeches, Dance, Musical
5:00 to 8:00 Fundraiser and Program
United Teachers Los Angeles
edagogy
olitics &
rofessional Practice
Location: UTLA 3303 Wilshire Blvd, LA, CA 90010
ISCA Presents—Curriculum and Student Assessment in Real K-12
Classrooms Teaching to Common Core & Next Generation Science Standards
Saturday
January 30
8AM – 1:30PM • The Argument Standard Across the Curriculum
• Seminars by LAUSD Teachers—Handouts of Lessons, Assessments, Student Work
(K-12, Sp. Ed., Gen. Ed., GATE, AP, ELL; ELA, Civics, Math, Science)
3303 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
• Unpack LAUSD’s Teacher Evaluation Form using Presenter’s Lesson
Corner of Wilshire and Berendo, two blocks west of Vermont.
(Parking structure off Berendo)
• Options for Teacher-Planned and Led PD on Tuesdays
• Organizing Teacher-Led Professional Development at School
Door Prizes - D.J. “James” - Food, Drinks, Entertainment. Admission $5.00
Toward a Better System of Teacher Evaluation
Tickets available now or at the door. For additional information call Debbie Reid at (213) 368-6232
KINGS KIDS TALENT CONTEST APPLICATION
Deadline for submissions is Tuesday, January 12, 2016. All judgements and decisions by the AAEC judges
are final.
Saturday
March 5
8AM – 1:30PM • Demystifying and Mapping out Teacher Evaluation
• Improved Teacher Evaluation through Contract Negotiations with LAUSD
• Getting Ready for What is on the Horizon Next Year
Student Name___________________________________________________Grade_____________
• Helpful “How to” Workshops
School_________________________________________School Phone #_____________________
Lunch will be provided courtesy of the California Credit Union.
Home Phone #_________________________
Participants will receive a certificate for 5 PD hours for each Saturday ( 1 salary point = 30 PD hours).
______________________________________
Parent’s Signature
Will submit in the following category (check one):
Music
Musical Instrument
Singing
Another way that 1 salary point can be earned is by attending all 3 Saturdays plus 30 hours of
homework. (Participant must have already attended November 7, 2015 session)
Dancing
Speech
Other
For more detailed Information and online registration go to utla.net/prodevelopment
For January 30, contact: Day Higuchi ([email protected])
For March 30, contact Susie Chow, NBCT ([email protected])
For more information about UTLA professional development, go to utla.net/prodevelopment.
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Visit our website http://sandiego.edu/educatorsprograms
19
November 20, 2015
Involvement opportunity
CTA State Council Elections
By Laura Carls &
Deborah Schneider-Solis
UTLA/NEA Election Committee
for representatives are covered by CTA,
including hotel, mileage, and food costs.
Meetings begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, 7:15
a.m. Sunday, and usually end around 4
p.m. both days. Subcommittee meetings
on Friday evenings and voluntary caucus
meetings before and after the general
weekend meeting times can enrich the
representative’s knowledge of issues
facing California educators. UTLA del
egates are rewarded for their time and
effort by getting a chance to make a statewide difference in education.
If you find the idea of participating on
a statewide level intriguing, fill out and
mail in the self-nomination form on this
page to run for CTA State Council. Forms
are due by December 22 via U.S. mail
(no faxes or emails). Forms may also be
dropped off at UTLA headquarters on the
10th floor (attention: Cecily Myart-Cruz,
UTLA/NEA VP) during regular business
hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
UTLA/NEA members will elect CTA
State Council representatives for unexpired terms at elections scheduled this
year for the January 20 Area meetings.
These delegates will join the other UTLA
representatives when the council begins
for the 2016-17 school year.
The State Council acts as CTA’s policy-making body, meeting four times a
year. Each representative is expected to
serve on a standing committee, which
debates business items involving academic freedom, retirement, civil rights,
political action, teachers’ rights, and statewide negotiation issues. State Council
representatives also vote for CTA’s statewide officers. In the 2016-17 school year,
all State Council meetings will be held
in Los Angeles. All necessary expenses
CTA State Council
Year-Round Absentee Ballot Request
I am requesting an absentee ballot for the CTA State Council Election.
My vote will correspond to CTA’s election guidelines, which allow for voting by mail
for CTA members on formal leave. This request must be received by 5:00 p.m.,
December 22, 2015, by U.S. mail to UTLA, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los
Angeles, CA 90010, Attn: Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA VP. I understand that my
request will be checked for accuracy by election committee members. Absentee
ballots will be mailed January 8, 2016, and must be received via U.S. mail by 5:00
p.m., January 20, 2016.
CTA State Council
Unexpired Term election notice
Are you interested in representing UTLA/NEA members at the state level? CTA
(California Teachers Association) State Council, a policy-making body that meets
quarterly, has openings for representatives to fill unexpired terms. If you wish to run
for one of these positions, complete and return the self-nomination form by U.S.
mail to UTLA/NEA VP Cecily Myart-Cruz at UTLA. The form must be received by 5:00
p.m. on December 22, 2015. The election will be held at the January 20, 2016,
Area meetings. For those members who cannot vote at their Area meetings, voting
will also be held at the UTLA building from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on January 20, 2016.
Self-Nomination Form
Name
Employee number
Address
CityZip
Home phone
Non-LAUSD email address
School
School Phone
I certify that below is the signature of the candidate whose name appears above.
SignatureDate
(Required)
Return this request to UTLA/NEA VP Cecily Myart-Cruz by 5:00 p.m., December
22, 2015, via U.S. mail to UTLA, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA
90010. Forms may also be dropped off at UTLA headquarters on the 10th floor
during regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (attention: Cecily Myart-Cruz).
NO FAXES OR EMAILS.
Form must be received by UTLA by December 22, 2015.
CTA State Council
Unexpired Term election timeline
Name
Employee number
Address
November 20, December 18: Nomination forms, timeline, absentee ballot
request forms in UNITED TEACHER.
CityZip
December 22: Self-nomination forms
and absentee ballot requests due to
UTLA building by 5 p.m. by U.S. mail
(no faxes or emails). Forms may also
be dropped off at UTLA headquarters
(see the receptionist on the 10th floor)
during regular business hours from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m.
Home phone
Non-LAUSD email address
School
School Phone
UTLA area (Circle one)
N
S
E
W
C
VE
VW
H
Absentee ballot requested for:
December 23: Letters sent out acknowledging receipt of nomination forms.
January 8: Absentee ballots sent out.
CTA State Council
January 20
Check one:
CTA/NEA Board member
March 2
Formal LAUSD leave
I hereby declare that the above information is accurate.
SignatureDate
Return this request to UTLA/NEA VP Cecily Myart-Cruz by 5:00 p.m., December
22, 2015, via U.S. mail to UTLA, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA
90010. Forms may also be dropped off at UTLA headquarters on the 10th floor
(attention: Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA VP) during regular business hours from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. NO FAXES OR EMAILS.
Form must be received by UTLA by December 22, 2015.
20
January 20: Elections at all UTLA Area
meetings and at UTLA headquarters
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
January 20: Absentee ballots due back
to UTLA building by 5 p.m. by U.S. mail
only (no faxes or emails).
January 23: Area and absentee
ballots counted, 9 a.m. Letters sent
to winners and results will be posted
at www.utla.net by the end of the next
business day.
February 2: Deadline to submit election
challenge in writing to Cecily Myart-Cruz,
UTLA/NEA Vice President, provided a
runoff election is not required. Please
contact Vivian Vega for appropriate form
at (213) 368-6259.
February 16: Absentee ballot for runoff
sent.
March 2: Runoff election, if needed, at
Area meetings and at UTLA headquarters
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
March 2: Deadline for absentee ballots
to be received back by U.S. mail (no
faxes or emails).
March 4: Election Committee meets at
9 a.m. to count all ballots. Letters sent
to winners and results will be posted
at www.utla.net by the end of the next
business day. Those who are not elected
delegates will become alternates.
March 14: Final date for challenges to
be submitted in writing to Cecily MyartCruz, UTLA/NEA Vice President, provided additional runoff election is not
required. Please contact Vivian Vega for
appropriate form at (213) 368-6259.
2015 BLACK FRIDAY
WALMART PROTEST
November 20, 2015
STRS preretirement workshops
Free workshops are open to all CalSTRS members.
All UTLA members are encouraged
to attend a preretirement workshop at
least three times during their career
in order to plan for retirement security: early in their career, again just
prior to age 50, and one year prior to
retirement.
CalSTRS (the California State Teachers’ Retirement System) and the District
are sponsoring a series of preretirement
workshops for this school year. Information will be provided regarding the
calculation of retirement allowance,
LAUSD 457(b) supplemental savings
plan, post-retirement information, and
more. Time will be provided at the end
of the workshop presentation for questions and answers. See reservation information below. The workshops are
individual meetings (not a series).
Dates and locations
All workshops are from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
December 3 (Thursday)
Polytechnic SH (Cafetorium/Multipurpose Room)
12431 Roscoe Blvd.
Sun Valley, CA 91352
Stand Up to Walmart! Los Angeles When: November 27th 10am – Black Friday Where: Walmart– 8500 Washington Blvd Pico Rivera, CA What: Join Walmart workers, community, labor & clergy as we call on Walmart to pay $15 an hour and provide full Lme work. Bring the family! www.protests.blackfriday #WalmartStrikers #FasSor15 LEGAL DISCLAIMER: OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-‐Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-‐Mart over labor rights and standards and their eﬀorts to have Wal-‐Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with OUR Walmart as the representaIve of Walmart employees. December 10 (Thursday)
Ramona Elementary (Auditorium)
1133 N. Mariposa Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90029
January 14 (Thursday)
Hazeltine Elementary (Auditorium)
7150 Hazeltine Ave.
Van Nuys, CA 91405
February 4 (Thursday)
Caroldale Ave. (Auditorium)
22424 Caroldale Ave.
Carson, CA 90745
How to register: CalSTRS is asking that you register for the workshop
you wish to attend through their website: http://resources.calstrs.com/
workshop_registration/index.aspx
Life-Long Learning
for Educators
UCLA Extension’s Education Department offers online
courses for teachers and administrators looking to
advance their qualifications, performance and salary.
Learn more about the many credential and certificate
programs we offer by visiting us at
uclaextension.edu/teachers or call (310) 825-4191.
UCLA Extension Education Programs
Get there from here.
17140-15
17140.indd 1
21
8/27/15 9:49 AM
November 20, 2015
Involvement opportunity
2016 NEA Convention set for Washington, D.C.
UTLA holding elections for convention delegates.
By Debby Schneider and Laura Carls
UTLA/NEA Election Committee
Ready to become involved in education
issues at a national level?
The NEA Representative Assembly will
meet in Washington, D.C., July 2 to 7, 2016,
during which delegates representing their
local unions from throughout the United
States, including overseas locations af-
NEA Representative Assembly Annual
Convention slated for July 2016 in Washington, D.C.
Would you like to become a UTLA/NEA delegate to the 2016 Representative
Assembly Annual Convention in Orlando? From July 2 to 7, 2016, UTLA
members affiliated with the NEA/CTA will be in attendance at that convention.
For a member to be eligible not only to become a delegate, but to serve in the
UTLA/NEA Representative Assembly, a self-nomination form must be completed and returned to Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA President, by 5:00 p.m.,
December 22, 2015. There will be two categories of delegates: local and state.
Local delegates will be elected on Wednesday, January 20, 2016, at the eight
UTLA Area meetings. State delegates will be elected Monday, April 4, at the
UTLA/NEA Service Center Council meeting from 3:30 to 7:30. A complete set
of election rules will be sent to each person submitting a self-nomination form.
Term of office for local delegates is three years, beginning July 2016. State
delegates are elected yearly.
UTLA/NEA Representative Assembly Self-Nomination Form
Please Print
filiated with the Department of Defense,
will give input, gather information, and
formulate and update NEA’s positions
on various legislative and policy issues.
Educational concerns affecting local,
state, and national unions may be brought
to the floor by any delegate. The excitement of deliberation and voting begins
each day at 7 a.m. during the California
state caucus and never slows down. This
excitement, plus the numerous CTA- and
NEA-sponsored activities, serves to entertain and educate exhausted but inspired
delegates.
UTLA/NEA members who run for the
2016 Representative Assembly and receive
the highest number of votes (by a plurality)
will have an opportunity for a three-year
term at the local level. One-year terms are
available for state delegates.
Election process for delegates
The process for the NEA Representative Assembly delegate elections will be
as follows: Voting for local delegates will
take place at the January 20 UTLA Area
meetings. The top vote-getting candidates
will be named as delegates following the
counting of votes on January 23.
The UTLA/NEA election committee
will then formulate the state candidates’
ballot from those names of people who
UTLA/NEA RA election
absentee ballots available
UTLA/NEA members on formal leave will be able to vote in the 2016
NEA Representative Assembly election by absentee ballot. The ballots
are available to any teacher on formal leave from a school or worksite
and can be obtained by completing an absentee ballot request (below)
and submitting it to UTLA by U.S. mail (no faxes/e-mail) by December
22, 2015, no later than 5:00 p.m. All ballots will be due back at UTLA by
5:00 p.m. on the appropriate date (use timeline).
Name
UTLA/NEA Members on Formal Leave Request for Absentee
Ballot for UTLA/NEA Representative Assembly Elections
Employee Number
Mailing Address
Please Print
Name
Home Telephone
Employee Number
Non-LAUSD Email Address
Mailing Address
School
UTLA Area (Circle One)
N
S
E
W
C
VE
VW
H
Name of School
Ethnicity (Circle One)
Non-LAUSD Email Address
Asian/Pacific IslanderAfrican American
UTLA Voting Area
Check one:
Caucasian (not Spanish origin) Chicano/Hispanic
I wish to have my name placed on the (check one):
Local and state ballot
Local delegate ballot only State delegate ballot only
CTA/NEA Board member
Formal LAUSD leave
I am requesting an absentee ballot for the following election:
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 (ballots due back 1/20—Local)
Wednesday, April 4, 2016 (ballots due back 4/4—State)
All above information must be completed for this request to be valid.
If my name appears on the local delegate ballot, and I am elected as a
local delegate, I hereby give my permission to have my name removed from
the state ballot.
I certify that below is the signature of candidate whose name appears above.
Signature
This request is due by 5:00 p.m. by mail (no faxes or emails) by December 22,
2015, at UTLA, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010, Attn.:
Cecily Myart-Cruz. Until 5 p.m. on December 22, forms may also be dropped
off at UTLA headquarters (see the receptionist on the 10th floor) during
regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
22
I hereby declare that the above information is accurate.
Signature
This request is due by 5:00 p.m., December 22, 2015, at UTLA, 3303
Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010, Attn.: Cecily MyartCruz. Until 5 p.m. on December 22, forms may also be dropped off at
UTLA headquarters (see the receptionist on the 10th floor) during regular
business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
All absentee ballots will be due back to UTLA by 5:00 p.m. on the appropriate
date (see timeline).
turned in self-nomination forms for only
the state delegate ballot (a one-year
term) and those who self-nominated
for both the state and local delegate but
did not receive top votes in the local
delegate election.
The voting for the one-year state delegate term will take place at the UTLA/
NEA Service Center Council meeting on
April 4, from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m., and the
counting of the votes will follow on April 8.
Any teacher on dues-paying leave, yearround teachers who are off track, and early
childhood education teachers who are off
track may vote by absentee ballot, accord-
November 20, 2015
ing to CTA election rules.
Ballots can be requested by completing the
form below. Note: Our timeline is set in accordance with CTA submission requirements.
UTLA/NEA members running for the
2016 Representative Assembly must be
sure to use the self-nomination form on the
facing page instead of the form supplied by
CTA. No faxes or emails will be accepted.
UTLA/NEA election committee members
are Laura Carls and Deborah Schneider-Solis
(co-chairs), Fredrick Bertz, Andrew Carrillo,
Marcela Chagoya, Wendi Davis, Karla Griego,
Rosa Melendez, Loren Scott, Yolanda Tamayo,
and Mary Tello.
UTLA/NEA RA 2016 election timeline
NEA/RA Local Delegate election
November 20, December 18: Nomination forms, timeline, and absentee
ballot request forms in UNITED TEACHER.
December 22: Self-nomination forms and absentee ballot requests due to
UTLA building by 5 p.m. by U.S. mail (no faxes or emails). Until 5 p.m. on February 6, forms may also be dropped off at UTLA headquarters (see the receptionist on the 10th floor) during regular business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
December 23: Letters sent out acknowledging receipt of nomination forms.
January 8: Absentee ballots sent out.
Delegates with terms expiring in 2015
January 20: Local RA delegate elections at all UTLA Area meetings and
at UTLA headquarters from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lucia Arias
Greg Basile
Martha Bayer
Ellyn Bell
Lorraine Butler
Laura Carls
Spomenka Cikara
Adelina D’Ambra
Wendi Davis
Norlon Davis
Olga Delgadillo
Carmen Esterman
Joseph Esterman
January 20: Absentee ballots due back to Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA
Vice President, at UTLA building, 10th floor by 5 p.m. by U.S. mail only
(no faxes or emails).
Brenda Evans
Warren Fletcher
Betty Forrester
Ronald Futch
William Gaffney
Patricia Garcia
Ingrid Gunnell
Omer Hassan
Kim Hurley
Ed Jacobson
Audrey Linden
Grecia Marroquin
Blanca Mejia
Maria Miranda
Brian Muller
Paul Ngwoke
Catherine Proctor
Emmanuel Reyes
Gwendolyn Scott
Leonard Segal
Gloria Simosky
Michael Ulmer
Ingrid Villeda
Delores West
Sharlyn Williams
Substitute
Educators Day
Thank a sub on
Friday, November 20
January 23: Area and absentee ballots counted, 9 a.m. Letters sent to winners and results will be posted at www.utla.net by the end of the next business day.
February 2: Deadline to submit election challenge in writing to Cecily MyartCruz, UTLA/NEA Vice President, provided a runoff election is not required.
Please contact Vivian Vega for appropriate form at (213) 368-6259.
NEA/RA State Delegate election
March 20: State RA delegate absentee ballots sent out.
April 4: State RA delegate election at UTLA/NEA Service Center Council
meeting at UTLA headquarters, 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
April 4: State absentee ballots due back to Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA/NEA
Vice President, at UTLA building, 10th floor, by 5 p.m. by U.S. mail only
(no faxes or emails).
April 8: Election Committee meets at 9 a.m. to count all ballots. Letters
sent to winners and results will be posted at www.utla.net by the end of
the next business day.
April 18: Deadline to submit election challenge in writing to Cecily MyartCruz, UTLA/NEA Vice President, provided a runoff election is not required.
Please contact Vivian Vega for appropriate form at (213) 368-6259.
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23
November 20, 2015
Retirees’ corner
Note from UTLA-R President
Report from the October 16 General Assembly Meeting.
You, me, and “Ahab” Broad
By Mignon Jackson
UTLA-R Secretary
By John Perez
UTLA-Retired President
President’s report: UTLA-Retired President John Perez reported that there will be a
change in the name of the Anthem prescription drugs supplier to SilverScript from the
current CVS. There will be no other changes
to the program, since SilverScript is a division of CVS Health. Members of Anthem
will be receiving an updated ID card.
There will be no COLA increase in Social
Security benefits for 2016 because the Consumer Price Index did not increase in 2015.
Unless there is action from Congress by the
end of the 2015 year, there will be an increase in the Medicare Part B premium that
affects about 30% of the Medicare users.
Perez also reminded members of
UTLA-R to support the UTLA informational picketing at school sites on November 10
concerning the issue of the Eli Broad effort
to take 50% of LAUSD students and put
them into charters over the next eight years.
Treasurer’s report: UTLA-Retired Treasurer Mike Dreebin proposed the 20152016 UTLA-R Budget of $52,000. This
budget is based on the current membership of 4,019 members. The budget was
adopted by the General Assembly.
Health benefits report: Loretta Toggenburger reminded everyone that the health
benefits plan continues unchanged
through 2016.
PACE report: Cecelia Boskin reported
that UTLA-R members donated more than
$1,000 to PACE by the end of the General
Assembly. UTLA-R members are encouraged to continue their PACE contributions. These contributions may be mailed
to Cecelia Boskin, 3547 Federal Ave., Los
Angeles, CA 90066. UTLA-Retired now has
4,019 members. Please invite other retirees
you know to join UTLA-R.
Legislative report: Mary Rose Ortega,
our legislative reporter, spoke about the
future Medicare B premium increase and
proposed Congressional and Senate bills
that address the situation. HB 3696: Medicare Premium Fairness Act of 2015 (Titus,
D-NV) and SB 2148: Protecting Medicare
Beneficiaries Act of 2015 (Wyden, D-OR)
have been introduced in the House and
Senate, respectively, to address the impact
of the increase. There are resources online
concerning the issue and efforts to expand
Social Security.
Guest speakers: Tom Morrison, consultant to the District-wide Health Benefits Committee, and Mariam Hironimus,
LAUSD Health Benefits representative,
answered member questions about the
2016 Health Benefits Program. There are no
changes to the existing medical, dental, and
vision plans for the 2016 year. The Annual
Benefits Open Enrollment period for the
2016 year is November 1, 2015, to November 22, 2015. The packets have been mailed.
Hironimus reported that if you decide to
enroll in a Medicare Drug Plan, your current
District-sponsored medical and prescription coverage will be cancelled. Remember:
DO NOT sign up for an outside MEDICARE PART D plan. Again, your LAUSD
health plans already include a Medicare
Part D drug plan, and signing up for an
outside plan would cause you to lose your
LAUSD plan. Morrison detailed the modification to the Anthem Prescription Drug
provider from CVS Health to SilverScript,
a division of CVS Health. Updated cards
will be sent to members. He also reminded
us that the benefits package will be up for
bargaining for the 2017 year.
New business: A special thank-you to
Tomas Junge and his group for preparing the wonderful brunch at our General
Assembly meetings: Virginia Pratt, Lupe
and Marco Vallery, Bill Miller, Frances Williams, Hattie McFrazier, Eva Giese, Jim
DeSalvo, Norma Pesqueira, Sarita Bryson,
and Thalia Clark.
The next UTLA-Retired General Assembly is on January 22, 2016, and we
will have a speaker from CalSTRS to talk
about our pensions.
UTLA support for housed teachers
Many teachers continue to be
the victims of former superintendent John Deasy’s “teacher jail”
system. Caught off guard and often
falsely accused, they languish and
suffer alone, under house arrest
and unsure of what to do.
Don’t be a victim of unfair job
actions and false charges. UTLA
wants you to know: You are not alone.
We are here for you.
Call or email the UTLA officers
listed below and attend the Unjustly Housed Teachers Committee
Meeting to get the assistance and
support you deserve.
UTLA officer contacts: If you’ve
been recently removed from the
classroom, please contact UTLA
Secondary Vice President Colleen
Schwab (213-368-6237, cschwab@
24
utla.net) or UTLA Treasurer Arlene
Inouye (213-368-6218, ainouye@
utla.net).
Unjustly Housed Teachers Committee: UTLA provides support,
guidance, and assistance to all
rehoused teachers through
the Unjustly Housed Teachers Committee. The committee
meets monthly at the UTLA
building. The next meeting is
December 15 from 4 to 6 p.m.
in Room 904. The UTLA building is located at 3303 Wilshire
Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213-487-5560).
UTLA is ready, willing, and able
to help its falsely accused and unfairly treated members. Make the
call, attend the meeting, and let
UTLA help you.
We all know we are in a fight with Eli
Broad and his merry band of billionaires
who want to take the “public” out of public
education and corporatize the American
education system. We should remember
that this is not a new fight.
UTLA first went up against Eli “Ahab”
Broad in 1999, when he, Dick Riordan,
and Jerry Perenchio (another billionaire)
formed the Coalition for Kids to run
LAUSD School Board candidates to take
over the LAUSD and begin the privatization process in Los Angeles. In 1999 Broad
took out a good School Board member—
George Kiriyama—and he helped elect
Genethia Hayes and Caprice Young. With
that election Broad and the privatizers had
a strong hold on the School Board, and
with the election of Marlene Canter in
2001 the anti-public faction led by Broad
had a workable majority.
UTLA was not prepared for the onslaught of “Ahab” and friends in 1999,
and UTLA President Day Higuchi immediately began a PACE drive to allow
UTLA to compete with the billionaires. In
2001 UTLA spent $1 million, and while we
could not reelect Valerie Fields, we beat
back Broad’s attempt to defeat Julie Korenstein. In 2003, against $2 million of “Coalition” money, UTLA spent $2 million to
defeat Genethia Hayes and Caprice Young
and to reelect David Tokofsky. The first
“Broad” board (1999-2003) raised class size
by two students per class, thus laying off
a large number of our colleagues.
President Higuchi met at least three
times with “Ahab” to discuss education
policy, and I once asked him what “Ahab”
thought about education. Higuchi said:
“He wants to go back to the 1950s, do it
over and do it better.” In the 1950s teachers
were treated as “tall children,” to be seen,
but not heard.
In 2006 another “Broadie,” Monica Garcia,
was elected, and in 2007 Broad financed the
defeat of Jon Lauritzen by Tamar Galatzan
and elected Yolie Flores. This second Broad
school board (2007-2011) had a 5-2 majority.
Under the leadership of the dynamic duo
of Flores & Garcia, they moved forward
Broad’s privatization scheme. They instituted “Private School Choice,” the first
planned giveaway of District students to
charter schools, and they hired John Deasy.
UTLA fought back in 2011, 2013, and
2015, so that today Broad does not have
a workable majority on the School Board.
And why do I call him “Ahab”? When
I became UTLA president in 2002, I asked
Broad to continue the education dialogue
instituted by President Higuchi, but he
would not meet with me until nearly a
year after UTLA defeated his School Board
minions in the 2003 elections. When he did
met with me, for the one and only time
we talked, he spent 45 minutes trying to
convince me that our campaign against
Caprice Young was a mistake because,
as he said, “Caprice was the best friend
teachers had on the School Board.” He
kept calling me “John,” as if we were longtime friends, and when I called him “Mr.
Broad,” he said, “Call me Eli.” The first
thing that went through my mind were
the immortal words that open the novel
Moby Dick, “Call me Ishmael.”
In the years since I met him I have
thought about our fight with Broad and
his corporatization philosophy. I have
come to believe that he has a Captain Ahab
complex and that his “Great White Whale”
is our system of public education and he
is determined to slay it and replace it with
a system that will sell our students and
public education to the highest corporate
bidder.
Perez can be reached at [email protected].
If you want to be added to the UTLARetired email list, send your email address to [email protected].
Check out the
Grapevine page:
Workshops, exhibits, and more
Anything on
your mind?
Share it with UTLA members
by writing a letter to the editor.
Send letters by email to [email protected]
or by fax to (213) 487-3319.
November 20, 2015
UTLA CALENDAR
Friday, November 20
Wednesday, December 9
Substitute Educators Day
House of Representatives
UNITED TEACHER Publishes
Substitute Committee General Meeting
November 23-27
Schools Closed
Thursday, November 26
Thanksgiving
UTLA Offices Closed
Wednesday, December 2
Board of Directors Meeting
Friday, December 4
LAUSD Pay Day
Sunday, December 6
Hanukkah (Sundown)
Monday, December 7
UTLA African-American Education
Committee
Presents the
Forty-Third Annual Community Conference
Tuesday, December 15
“Celebrating Our Blackness: Culture,
Curriculum and Community”
Unjustly Housed Teachers Committee
Friday, December 18
UNITED TEACHER Publishes
Saturday, February 6, 2016
7:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Monday, December 21
LAUSD Winter Recess Begins
December 24-January 1
UTLA Building
3303 Wilshire Blvd. Room 815
Los Angeles, CA 90010
UTLA Offices Closed
Friday, December 25
Christmas
Presenters, Panel Discussion, Entertainment,
Food & More
Thursday, December 31
New Year’s Eve
Hanukkah
Continental Breakfast and Lunch
UTLA/AFT delegates to CFT
Convention to be elected January 28
For more information contact: UTLA Conference Secretary:
Debbie Reid at UTLA (213) 368-6232
CFT to hold annual convention in San Francisco,
March 11-13.
UTLA/AFT members will elect delegates at the January 28 General Membership Meeting at UTLA to represent the
union at the statewide convention of the
California Federation of Teachers.
At the convention, CFT members from
around the state will gather to debate and
vote on important resolutions and constitutional amendments. The annual CFT
Convention is the most important policy-
making body of the federation.
All AFT-affiliated UTLA members are
eligible to be elected delegates to this
event; delegates who fulfill their official
obligations will receive a stipend to cover a
major portion of their expenses. Interested
members can fill out the coupon below to
nominate themselves.
The coupon must be returned by
January 15.
CFT Convention self-nomination form
Name
Employee No.
Be UTLA’s voice at the AFT
Convention in July 2016
UTLA/AFT members will elect delegates at the January 28 General Membership Meeting (UTLA building, 6 p.m.)
to represent the union at the National
Convention of the American Federation
of Teachers in Minneapolis, July 17 to
21, 2016.
At the convention, AFT members from
around the country will gather to debate
and vote on important resolutions and constitutional amendments. The biennial AFT
convention is the most important policymaking body of the national federation.
All AFT-affiliated UTLA members are
eligible to be elected delegates to this
event; delegates who fulfill their official
obligations will receive a stipend to cover
a portion of their expenses. Interested
members can fill out the coupon below
to nominate themselves.
The coupon must be returned by
January 15.
Home address
AFT 2016 Convention self-nomination form
City/Zip
Name
Email
School
Employee No.
Home address
City/zip
Email
Phone # to contact you
School
I hereby declare that I am a fully paid member of UTLA/CFT/AFT. I wish to
nominate myself as a delegate to the 2016 CFT Convention to be held in
San Francisco from March 11 to 13.
Phone # to contact you
Signature
This form must be returned to UTLA/AFT Vice President Betty Forrester, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles,
CA 90010, by 4:30 p.m., January 15, 2016, in order to be included on the printed ballot. Elections will be held at
the general membership meeting on January 28 at 6 p.m. at UTLA. Nominations will not be taken from the floor.
I hereby declare that I am a fully paid member of UTLA/CFT/AFT. I wish to
nominate myself as a delegate to the 2016 AFT Convention to be held in
Minneapolis from July 17 to 21.
Signature
This form must be returned to UTLA/AFT Vice President Betty Forrester, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles,
CA 90010, by 4:30 p.m., January 15, 2016, in order to be included on the printed ballot. Elections will be held at
the general membership meeting on January 28 at 6 p.m. at UTLA. Nominations will not be taken from the floor.
25
November 20, 2015
UTLA Classifieds
CLASSIFIED AND DISPLAY AD POLICY: UNITED TEACHER will not accept ads for legal services in the areas of worker’s compensation or personal injury; nor
advertising for tobacco or alcoholic beverages; nor advertising deemed misleading or offensive to members; nor advertising inconsistent with the programs and
purposes of United Teachers Los Angeles.
BOOKS
Secondary Teaching Techniques, Stories, Computer
Teacher Book, Quit Smoking: www.PaulRallion.com.
FOR RENT
2 Bedroom/2 Bath vacation rental in Palm Desert
gated community; on golf course; south facing
mountain views; $3600/month. (323) 868-2712 or
Capetown & Johannesburg stays . . . www.equator-
or East local district. I have 17 years of teaching ex-
Job share position wanted on the Westside. Gen.
3tours.com, (212) 348-5449. $100 OFF Early Book-
perience in Elementary General Ed. (562) 291-8038.
ED., S.D.C. or RSP. Split week or afternoons. Con-
Job share partner wanted for the spring semester
PLANNING FAMILY REUNION . . . or does your
and beyond. (The deadline is November 15.) We can
Church Group want a NEW YORK CITY EXPERI-
possibly alternate semesters—either your school or
ENCE? Visit splendidgrouptours.nyc, (212) 348-5449.
mine, South. Twenty-plus years with LAUSD, ensan: (310) 541-1472/[email protected].
SCHOOL FIELD TRIP
Planet Earth-Caves. Film and discussion led by Er-
Spacious single with kitchenette, utilities included
planetary sciences at Caltech. Friday, December
in Chatsworth, $1000 monthly. [email protected].
11, 2015 at 10 a.m. Caltech’s Beckman Audito-
ika Hamden, a graduate student in geological and
rium in Pasadena. Tickets: $10. A limited number
One bedroom/one bath 700 Sq. ft. apartment in
of sponsored tickets are available. For more infor-
fourplex building. Newly renovated, hardwood
mation and reservations, contact Mary Herrera at
floors, and furnished kitchen. Near Beverly and At-
[email protected] or (626) 395-6059.
lantic Blvd in Los Angeles. $1050.00 a month. Call
STEM-RELATED
PROGRAM
Ice Worlds. Science Sundays. Film and discussion
Buy red shirts for your entire staff. Show solidar-
led by Jennifer Walker, graduate student in geo-
ity. Make a statement. Designed by a teacher. Buy
logical and planetary science at Caltech. Sunday,
it through GoldStarTees (626) 807-8795. Search
December 6, 2015, at 2 p.m. Caltech’s Beckman
Etsy.com
Auditorium in Pasadena. Tickets: $10. For more
information and tickets, contact the Caltech Ticket
Office at (626) 395-4652.
TUTORING
at the Lomita Park. If you’re interested in enrolling
WEBINAR
your child or teaching the class, email 300@tcdkids.
Former LAUSD teacher is offering a FREE webinar
org or visit www.tcdkids.org.
for teachers who want to become published authors as quickly and painlessly as possible. Go from
TRAVEL
idea to author in record time. To register and claim
your spot visit http://bit.ly/1VqurhZ
MAGICAL MOROCCO & THE RICH CULTURE OF
GHANA. August 4-August 17, 2016. www.equator3tours.com, (212) 348-5449. BOOK BY DECEMBER 10TH 2015 SAVE $100.
LOVE CULTURE & CUISINE? Cruise Asia & Australia for 25 days. Food, Fun with an educational
LAUSD EMPLOYMENT
Job share/employment
available ads in LAUSD
employment section are FREE.
twist! October 17-November 11, 2016. www.equator3tours.com, (212) 348-5449. Book by December
10th 2015 SAVE $100!
BY POPULAR DEMAND! We’re Going to South Africa Again! September 19th-October 4th, 2017, With
Various positions are open and available for quali-
Job share position wanted in the Northeast side of
the San Fernando Valley. Split week or mornings.
Contact Mayra Nunez-Flores, (818) 203-7100.
Job share partner needed for spring semester
2016-2017 at a fantastic elementary school in East
L.A. I have 17 years’ experience, bilingual, flexible
and collaborative. Looking for a teacher with excellent qualifications and previous experience teaching 4th or 5th grade and willing to work together to
give the students a great education. Please send
Connie J. at (213) 880-0264.
Homework Help course starts January 11, 2016,
LAUSD POSITIONS
AVAILABLE
joyed previous job share experience. Contact Su-
(213) 304-8581.
RED SHIRT TUESDAY
tact: D @ (310) 505-5596.
ing Promo ends December 31, 2015.
JOB SHARE
I’m looking for a job share partner for Spring Semester or S.Y. 2016-2017 at your school, preferably South
resume (so I can present to my principal) to clo-
fied teachers at Birmingham Community Charter
High School. Join a vibrant community of educators at BCCHS. Apply on Ed Join.org
William J. Johnston Community Day School is
accepting applications for a full-time science/
technology teacher. Those interested should send
letter of intent, resume summarizing experience,
and letters of recommendation to: Barbara Politz,
Johnston CDS, 2210 N. Taper Ave, San Pedro, CA
90731 or email to Barbara Politz blp2505@lausd.
net or fax to (310) 832-7914.
[email protected]. Carmen Lopez, (818) 633-4165.
Moving? Changing addresses?
Keep UTLA updated by sending your new information
to the Membership Department by email to
[email protected] or by fax to (213) 368-6231.
Earn Salary Points
21st Century Learning
Completely Online
Buy Now – Take Course Anytime In
2015!
25 Courses Available
(1, 2 and 3 Salary Point courses available)
How To Place Your UT Classified Ad
Print your ad from your computer or use a typewriter. Count the number of words
in your ad. Area code and telephone number count as one word. Email and web
address count as one word. Street address counts as one word. City and state,
including zip code, count as one word. Abbreviations and numbers are considered words and are charged individually. The classified ad rate is $1.50 per word
for each time your ad runs (there is no charge for LAUSD job share/employment
available ads). Multiply the number of words in your ad by $1.50. This is the cost
for running your ad one time in UNITED TEACHER. If you’re running your ad in
more than one issue, multiply the one-time total by the number of issues you
wish the ad to appear. We have a ten word minimum ($15.00). All ads are payable in advance by check or money order. Please make check payable to UTLA.
The deadline to receive your classified ad at the UTLA Communications Dept.
is noon on the Monday that falls two weeks prior to the publication date. Any
questions? Call (213) 637-5173. Mail ad and payment to Classifieds, UNITED
TEACHER, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010.
26
For more information and to enroll
Visit
www.cecreditsonline.org/LAUSD
Online • Anytime • Anywhere
U N I T E D
November 20, 2015
T E A C H E R
GRAPEVINE
Free workshop on writing salary
point course proposals
“How to Write a Salary Point Course
Proposal” will be at the UTLA building
from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on December 17.
Move up the salary scale, earn your National Board hours, build community, and
network with your fellow teachers to bring
meaningful professional development to
our District. To register, email Eric Barrientos at [email protected]. For more info
and other dates, see the flyer on page 16.
Free workshop on Peak
Performance Practices for
the classroom and sports Learn the basics of Peak Performance
Practices for teaching students. It is based
on a holistic systems practice for strengthening the body, training the mind, opening
to the inherent esprit, and leading a happier
life. Participants’ 30 hours outside class
will be in applying this class experience for
teaching/coaching. Practical experience
and resources will be provided. $20 materials fee. One salary point available. Learn
brain energizers, whole brain learning modalities, concentration techniques, whole
body fitness practices, stress reducers, and
so much more for the K-12 classroom and/
Have an item for the Grapevine?
Grapevine collects information on workshops, special offers, education websites, grants, and other items of interest to our members.
Listings are printed on a space-available basis and need to arrive at
least two weeks before the UNITED TEACHER publication date. Appearance in the UT does not imply endorsement by UTLA.
Mail: Grapevine, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Email: [email protected]
or for the sporting arena and your personal
life. The workshop will take place on five
Wednesdays, January 27 and February 3,
10, 17, 24, 2016, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Van
Nuys Middle School (Bungalow 55, 5435
Vesper Ave., Sherman Oaks, CA 91411).
Instructor: Kurt Krueger, NBCT, founder
of Success Systems International and the
Institute of Sports Psychology 1981. Call,
text, or email the instructor for more info
and to sign up: (818) 399-0771 or [email protected].
Salary point class on yoga
SCHOOL Kids Yoga has two upcoming yoga and mindfulness teacher
trainings: One session is on December
12, 13, 19, and 20 (two Saturdays and
Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.)
and the second session is January 4 to 7
(Monday to Wednesday from 8:30 a.m.
to 12:30 p.m. and Thursday from 8:30
a.m. to 11:30 a.m.). The fee is $200, and
one salary point is available. Learn the
calming techniques of yoga and meditation, designed specifically for public
school classrooms. Kelly Wood has taught
weekly in LAUSD schools since 2002.
Public school teachers learn methods to
enhance listening, focus, and harmony
within classrooms. The course reaches all
elementary-aged children (modifications
for older students). No prior yoga experience required. This course also helps
educators begin and continue a simple
yoga/meditation practice for themselves.
The workshop will take place at VIP (1721
Griffin Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90031).
Please email Kelly Wood for details at
[email protected] or call (323) 2408711. View details at www.school-yoga.
org/about-teacher-training.
Evenings for Educators at LACMA
For more than 30 years LACMA’s Evenings for Educators series has provided
K-12 teachers with opportunities to talk
about, discover, and create works of art.
On December 1, learn about contemporary architecture through the exhibition
“Frank Gehry.” This exhibition presents
an examination of Gehry’s extraordinary
body of work from the early 1960s to the
present, with drawings, models, and monitors featuring his use of technology, all of
which illuminate the evolution of one of
the great architectural minds of our time.
Enjoy complimentary parking and dinner
catered by the Patina Group as well as
thematic curriculum containing images,
lesson plans, and resources. The workshop
runs from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are
$15 per person for the evening. For more
information, please visit www.lacma.org/
students-teachers/teacher-resources or call
(323) 857-6093.
Teacher professional development
at the Skirball
“Teaching Our World Through the
Arts” is professional development for
K-12 teachers offered at the Skirball
Center. Participants will learn how to
integrate visual art, architecture, music,
drama, movement, and film into their
core subject teaching and learn arts-based
techniques to reach students with diverse
learning styles. Coursework includes
classroom time, performances and exhibitions at the Skirball Cultural Center,
and homework developing activities for
use in the classroom. Teachers can sign
up for any combination of strands. Each
strand consists of four full days of training
that will be highly interactive and often
include a live performance or exhibition
tour at no additional charge. Class sessions take place on Saturdays from 8:30
a.m. to 4 p.m.
Strand Two: Film and Media
Four Saturdays: January 23, 30 and
February 6, 13, 2016
Strand Three: Movement and Theater
Four Saturdays: February 27 and
March 5, 12, 19, 2016
Strand Four: Music and Sound
Four Saturdays: April 30 and
May 7, 14, 21, 2016
Fees: 1 strand, $80; 2 strands, $120; 3
strands, $160. For more information go to
www.skirball.org/education/for-teachers
or email [email protected].
Free professional development
at the Museum of Tolerance
The Museum of Tolerance is offering grant-funded professional development programs for teachers. Educators
can sign up for Tools for Tolerance for
Educators, an interactive, experiential
program designed to advance anti-bias
education and the creation of inclusive
and equitable schools. Programs are
offered in the immersive, high-tech
learning environment of the Museum
of Tolerance. Lunch and materials are
included. Individuals may register
for special open enrollment institutes.
Groups of 30 participants or more may
register for a customized program. One
LAUSD salary point credit available
for most programs. Find more info at
www.museumoftolerance.com (click
on “Professional Development” under
“Education”).
Share your school’s good news!
Send details on awards, honors, special
events, and great schoolwide programs
to [email protected].
27
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