elementary garvanza

Transcription

elementary garvanza

Award-Winning Newspaper of United Teachers Los Angeles •
www.utla.net
Volume XLV, Number 8, April 22, 2016
May 4: How we make progress on our priorities
Day of Action will highlight class size, staffing, funding issues, and more.
On May 4, the Carnegie Middle School
community will rally by the flagpole and
walk into school together. At Alexandria
Elementary, parents, students, and educators will be placing “tombstones” for
funding and programs that they’d like to
see brought back to life. Thomas Starr King
Middle School will be doing street theater
and a walk-in with a social media slant. At
STEM Academy of Hollywood at Bernstein
High, parents, students, and educators
will be holding a “speak out,” while the
Coughlin Elementary community will be
marching together for sustainable community schools.
These sites will be among the 150-plus
LAUSD schools where parents, educators,
students, and community members will
be taking action May 4 to fight for fully
funded public schools.
May 4 will be the second national day
of action organized by the Alliance to
Reclaim Our Schools. As public schools
are increasingly threatened by privatization, reduced funding, and high-stakes
standardized tests, educators, parents,
and students are fighting back with a
broad vision for public education that
prioritizes equity, racial justice, and wellresourced public community schools.
The movement is growing: 33 cities participated in the first national walk-in on
February 17; 41 cities and counties have
signed on so far for May 4. Every region
in the U.S.—the West, Midwest, South,
and East—will be represented. Cities participating include San Francisco, Denver,
Albuquerque, Houston, Toledo, Chicago,
Milwaukee, Baton Rouge, Baltimore, West
Haven, and Boston.
Locally, May 4 will be a key part of
making progress on many of our priorities:
class-size reduction, health and human
services staffing, increased funding for
our schools, accountability for co-located
charter organizations, and a decrease in
standardized testing to protect instructional time.
Class size and staffing
May 4 will focus on priorities that are
shared deeply by parents, students, and
educators, including:
• lower class sizes to increase the amount
of one-on-one attention for students.
• more counselors, psychologists, school
nurses, and other key personnel to support
the socio-emotional needs of students.
• more visual and performing arts
educators, physical education teachers, and teacher-librarians so students
have well-rounded learning experiences.
Making progress on these priorities is part
of UTLA’s current contract demands (see
more on page 5), and the May 4 action
is perfectly timed to put pressure on
LAUSD.
Fighting for funding
UTLA is coming off our energetic Prop.
30 extension petition-signing campaign.
space. For more than a decade, LAUSD has
never collected these financial penalties,
which would amount to tens of millions
of dollars—more than enough money to
begin addressing our students’ class size
and staffing needs.
Taking on testing
UTLA’s campaign against excessive
testing—which has included a member
survey, formal talks with the District, our
campaign to ask for additional support
during testing, and action against unnecessary tests—has yielded a partial victory.
LAUSD announced that the District has
stopped requiring SBAC interim assess-
MAY 4
Day of Action
Lower class sizes
Health and human services for students
Funding for our schools
Accountability for co-located charters
Teaching, not testing
UTLA contributed more than 17,500 signatures in the statewide effort to get this
vital school funding measure on the November ballot. On the local level, UTLA is
demanding that LAUSD collect lawful fees
and fines from co-located charter schools.
When charter operators are given LAUSD
classrooms and don’t use them, LAUSD
has the right to take those rooms back. If
the rooms aren’t taken back, LAUSD can
demand financial penalties of the co-located charters, based on that overallocated
ments for the rest of the school year (read
more on page 8). There is still much more
to do to protect instructional time, and
May 4 will be a powerful chance to show
that parents and teachers are united in
wanting more teaching and less testing
for our students.
Plan to join the action! The more people who participate, the more pressure we
build and the louder message we send. Go
to utla.net/may4action for more info.
Ruling overturns
Vergara decision
In a sweeping victory for students
and educators, the California Court of
Appeal this month reversed a lower
court decision in the deeply flawed
Vergara v. California lawsuit. The unanimous appellate opinion is a stinging
rebuke to Judge Rolf M. Treu’s poorly
reasoned ruling and to the allegations
made and millions of dollars spent
by wealthy anti-union “education reformers” to bypass voters, parents, and
the legislature with harmful education
policy changes. The reversal affirms
the arguments of educators, civil rights
groups, legal scholars, and education
policy experts that the state statutes
affirming educator rights do not harm
students.
Vergara was the brainchild of Silicon
Valley multimillionaire David Welch
and a group of corporate attorneys and
public relations experts who founded
the organization Students Matter to
back the suit and to recruit the nine
student plaintiffs used to front their
failed attempt. At issue in the case were
five California statutes covering due
process rights for teachers, probationary periods, and the value of educator
experience when school districts are
forced to lay off personnel due to cuts.
Over the course of a nearly twomonth trial, award-winning teachers,
superintendents, principals, school
board members, education researchers, and policy experts testified to the
benefit of these laws and how they
work quite well to ensure quality instructors in well-run school districts.
No connection was ever made between
the challenged laws and any student
being harmed or any teacher who
should not be in a classroom remaining there.
The Vergara ruling is the second win in
two weeks for teachers’ unions and the
students our members serve. On March
29, a long-planned assault against unions
went down to defeat. Read more on the
Friedrichs v. CTA case on page 7.
Bargaining update
What’s on the table for class size, staffing, and evaluation
Page 5
United Teacher • for the latest news: www.utla.net
United Teacher
PRESIDENT
NEA AFFILIATE VP
AFT AFFILIATE VP
ELEMENTARY VP
SECONDARY VP
TREASURER
SECRETARY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Alex Caputo-Pearl
Cecily Myart-Cruz
Betty Forrester
Juan Ramirez
Colleen Schwab
Arlene Inouye
Daniel Barnhart
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),
Maria Miranda (Miramonte ES),
L. Cynthia Matthews (McKinley 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),
Karen Macias-Lutz (Del Amo ES), 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)
April 22, 2016
President’s perspective
Sprinting to the May 4 action, while preparing
for the long-distance run ahead
By Alex Caputo-Pearl
UTLA President
The old adage says nothing worth
having comes easy. I also believe that a
hard-fought win has staying power.
Throughout history, people have sought
to define a high-quality public education
and have organized themselves around
that definition. In the contexts of racial
segregation, class exclusion, language discrimination, economic oppression, and
gender inequity, social movements have
put forward visions of high-quality education, and fought for those visions.
My mother is an historian in Prince
George’s County, Maryland, where I grew
up. She specializes in Black history. She has
spent much of her career reconstructing
the largely unwritten history of the Rosenwald schools, whose primary mission
was the education of African-American
children in the South in the early 20th
century, in the context of Black children
being systematically excluded from most
publicly funded schools.
Rosenwald was the namesake project
of Sears CEO and philanthropist Julius
Rosenwald, who, with prominent educator Booker T. Washington, built more than
5,000 schools across the South—five of
which happened to be within three miles of
the house that I grew up in. Like many philanthropists, Rosenwald didn’t embark on
the project with only good intentions. His
effort was, in many ways, patriarchal and
economistic. And Booker T. Washington’s
overly individual-focused politics—often
deemphasizing systematic racism and the
need for collective action to overcome it—
had its problems.
However, whatever the limitations
of Rosenwald and Washington’s views,
what happened over the next decades
was remarkable. As people built social
movements in the 1920s in support of
women’s rights and against racial terror
in the South, in the 1930s in support of
labor and workers’ rights, and into the
three-decade buildup to the Civil Rights
movement of the 1960s, schools that were
originally built through the RosenwaldWashington collaboration became institutions shaped by social movements, owned
by the community, and projecting a vision
for community schools.
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Linda Gordon
SPECIAL ED: Position open
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
School Board meeting blitz
Alex was part of a UTLA delegation of educators, students, and parents that met with every
School Board member this month. Up for discussion: Using LCAP funding for school needs,
our bargaining proposals for lower class size and
increased health and human services staffing, the
overuse of standardized testing, and fiscal accountability for co-located charter organizations.
Monica Garcia
UTLA COMMUNICATIONS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Alex Caputo-Pearl
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Anna Bakalis
COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALISTS:
Kim Turner, Carolina Barreiro, Tammy Lynn Gann
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Laura Aldana
EDITORIAL INFORMATION
UNITED TEACHER
3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Fl., LA, CA 90010
Email: [email protected]
UTLA main line: (213) 487-5560
Monica Ratliff
George McKenna
Ref Rodriguez
Scott Schmerleson
Richard Vladovic
Steve Zimmer
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2
W.E.B. DuBois, famous for his disagreements with Washington and an early critic
of the Rosenwald schools, later wrote positively about them, as movement-shaped
community centers.
Over the years, my mother has had the
honor of interviewing countless people
who emotionally remember the Rosenwald schools as being the centerpieces
of their communities, staffed by people
from the community and/or committed
deeply to the community, and being part
of school-generated collective engagement
on key issues in education and beyond
education alike.
Many of these interviewees, now in
their 80s or 90s, have traveled hundreds
of miles to be present as their childhood
schools have become recognized as historical landmarks. These incredible leaders—
who probably wouldn’t call themselves
leaders—not only attended Rosenwald
schools, they helped to shape them. They
are long-distance runners in the fight for
educational justice.
There are parallels to today. UTLA
members, along with parents, students,
and community allies, are working within
a system that has not always had a proud
history. Publicly funded schools in L.A.,
and public education more broadly, has
been characterized in some very key ways
by exclusion and warped priorities, the
current reflections of which we see today.
And yet, we can, and we need to, build
a movement that makes these Los Angeles
schools into true community schools that
reflect a vision of high-quality education
for all, equity, and contribution to democracy. As with the movements that shaped
the Rosenwald schools, we have to create
and fight for this vision piece by piece.
That means we must organize around
fully funded schools that offer a wellrounded curriculum with music, ethnic
studies, and other life-inspiring subjects.
Schools must be safe places of learning
that are connected to their communities
and have systematic parent engagement
and wraparound services for students
and families, such as physical and mental
health programs. They must have restorative justice programs, within broader and
effective discipline systems, that work to
reduce conflicts, limit suspensions, and
keep students in school and learning.
In these ongoing battles, our focus is
on taking steps forward, consolidating
those wins, and setting the stage for more
progress.
It is critical you be involved in May 4
As you know, we are enmeshed in immediate struggles right now around bargaining, class size, staffing, funding, public
school accountability, evaluation, charter
co-location, and standardized testing.
More than 150 schools have signed up to
organize school-site actions highlighting
many of these issues on May 4. It is critical that we build May 4 to exert pressure
on the bargaining process, on the School
Board, and around our issues.
(continued on next page)
PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
(continued from previous page)
If your school hasn’t yet signed up,
please talk to your chapter chair and urge
involvement. Go to utla.net/may4action
for information and resources to plan an
action. Here are some briefs on the May
4 issues below, including the elements of
our struggle that are a sprint, and the elements that are a long-distance marathon.
School funding, class
size, and staffing
One huge step to build more community
schools is getting proper funding, and that
means organizing around the Prop. 30
extension. UTLA members have played a
crucial role in the effort by, over the course
of less than two months, gathering more
than 17,500 signatures to help the initiative
qualify for the November ballot. There
will be much more to do leading up to the
November election—like door-knocking
and phone-banking—to prevent a loss
of an estimated $700 million to LAUSD,
which would trigger a slide back into a
recession-era cycle of layoffs, salary cuts,
and loss of programs.
Moreover, we’ll need to do more than
pass the Prop. 30 extension in November
to truly affect the realm of school funding.
The Prop. 30 extension only protects the
money we currently have. Critically, we
will need to continue to build the statewide
movement around the Make It Fair initiative, aiming to place a ballot measure on
the 2018 slate that increases commercial
property tax rates on multimillion-dollar
entities, with the resulting revenue to flow
toward increased per-pupil spending and
social services.
While we can and should begin chipping away at high class sizes now, and
increasing staffing now—this is what we’re
doing in bargaining and what must be
supported on May 4—we know that to
deal with class size and staffing systemically and sustainably, it will necessitate
a massive infusion of state funds. This is
why Make It Fair and building our power
statewide and over time is so important.
Public school accountability
In the coming months, UTLA will be
part of a coalition that will be drawing
attention to a soon-to-be-released study on
the financial impact of independent charter
schools on LAUSD and how this interacts
with questions of underregulation.
There is a tremendous amount of unpacking of decades of policy and practice that needs to happen when looking
at these questions, and dialogue will
need to be happening both in L.A. and
statewide. Those conversations need to
happen among different constituencies,
including parents, students, community
organizations, educators, unions, elected
officials, and more.
One piece that has already been uncovered and publicized is that LAUSD
has declined to collect fees and fines from
Prop. 39 co-located charter schools for
many years. Public districts simply can’t
allow themselves to be fleeced in this way,
and school districts must be empowered
to oversee charter schools within their
boundaries appropriately.
We are fighting for the School Board to
take action on this, to ensure that LAUSD
students, who at co-location sites are often
our most vulnerable, get the resources
(continued on page 22)
April 22, 2016
Speaking out
We welcome submissions to “Speaking
out” 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.
By mail: Editor,
UNITED TEACHER
3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor,
Los Angeles, CA 90010
By email: [email protected]
Bring back Roshni
The following is from a speech delivered
at the LAUSD School Board on April 12 in
support of Roshni Mejia, a probationary teacher
and UTLA vice chair removed from Manual
Arts in retaliation for her advocacy for students and educators. UTLA continues to meet
with LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King
and LAUSD School Board members about
returning Mejia to the school, and we have
filed an unfair labor practice charge with the
Public Employment Relations Board (PERB)
against LA’s Promise for retaliating against
an employee for union activity. Read more on
her case in the March UNITED TEACHER
at utla.net.
As English Department Chair, I have
witnessed few teachers bring such enthusiasm to the classroom as Roshni Mejia. Just
a week before her non-reelect, I watched
her students engaged enthusiastically with
key issues in Of Mice and Men, and I was
surprised by how seamlessly she was able
to effectively integrate technology to allow
all students to participate in the literary
analysis of the novel. She has led PD, she
has participated in site stakeholder decisions, and she has been a strong advocate
for student, teacher, and community voice.
This, in spite of the fact that our administration has scheduled weekly PD
meetings taking up at least a third of our
conference time, a situation that has led
many in our department to want to leave
our school. This, in spite of the fact that
her administrator refused to model lessons
allowing her to refine her practice. This,
in spite of the fact that her status as UTLA
vice chair and probationary teacher left
her vulnerable in an anti-teacher environment led by LA’s Promise, a partnership
organization seemingly divorced from its
original mission in the service of students
and community. As a UTLA chapter, we
wanted to work collaboratively with LA’s
Promise, but collaboration assumes each
stakeholder is allowed voice and agency.
Under LA’s Promise, our administration
refused to give us School Decision-Making.
At the time, we had to challenge. Under
LAP, our administration clutters our conference period with meetings. At the time,
we spoke out. Under LAP, our administration non-reelected a highly effective,
popular teacher, who just happened to
advocate for students and teachers.
At every point, at every turn, we have
sought collaboration. At every point, at
every turn, under LAP, we have a recalcitrant administration attempting to run our
school unilaterally as a SIG school and attempting to save space for a potential LAP
charter, a proposal unanimously rejected
by the current Board.
We have gained the signatures of the
majority of our colleagues, along with
letters in support from Roshni’s students
and colleagues. We would like to have
had 100% participation, but we have a
large number of probationary and TFA
staff who are afraid to speak out in fear
of LAP retaliation.
Our community wants Roshni Mejia
back at Manual Arts. Our community wants
her non-reelect rescinded. Our community
will accept, and deserves, nothing else.
—Brandon Abraham
UTLA Co-Chair
Manual Arts High
Longer periods: Is it the answer to
better education?
Many schools now have block schedules, which means longer periods, usually
1½ hours. Many teachers feel, as I do, that
these long periods are not beneficial and are
making our jobs harder. To convince teachers that it is beneficial and vote for it, certain
phrases are used, such as “college-ready”
and “project-based learning.” Proponents
also claim that more in-depth teaching will
occur and more activities can be done. In
my opinion, these people are misguided.
When my old school changed to a block
schedule, I found that after about an hour,
the students lose focus, get bored, and start
misbehaving. When I objected to those in
favor of the block schedule, some responded
with this ridiculous statement: “Oh you
need more training.” After a year it went
back to regular length periods.
As bad as it is having longer periods
in high school, it’s even worse in middle
school. If any change is needed for this grade
level, it would be for shorter periods. One
In this issue
4 We stand with Chicago
UTLA members in L.A. and on the ground in Chicago show solidarity
for the Chicago Teachers Union fight for a more just city.
5 Bargaining update
UTLA presses proactive proposals on class size, staffing, and evaluation.
7 Supreme Court reaffirms collective bargaining in landmark case
Anti-union Friedrichs defeated, but other cases will follow.
6 Accolades
7 June primary endorsements
8 Evaluation Q&A
18 Chapter chair election rules
20 Practical matters: Health
benefits in retirement
20 STRS workshops
21 Committee bulletin board
26 Classifieds
27 Grapevine
Get connected to UTLA
Facebook: facebook.com/UTLAnow
Twitter: @utlanow
YouTube: youtube.com/UTLAnow
Castelar Elementary’s parent-driven organizing against co-location has yielded
results. Read more on page 6.
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April 22, 2016
We stand with Chicago
One-day strike on April 1 unites thousands.
By Gillian Russom
UTLA East Area Chair
Environmental & Social Policy
Magnet HS
I was part of a small delegation of UTLA
staff and members who were on the ground
April 1 when Chicagoans by the thousands
took to the streets for the Chicago Teachers
Union one-day strike. It was so inspiring to be
able to witness the walkout and to participate
in their massive “Shut Down Chicago” protest
with other unions and social justice activists.
The CTU is facing huge attacks. The city
has short-changed the educators’ pension
fund to the tune of $500 million and is
asking teachers to absorb the costs. The
union has proven that Chicago Public
Schools (CPS) is “broke on purpose,” due
to borrowing money at extortionate rates
and rerouting money to bankers and developers that should go to schools.
The state’s funding formula provides
less funding for students in inner-city
Chicago than those in suburban districts.
And Illinois’ Republican governor, Bruce
Rauner, is refusing to sign any state budget
that doesn’t include eliminating union
rights for public sector workers.
When the CTU’s 50-person bargaining
team unanimously rejected a concessionary offer, CPS declared it would unilaterally impose the pension costs on teachers—
amounting to a 7% pay cut. The one-day
strike was called in response to this unfair
labor practice.
City officials tried to intimidate teachers
and scare parents by claiming the work
stoppage was illegal, and they got help
from the Chicago Tribune, which encouraged CTU members to cross the picket line.
But CTU voted overwhelmingly to
continue with the strike, and they gained
widespread support by making the April
1 Day of Action a much greater statement
for a Just Chicago.
Anger at the mayor is seething after
it was revealed that he helped cover up
the video of police shooting 17-year-old
African-American Laquan McDonald 16
times. The teachers’ union has joined in
calling for justice for McDonald and for an
elected police review board. Unions from
Chicago’s public colleges, who are facing
furlough days and the possible closure of
Chicago State University, vowed to join
the one-day strike, along with fast food
workers engaged in the Fight for $15.
“We’re not out here by ourselves doing
this,” CTU President Karen Lewis told a
UTLA members and staff on the streets of Chicago April 1.
television interviewer. “This is not just
CTU, and I think that’s the part that people
don’t quite get. We are literally dying a
death of a thousand cuts.”
After solid morning picket lines at
schools across the city, there were rallies
with workers at McDonald’s restaurants,
at Northeastern Illinois University, and a
teach-in at Chicago State hosted by Citizen
Action Illinois and the Black Youth Project.
At 4 p.m., 15,000 people converged for a
mass rally downtown, where Reverend Jesse
Jackson joined other speakers at the podium.
Instead of being cowed by all the attacks,
#UTLAStandsWithCTU
Sylvan Park Elementary
The Chicago Teachers Union’s
one-day strike on April 1 sent a
powerful message that parents,
teachers, students, and community members are joining together to demand better—better
for their schools, better for their
communities.
A number of other local
Chicago unions, including those
representing university faculty,
transit workers, and healthcare
Franklin Elementary
workers, joined the walkout,
as did community groups representing a cross-section of the school
district’s parents and students. In Los
Angeles, UTLA members gathered with
colleagues to express solidarity with
Chicago and
in support of
a nationwide
movement
for stronger
public education and
stronger communities.
Burroughs Middle School
CTU
4
RFK Elementary
Lane Elementary
McKinley Elementary
the CTU took a stand and got the public
behind them. They have shown who is
really to blame for CPS’s budget problems,
and they have spoken out against racism,
winning them allies among students,
parents, and social justice organizations.
By taking a risk with their one-day strike,
the CTU was able to open up a space for
other groups to fight for their rights as well.
Most of all, the day of action gave
participants the feeling of solidarity
and power—that the working people of
Chicago and the communities they serve
must have a voice in their city’s priorities.
April 22, 2016
Bargaining update: What’s on the table
UTLA presents proactive proposals on class size, staffing, and evaluation.
UTLA has had three bargaining sessions
with LAUSD for contract “reopeners” on
class size, student services staffing, and evaluation. In every session, our team stresses
the compelling need to make immediate
progress on these issues. There has been
some movement at the table, and several
proposals and counterproposals have been
exchanged (all are posted at www.utla.net/
bargaining2015-16). The next sessions are
scheduled for April 28 and May 3.
Lowering class size
Lowering class size to the levels our
students deserve will be a long fight and
will involve statewide efforts to bring more
funding to public education (such as the
Prop. 30 extension) and campaigns to press
the District to pursue all possible revenue
sources (including our current demand
that co-located charters be charged for
overallocated space, per state law). That
said, UTLA is determined to make progress toward lowering class sizes this year.
Our proposals involve:
• Class-size caps for physical education classes.
• An end to Section 1.5 of the class-size
article in the contract, which allows the
District to deviate from class-size caps and
averages for budgetary reasons.
• Class-size caps and averages for
2016-17 that are lower than 2015-16 levels.
District officials, evoking Section 1.5, have
proposed maintaining 2015-2016 class-size
caps and averages for 2016-17.
• Compensation for special education
teachers when caseload maximums are
violated.
• Adding parents to the Class-Size Task
Force.
Increasing health and
human services staffing
As with lowering class size, staffing our schools with the full array of
health and human services professionals
needed to support student learning will
be a multi-year effort involving advocacy
on many levels, but our priority this
year is to secure contract language that
builds on the last agreement and takes
some steps in the right direction. Our
proposals include:
• Stronger language on maintaining
student-counselor ratios of 500 to 1.
• Moving all PSA and PSW counselors
to B-basis assignments.
• Creation of an HHS Recruitment and
Retention Committee.
Moving from “evaluation” to careerlong growth model
UTLA’s priority is to create a new system
of Educator Development and Support
based on a career-long professional growth
model. Achieving this will be a multiyear
process, but some elements of our vision
are on the table this year, including:
• Firm timelines for the evaluation
process, including early notification if an
educator is being evaluated and deadlines
for formal observation and post-observation conferences. Conferences would occur
soon after the observation.
• Objectives based on the California
Standards for the Teaching Profession,
instead of the Teaching Learning Frame-
UTLA brings different members to the bargaining table, depending on the topics being discussed.
Our team on March 31, from left: UTLA Board members Alex Orozco, Victoria Casas, and
Julie Van Winkle; NEA VP Cecily Myart-Cruz; Executive Director Jeff Good; AFT VP Betty
Forrester; and Elementary VP Juan Ramirez.
work (TLF), a leftover from the Deasy era.
• A reduced number of elements in evaluation objectives (down from the current
number of 15).
Organizing supports bargaining
Bargaining doesn’t happen in a vacuum,
and UTLA is supporting our demands with
action. In April, delegations of members,
students, and parents met with all seven
LAUSD School Board Members on these
topics. All members are urged to take part
in the May 4 Day of Action, which will be
a critical way to put pressure on LAUSD
to come to an agreement.
Read UTLA proposals and LAUSD responses at www.utla.net/bargaining2015-16.
Bargaining updates and proposal language are
also emailed to members in our weekly News
to Use. Salary is next on the table in reopener
talks for 2016-17. Health benefits negotiations,
which are conducted jointly with all LAUSD
employee unions, will occur in 2017 unless
significant cost savings are identified.
Evaluation: Educators call for a paradigm shift
UTLA holds forums on Educator Development & Support to illuminate a move away from “gotcha”
evaluation and toward a career-long professional growth model.
Most educators know that the evaluation system has been less than perfect for
a long time, focused too much on “punishment” and not enough on supporting
professional growth. Evaluation devolved
even further under former Superintendent John Deasy, who imposed the corporate-reform-based Teacher Growth and
Development Cycle (TGDC) onto teachers
without their involvement or approval.
The contract UTLA negotiated in 2015
opened the door for a better system. UTLA
secured an agreement with LAUSD to jettison TGDC in favor of a jointly developed
Educator Development & Support model.
Since then, teachers, through the UTLA
EDS Committee, have been working
together to craft proposals based on a
career-long professional growth model
that supports teachers from their first
day in the classroom to their last, with
a proactive vision of educator development that moves from a limited focus on
evaluation.
“As we move away from the Deasy
era, we are looking at the big picture and
taking responsibility for our professional
growth, with support from the District,”
says UTLA/AFT Vice President Betty For-
rester, one of the members of the UTLA
EDS Committee. “It should not be punitive but instead be about growth and
development. We are calling for a system
that is collaborative, professional, fair, and
respectful—a process done with us, not
to us.”
In March and April, UTLA held a series
of regional forums to discuss the basic
precepts of a proactive career-long model,
such as embedded professional development, observations being only one piece
of evidence when showing professional
growth, investment in peer assistance
and mentor teacher programs, and appropriate differentiation based on job
assignment and experience.
The forums also created space for
members to talk freely about evaluation and professional growth. Riordan
Primary Center teacher Therese Dersch,
the chapter chair at her school, came
to the North Area forum so she could
share the content afterward with her colleagues. Dersch has been through the
TGDC process, which she called timeconsuming.
“It’s not a perfect system, and even
though it worked out for me, I could see
Ingrid Gunnell talks to members about a broad vision for an overhauled evaluation system at
one of UTLA’s regional forums this month. Gunnell is a UTLA Board member and member of
the UTLA Educator Development and Support (EDS) Committee.
how it could be very different if you didn’t
have a principal who wanted to support
you,” Dersch said.
UTLA members at the forums were quick
to share what they felt was flawed about the
current system, including the unworkable
demands of the TGDC system that over(continued on page 21)
5
April 22, 2016
Schools fight to protect crucial learning space on campus
Educators and parents organize against unfair co-location.
Every year, more LAUSD schools are
becoming subject to possible co-location,
the process by which valuable space on
campus is given over to an outside charter
organization. Under Prop. 39, school districts are required to offer “equitable and
adequate” unused public space to charters, but oftentimes that “unused” space
houses computer labs, parent centers, or
afterschool programs. Co-locations also
can have an effect on school schedules
and the unfettered use of facilities, such
as the cafeteria, library, and other common
spaces, disrupting the school community
for all students.
Educators and parents at many schools
are pushing back and organizing against colocation, by lobbying School Board members,
holding petition drives, reaching out to
neighborhood councils, conducting neighborhood walks, and more. Here are stories
from two of those schools, from a teacher
from Garvanza Elementary in Highland
Park and a parent from Castelar Elementary
in Chinatown. Schools will know officially
on May 1 whether a co-location offer has
been accepted by a charter organization.
Garvanza: Protecting a
neighborhood public school
The staff at Garvanza feels passionately
about the impact a public, neighborhood
school can have on its community. We at
Garvanza have worked tirelessly to become
an example of what a public school can
achieve. Despite constant challenges, like
lack of funding for programs and instruc-
Accolades
Festival of Books spotlights great teachers: It only makes sense that at an event
devoted to books, teachers would also be
honored. At this year’s L.A. Times Festival of
Books on the USC campus, five teachers were
saluted with “Read On” Teachers awards.
Recognition for their contributions to literacy
and education went to Vermont Elementary teacher Elizabeth Dominguez, Weemes
tional materials, Garvanza is a California
Distinguished School. We are also a Pocket of
Excellence School and we surpassed the District’s CORE rating. Garvanza is a fantastic
school with high expectations of all learners
and a faculty who is dedicated to preparing
our students to be college- and career-ready.
When Celerity co-located on Burbank
Middle School’s campus years ago, it had a
significant impact on our enrollment. We’ve
lost teachers who’d been teaching at Garvanza for years because we didn’t have enough
students to maintain our faculty. We’ve had
to start the school year with split classes
and then reorganize after norm day when
students enroll late or transfer back from
Celerity. It’s an extremely disruptive process.
If we are co-located next year (depending on how many classrooms they actually
take) we stand to lose our parent center,
our computer labs, our music and theater
classroom, our science lab, and our itinerant teacher’s classroom that services
children with special needs as well as all
our intervention classrooms.
Parents are truly concerned with the
challenges a charter school brings to a
community. We have a very active parent
volunteer program. They host education
classes and meetings and help prepare
classroom materials for teachers. It’s possible their classroom would be taken by
the charter. They’re concerned with their
students losing library time and other
school resources. They’re also troubled
by the impact that sharing such a small
yard will have on recesses, lunch, and P.E.
Elementary teacher Betty Lewis-Gomez,
Norwood Elementary teacher Susan Courtney, Griffin Avenue teacher Dixie Duran,
and Mack Elementary teacher Frank Cooper.
Continuation school honored for arts
program: Phoenix Continuation High
School and its visual and performing
arts coordinator, Anne Verrier Scatolini,
are being honored for having a highly
rated arts program as determined by the
LAUSD arts equity index data. The school
was one of 162 K-12 schools districtwide
that ranked in the top quartile of arts pro-
Five outstanding teachers joined the big-name authors celebrated at this year’s L.A. Times
Festival of Books at USC. From left: Elizabeth Dominguez (Vermont Elementary), Betty LewisGomez (Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary), Susan Courtney (Norwood Elementary), Dixie Duran
(Griffin Avenue Elementary), and Frank Cooper (John W. Mack Elementary).
6
Garvanza Elementary has been holding weekly pickets to bring awareness to the community
about the impact co-location would have on the school.
Parents and faculty are engaging in a
letter-writing campaign to communicate
our concerns to LAUSD School Board
members and LAUSD Superintendent
Michelle King. Parents have joined faculty
in picketing every Thursday morning to
bring awareness to our community about
both the impact the charter will have and
also to advertise what wonderful programs we have to offer at Garvanza Elementary. We have several National Board
Certified teachers, teachers with bilingual
certifications, and credentialed teachers
who’ve been teaching for range of 10 to
30-plus years. Many of us have spent our
entire careers at Garvanza Elementary.
We believe in the quality of education we
have to offer our neighborhood children.
We believe in being a strong public school
for ALL children in our community!
—Julie Ward-Loveland
Teacher
Garvanza Elementary
grams based on factors that included providing arts instruction, arts resources, arts
teachers, arts professional development,
and more. It was the only continuation
school in the District to receive the honor.
Student scores win with history project
on penicillin: Peary M/S/T Middle School
student Ayame Lewis’s compelling project
on “Alexander Fleming: Discovery of Penicillin” received a Humanitarian Award at
the Los Angeles County History Day California competition at Azusa Pacific University in March. Lewis also earned a spot in
the National History Day State Final in May
representing LAUSD and Peary Magnet
School. Lewis is an eighth-grader in Anh-
Tony Tran’s U.S. History Class at Peary. Millikan teacher heads to India as Fulbright winner: Garry Joseph of Millikan
Middle School has been offered a Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching grant by the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright
Foreign Scholarship Board. Joseph is one
of approximately 45 U.S. citizens who will
travel abroad through the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program
in 2016-2017. Read more on page 14.
Millikan Middle School teacher Gary Joseph
will be teaching in India next year as a winner
of a Fulbright grant.
Peary Magnet student Ayame Lewis shows off
her award ribbons at the L.A. County History
Day California competition.
Castelar: Parent-driven
organizing success
My wife Wendy and I were shocked
when we received a memo from LAUSD
stating that Castelar Elementary had been
identified as a possible site of co-location
by Metro Charter School. What an insane
To submit news for “Accolades”:
Email details and photos to [email protected].
April 22, 2016
Supreme Court reaffirms collective bargaining in landmark case
Anti-union Friedrichs defeated, but other cases will follow.
A long-planned legal assault on unions
has gone down to defeat with the Supreme
Court’s announcement on March 29 that the
justices are deadlocked in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case. The 4-4 ruling
leaves intact the precedent established by
Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, a law that
has been working for nearly four decades.
At issue in Friedrichs was whether nonunion members could share the wages, benefits, and protections negotiated in a collectively bargained contract without needing
to pay their fair share for the cost of those
negotiations. The case was bankrolled by
the right-wing Center for Individual Rights,
an organization funded by corporate special
interests to push their own agenda.
The case was a thinly veiled attempt
to undermine collective bargaining and
silence educators’ voices. In response, hundreds of groups and individuals—representing all levels of government and civil
rights organizations, and including public
officials, academic experts, and others—
filed 24 briefs amici curiae (“friends of
the court”) with the court. The state of
California also filed in support of Abood,
explaining that fair share fees were critical in effectively managing its substantial
public workforce and ensure the efficient
delivery of quality public services.
The Friedrichs case provided a vivid illustration of what’s at stake when it comes
to the highest court in the land. It also was
an example of how corporations are using
the Supreme Court for political agendas
rather than what the court was intended: interpreting and upholding the Constitution.
The court’s ruling in Friedrichs does not
put an end to the threat against public
employee unions. Dozens of similar cases
are currently working their way through
the federal court system, and UTLA will
keep fighting alongside our state and national affiliates any attempt to weaken our
collective voice.
Public union supporters rally outside the Supreme Court in January, when arguments were
heard in the anti-union Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case.
From the classroom to the ballot box
UTLA June 7 primary endorsements
Exercise your political power on June 7 by occupying the ballot box!
The last day to register to vote is May 23. To register
online, please go to registertovote.ca.gov.
For more information please contact Political Organizer Astine Suleimanyan at [email protected] or
(213) 713-8523.
Cristina Garcia ........................................AD 58
2016 Primary Election State
Legislative Endorsements
Anthony Rendon ......................................AD 63
STATE ASSEMBLY
Compton, Carson, and Wilmington
Patty Lopez .............................................AD 39
Sunland-Tujunga, Sylmar, Shadow Hills, North Hollywood,
Lakeview Terrace, Sun Valley, and Pacoima
Ardy Kassakhian .....................................AD 43
La Canada, Glendale, Burbank, and Little Armenia
Matthew Dababneh .................................AD 45
Reseda, Tarzana, Canoga Park, Calabasas, Hidden Hills,
West Hills, Encino, and Northridge
Downey, Pico Rivera, Montebello, and Cerritos
Reginald Jones-Sawyer ............................AD 59
South Los Angeles, Vermont, and Florence-Graham
Autumn Burke ........................................ AD 62
Inglewood, Marina Del Rey, Hawthorne, and El Segundo
Adam Schiff ............................................CD 28
Burbank, Glendale, Sunland-Tujunga, Pasadena, Los Feliz,
Griffith Park, Hollywood Hills, East Hollywood, Silverlake,
and West Hollywood
Tony Cardenas.........................................CD 29
Mike Gipson ............................................AD 64
Pacoima, San Fernando, Arleta, Van Nuys, Sun Valley,
Sylmar, and Panorama City
Brad Sherman ........................................ CD 30
STATE SENATE
Anthony Portantino ................................. SD 25
Sherman Oaks, Reseda, Tarzana, Toluca Lake, Encino,
Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Studio City, and Granada Hills
Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, Atwater Village, La
Crescenta and Sunland-Tujunga
Roger Hernandez .....................................CD 32
Henry Stern............................................. SD 27
Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Glendora, El Monte, La Verne,
and West Covina
Canoga Park, Tarzana, Chatsworth, Simi Valley, Thousand
Oaks, Moorpark and Calabasas
Ted Lieu ..................................................CD 33
Van Nuys, Panorama City, Studio City, and Sherman Oaks
South Gate, Lynwood, Paramount, Signal Hill, and Long
Beach
Jimmy Gomez ..........................................AD 51
NO RECOMMENDATION ........................... SD 35
East Los Angeles, Echo Park, Silverlake, and Eagle Rock
Judy Chu .................................................CD 27
Alhambra, Arcadia, Claremont, South Pasadena, Sierra
Madre, San Gabriel, Rosemead, and Glendora
South Gate and Lakewood
Ricardo Lara ........................................... SD 33
Adrin Nazarian .........................................AD 46
U.S. CONGRESS
San Pedro, Compton, Gardena, and Hawthorne
Malibu, Calabasas, Topanga Canyon, Torrance, Beverly
Hills, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo and
Palos Verdes
Xavier Becerra ........................................CD 34
Chinatown, Downtown L.A., Highland Park, Koreatown,
Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, and Westlake
Karen Bass .............................................CD 37
Miguel Santiago ......................................AD 53
Culver City, Beverlywood, Ladera Heights, Crenshaw,
Century City, and South Los Angeles
Huntington Park, Staples Center, Downtown L.A., and
Koreatown
Lucille Royal-Allard ..................................CD 40
Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, Downey,
Huntington Park, Paramount, Vernon, and Bellflower
Maxine Waters........................................CD 43
Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena, and Torrance
Isadore Hall.............................................CD 44
Compton, Gardena, Carson, Downey, Lynwood, San Pedro,
South Gate, Wilmington, and Carson
Ricardo Lara
for SD 33
Patty Lopez
for AD 39
Ardy Kassakhian
for AD 43
Autumn Burke
for AD 62
Anthony Rendon
for AD 63
Paid for by Political Action Council of Educators (United Teachers Los Angeles) and
Political Action Council of Educators, Sponsored by Teachers Unions, Including United Teachers Los Angeles (3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010;
213-487-5560). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
7
April 22, 2016
Taking on testing: UTLA campaign getting results
SBAC interim assessments cancelled for rest of school year; elementary teachers limit DIBELS testing.
As part of UTLA’s campaign against
overtesting, elementary teachers are choosing not to administer DIBELS assessments
that, in their professional judgment, will
not help students. UTLA members are
taking action after more than 1,900 educators from 91 elementary schools submitted signed forms in April stating that
one-on-one testing dramatically affects
instructional time and requesting adult
assistance during that testing in order to
continue instruction.
LAUSD announced April 14—the day
after our testing action began—that school
sites do not need to administer SBAC
interim assessments for the remainder of
the school year. This is a victory for our
campaign and a reaffirmation of what we
can accomplish when our members work
together.
LAUSD gives 11 standardized tests that
are not mandated by the state or federal
governments, in addition to 10 standardized tests that are mandated by the state
or federal governments. This has led to
third- and fourth-graders taking up to 16
#teachingnottesting
UTLA testing action
UTLA members are standing up for the protection of instructional time, quality
education, and the professional judgment of educators by taking the following actions:
1. Do not give any more SBAC interim assessments this academic year. LAUSD
announced on April 14, the day after our action was announced, that school
sites do not need to administer SBAC interim assessments for the remainder
of this school year. (The letter, from LAUSD Chief Academic Officer Frances
Gibson, is posted at utla.net.)
2. Administer DIBELS to those students who need it for reclassification purposes. For additional students, use your professional judgment on whether to
test, based on whether it will help the student.
If you are directed to administer SBAC interim assessments or DIBELS to all students regardless of your professional judgment, ask for the directive in writing. If the
directive is given in writing, comply with the directive. Immediately get the written
directive to your chapter chair, who can work with your Area Representative to discuss
ways to organize with your colleagues to push back against the directive.
For tips on organizing around testing and a parent flyer, go to utla.net/overtestingactions. Our message to parents: Testing is a valuable tool to know where
students are academically, but overtesting is damaging to a well-rounded education.
standardized tests, fifth-graders taking
up to 18 standardized tests, and eighthgraders taking up to 17. Quality of education is affected, there is a dramatic loss of
instructional time, and educators’ professional judgment is disrespected.
In discussions with UTLA this year, the
District verbally acknowledged that the
results from the SBAC interim assessments
are not used for any purpose and that only
some schools use the assessments, creating serious equity concerns. The District
has also verbally acknowledged that the
central purpose of DIBELS is to serve as
one piece of the reclassification process.
District officials have stated that there is not
a strong reason to continue using DIBELS
with students who no longer need it for
reclassification purposes.
UTLA has been calling on LAUSD
to get in step with the national movement against the excessive use of standardized testing. In October, President
Barack Obama said that his administration overrelied on testing and announced
new guidelines, saying kids spend too
much time taking “unnecessary” exams
in schools. The California Alliance of Researchers for Equity in Education (CAREED), including 115 university-based researchers, released a report in February
critical of the overuse of standardized
testing. In UTLA delegation meetings
with School Board members in April,
there was substantial support for the idea
of cutting down standardized testing.
Final evaluation Q&A
What to know before you go in for your final evaluation conference.
This is the time of the year when many
teachers receive their final evaluations
from their administrators. Before you go in
for your final evaluation conference, take
a look at this Q&A so you can be aware of
your rights under the contract.
UTLA is in bargaining with LAUSD
now as part of a multi-year process to
create a new system based on a career-long
professional growth model of Educator
Development and Support.
Who receives an evaluation
and how often?
Probationary and permanent teachers
receive evaluations. Limited-term personnel (such as provisional contract, substitute
of more than 20 days, or a probationary,
conditional, or temporary contract employee assigned on March 1 or thereafter)
and nontenured adult education teachers
are evaluated on the District’s Form 1022.
Probationary employees are required by
state ed code to be evaluated at least once
each year (failure to provide an evaluation
may jeopardize their status). Permanent
employees are evaluated at least once every
other year, although legislation allows for
teachers with 10 years in a district to be
evaluated every five years if they have
received a “meets or exceeds standards”
evaluation. A Supplemental Agreement
8
reached with LAUSD contains a provision
that calls for LAUSD to take advantage of
this law and grant extensions of the time
between evaluations. This longer evaluation period requires the consent of both the
evaluator and the employee.
Is the administrator required to
have a conference with me?
If you are being evaluated this year,
your administrator should have worked
with you early in the school year to establish your objectives for the year. During
the year, your administrator should have
been observing your teaching and conferring with you. If problems were identified,
within four working days of the conference you should have been given a copy
of written records relating to observations, advisory conferences, and assistance
offered or given. These are warnings that
you must improve your performance.
Should I answer written warnings?
Answer conference summaries. Be
brief and to the point. Show how you are
meeting the objectives and how you are
following your administrator’s guidance.
When should the administrator
issue the final evaluation report?
Your administrator must issue your
final evaluation report not less than 30
days before the last regularly scheduled
school day of your scheduled work year. If
you are issued a “below standard” evaluation, your administrator shall specifically
describe in writing the area of “below standard” performance with recommendations
for improvement and the assistance given
and to be given.
Should I take my UTLA
representative to the final
evaluation conference?
If your administrator intends to issue
a “below standard” evaluation, you must
be informed of that intent and given the
opportunity to be accompanied by your
chapter chair (or by any other person as
long as that person is not a representative
of another employee organization).
Should I sign a evaluation
when I don’t agree?
Your signature is required and does not
mean you agree. You may attach a written
response within ten working days from
date received and you may also appeal
the matter to the cluster leader.
When should I receive my copy?
You will be given a copy of the final
evaluation at the conference.
I don’t agree with my evaluation.
Can I file a grievance?
You have the right to grieve within
30 working days if you receive a “below
standard” evaluation or if your evaluation is “meets standards” but there is a
significant disparity between the rating
and the negative comments on the form.
You should talk to your UTLA Area representative if you believe such a “significant
disparity” exists on your evaluation. You
should request an informal meeting with
your administrator within 15 days of receiving the below standard evaluation as
required by the new contract provisions
for filing a grievance.
I don’t agree with my evaluation
and I’m filing a grievance. Should I
attach a response within ten days?
If you are filing a grievance, don’t
attach a response. Talk to your Area representative first.
Where can I find
more information?
This is a summary of the contract language
plus some tips on how to protect yourself. For
complete information regarding the process,
see Article X of the contract and Attachment
G of the 2014-17 agreement (posted at utla.
net; look under “Contracts/Negotiations”).
Don’t let allergies or asthma keep you from enjoying the great outdoors. Your doctor can help
you create an action plan that puts you in control. If you know your triggers, you can manage your
symptoms, stay active, and do the things you love.
Seize the days and breathe easy
Spring has sprung. The flowers are blooming and allergy season is looming. Here are 3 ways to beat
the sneeze:
Rain? Check!
Spring showers clear the air,
so to speak. After it rains, the
outdoors is your oyster.
Salt cure
Saline nasal spray or wash
can flush out allergens and
minimize symptoms. Even
better? It’s all natural.
Visit kp.org/allergies for more ways to outsmart allergy season.
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. 60356125 October 2015
Watch the clock
Pollen levels are at their
peak between 5–9 a.m.
Sorry, morning people …
April 22, 2016
From the treasurer
Chicago two-fer: One-day strike & grassroots labor conference
UTLA is on the ground for two inspiring events.
By Arlene Inouye
UTLA Treasurer
Health & Human Services
UTLA was invited to share at the Labor
Notes Conference in Chicago from April 1 to
3. The conference happened to coincide with
the Chicago Teachers Union’s one-day strike
to protest education funding cuts, underresourced communities, and the plight of
low-wage workers. The walkout took place
on April Fool’s Day, but it was no joke—
tens of thousands of people hit the streets to
demand a more just city for all Chicagoans.
The Labor Notes Conference, which
started in 1979, is a gathering of grassroots
labor activists, union leaders, trade unionists, and worker center leaders who want
to put the “movement” back in the labor
movement. This year was the largest gathering ever, with more than 2,000 participants from 20 countries around the world.
UTLA has been noticed nationally and
worldwide for the massive organizing and
union transformation that we have undertaken in the past 21 months, in addition to
our work as educators in the classroom. We
were invited to share our story in the keynote
speech and on six different panels during the
weekend conference: Fighting for the Schools
Students Deserve, Organizing Strategies for the
Friedrichs Case, How to Win Fair Evaluations
for Classroom Teachers, Fighting Privatization,
and a teachers’ panel that included educators
from New York , Baltimore, Chicago, and Los
Angeles. UTLA brought a team of leaders that
included rank-and-file members, staff, and officers, who fully participated in the conference
and in the strike action.
At the conference, we spoke with workers
around the world who are facing the same
threats everyday: legal assaults on their rights
to unionize, bargain, and strike; austerity campaigns designed to cut or privatize public
services and the workers who provide them;
and rampant, often illegal bullying and repression by employers both gigantic and small. A
workshop titled “Attacks on Teachers Around
the Globe” included South Korea, where teachers from the Korean Teachers and Education
Workers Union have organized underground
in the face of a military dictatorship, and now
their union is stripped of its legal right to exist.
A union activist from the UK stated that all
academies and public schools in the country
will be privatized in 10 years, while we heard
about the disappeared teachers in Mexico and
from a unionist from Colombia, the country
responsible for more than half the world’s
murders of labor activists.
Our struggles are interconnected but our
hope is renewed. We were energized by
the collective power of our organizing and
fight-back as a part of a labor movement that
throughout history and in a revitalized way
today is the agent for social, political, racial,
and economic transformation both locally
and globally.
UTLA voices from Chicago
“In attending workshops and speaking with other unionists, I was not only
reenergized with the overall mission of
UTLA, but encouraged by the possibilities of effective organizing. Additionally, I
discovered new and innovative concepts
in organizing and connecting this with
member growth. I learned that as individuals, organizers are as unremarkable
as any other man or woman you come in
contact with . . . not smarter, not stronger,
not possessed of greater resources, but
an openness to act on what we know
to be right and a spirit of availability to
facilitate change to that value.”
—Carl Joseph
UTLA Area Representative
“I was moved and proud to hear the
UTLA keynote address that Arlene delivered to the general assembly. It was informational and inspiring to hear about the
new systems, the organizing model, and
the campaigns that UTLA has engaged
in the past 21 months. I am proud to be
a part of a union that values deep organizing, member priorities, and centering
racial and social justice as part of its core
10
program. Her message was felt globally—it
was relevant, personal, visionary, a good
call to action, and an answer to the outright
attacks on unions, education, the public
sector, and our members.”
—Jollene Levid
UTLA Regional Organizer
“Our visiting team was struck by the outpouring of appreciation showed by Chicagoans and Chicago educators—many stopped
to talk to us to express their gratitude for our
traveling to Chicago and taking the time
to support them and their cause. We commonly heard cries of ‘Thank you, L.A.,’ as we
moved through the crowd, above the chants
at the rally. Although the struggles within
the city, and of the educators who live there,
are numerous, there is a clear consensus
of teacher-educators in Chicago willing to
fight for the cause of public education and
a growing movement that strives to counter
forces that would limit unionization and
stifle teachers’ voices. The energy at the rally,
and within the city, was incredibly positive
and hopeful.”
—James Altuner
Downtown Magnets High
Energized for the fight ahead: UTLA
staff, members, and officers at the
Labor Notes Conference in Chicago,
where they led panel discussions and
connected with the larger grassroots
labor movement.
Labor Notes Conference: Making connections
and building power
By Gloria Martinez
UTLA Board & Organizing Team Member
Weeks after returning home from the Labor Notes Conference, I am feeling a
newfound excitement around the work we have done at UTLA and even more
excited about the work that continues. I was fortunate enough to sit on two panels
at the conference—the first, “Fighting Privatization,” and the second, “Fighting
for the Schools Our Students Deserve.”
Speaking on privatization in education on a panel with workers from other
union sectors helped me understand the broad attack unions face as politicians
continue to privatize services that serve the masses. I sat with a New York nurse
who spoke about hospitals that outsource such vital services as dialysis for their
patients. Nurses often find themselves caring for patients without having access
to medical records from the private companies, which creates a high-stress environment for nurses, who are often already overworked. These acts are all in the
name of cost effectiveness.
A New York postal worker spoke on the managerial policies that divide workloads within the Post Office, preventing employees from working the windows.
For example, a postal worker working the passport line can only work in that line,
even if the parcel line is out the door. Naturally, this creates a rhetoric that postal
workers are inefficient when in reality the systems in place create a less efficient
workforce.
The examples my panel mates shared went on and on, and we were able to find the
commonalities: putting procedures in place that purposely limit effectiveness gives
corporations the opportunity to blame workers and allows for justification of future
attacks. In education, policies on evaluations and testing are the catalyst for such attacks.
I also sat with teacher leaders from St. Paul, Chicago, and Portland to discuss the
Schools Our Students Deserve initiative and the work UTLA has done around it. As
you may know, this is an initiative we have supported for the past few years. It is part
of a national movement led by teacher unions campaigns that not only win us stronger
contracts but also allow us to involve parents, students, and community members.
Sitting on the panel with leaders across the country puts our recent efforts as a union
in perspective as we emerge as national leaders in the fight for a comprehensive
initiative for the Schools All Students Deserve. The panel shared to a packed room
of rank-and-file members who are facing struggles within their districts and were
seeking motivation and/or guidance on ways to jumpstart the Schools All Students
Deserve movement. All locals on the panels shared successes on various levels, but
more compelling was the way the unions across the country have taken control of
the conversation around education from their districts, their legislators, and the
privatizers. Take Chicago teachers, for example, who have joined forces with the
Fight for $15 campaign because they recognize that parents need a decent hourly
wage to help them provide and fight for the education their child deserves. Denise
Rodriguez, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, spoke of her union’s work
around organizing schools to help them get a quality and comprehensive contract.
Attending Labor Notes was one of the most eye-opening moments I have had
not only as a teacher but as an activist for education. The conference confirmed for
me that it is up to unions, and the labor movement in general, to push back against
the privatization that is cheapening services such as health care and education for
the working class and poor.
More importantly, I was given a sneak peek into the future, one where education
policy and discussion are led by educators, not so-called reformers. I also see an
opportunity for UTLA to join forces to continue working alongside parents and
students to finally get the education they are entitled to.
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April 22, 2016
From the secondary VP
Caring for our students in many ways
From eye programs to fighting for fiscal accountability at co-located schools.
By Colleen Schwab
UTLA Secondary Vice President
Woodland Hills Academy
It’s no surprise that the public often
thinks our jobs start at 8 a.m. and end
at 3 p.m., with months of vacation time
during the summer and winter seasons,
breaks that are often misunderstood. I
remember being completely exhausted the
first weeks after school ended in June only
to hear from friends who were not teachers that I was “lucky” to have so much
vacation time.
Yes, lucky indeed, but is this time
earned! What educators do during the
school year is beyond understanding if one
has never been in a classroom or school site
working with students—lots of students,
that is, on a daily basis. At a recent social
event, a somewhat know-it-all about education who has never been an educator
asked me a rhetorical question to the effect
of, “How hard is it to teach U.S. History
to 20 to 30 eighth-graders?” Please just
imagine how I responded, having taught
middle school for 31 years!
That brings me to the thought that we not
only teach, we care for students in so many
ways: counseling needs, health concerns,
psychological issues, and the list goes on,
and it includes addressing the varied learning differences in the classroom.
A few years ago, former UTLA lobbyist Bill Lambert brought an exciting
new service to my school to help students
read better. Bill became involved in the
Gemstone Foundation, which researched
eye development in young students and
found a largely undetected eye alignment problem that causes poor reading
development. This alignment problem
is easy to test for and easy to correct.
The treatment is a computer-based eye
program that students can complete in a
relatively short time.
Several Los Angeles Unified schools
have already been through the program
and have seen success in affected students’
reading skills and their progress in school.
The problem is funding the treatment, even
though it is very low cost (approximately
$250 per student). Gemstone Foundation
Senior Scientist and Director of Research
Dr. Maureen Powers and Bill are working
to raise funds for our Los Angeles students.
If you would like to contribute, any amount
would be greatly appreciated. You can make
checks payable to Gemstone Foundation
and mail them to UTLA at 3303 Wilshire
Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010; attention
Colleen Schwab. Stay tuned to hear more
about this exciting support for our students!
and, if necessary, how to survive working
on a co-located campus. Moreover, UTLA’s
strategic research department has revealed
that LAUSD has not been charging legally
allowed fines to charter schools for underused space. This amounts to millions
of dollars not coming in to our District.
We are making a demand to collect this
money a centerpiece of our May 4 Day of
Action, and we will keep pushing to make
sure this most egregious “oversight” is
resolved. Our schools could definitely use
that money for all the things we know our
students need, from lower class sizes to
more staff in schools to address all those
socio-emotional needs I talked about in
my opening.
Addressing co-location issues
Wanted: Your school stories
Many of our schools are currently colocated with charters or about to become
co-located under the dictates of Proposition 39. Through the leadership of our
Prop. 39 Committee (committee chairs
Adrian Tamayo, Ayde Bravo, and Joel
Jordan and committee members Steven
Contreras, Koreen Cea, Georgia Flowers
Lee, Kimberly Patterson, Christopher
Arellano, and Juan Ramirez), UTLA has
launched a campaign to train schools on
how to protect their sites from co-location
As always, please continue to send me
stories about your schools (cschwab@utla.
net). I am most excited about meeting a
student, now an adult, from Nimitz Middle
School who recently visited his former
teacher, Griffith Harty. He was there to tell
Mr. Harty about his turnaround in life and
the new path of success he is on . . . with
gratitude and thanks to Mr. Harty. These
are our teachers, our students, and the real
stories about our profession—outside of
June, July, and August!
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April 22, 2016
Community actions
Speaking up for racial justice
UTLA forum sets the stage for important dialogue.
By Cecily Myart-Cruz
UTLA/NEA Vice President
Angeles Mesa ES
On April 11, UTLA’s Racial Justice
Committee hosted our first Racial Justice
Forum at 93rd Street Elementary School.
More than 60 educators, parents, students,
and community members came out for
this event, the first of its kind for UTLA.
The program began with a viewing
of the Advancing Justice interview with
Black Lives Matter founder Alicia Garza
(watch it at http://bitly.com/AJGarza).
This four-minute video set the stage
for the powerful discussion among the
panel, which was composed of two
ACLU attorneys, Black Lives Matter
L.A. members, students, parents, UTLA
members, and representatives from community organizations. The panel dove
right in on critical issues of engagement
within the community, educator activism, institutional racism, restorative
justice, the school-to-prison pipeline,
and the union’s role as social justice
advocate.
I was most inspired by the student
speakers on the panel. They were strong,
dynamic speakers who challenged the
people in the room to ask more of youth,
to make them feel safe, and most importantly to listen to what they are going
through. At a key moment, I heard a collective “Oh, wow” and then approval
snaps from the audience.
I am so proud of the work we are doing
in UTLA, which also involves advocating
at the state and national level for policies
that support a more just and inclusive
world. At the National Education Association’s most recent Representative
Assembly, UTLA helped pass a new business item on institutional racism, which
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The panel discussion was frank and wide-ranging at UTLA’s Racial Justice Forum at 93rd
Street School on April 11.
reads in part:
“We, the members of the National
Education Association, acknowledge the
existence in our country of institutional
racism—the societal patterns and practices that have the net effect of imposing oppressive conditions and denying
rights, opportunity, and equality based
upon race. This inequity manifests itself
in our schools and in the conditions our
students face in their communities. In
order to address institutional racism,
the National Education Association shall
lead by: 1) spotlighting systemic patterns
of inequity—racism and educational injustice—that impact our students; and
2) taking action to enhance access and
opportunity for our students. NEA will
use our collective voice to bring to light
and demand change to policies, programs, and practices that condone or
ignore unequal treatment and hinder
student success.”
You can read the full motion, which
details action steps the NEA will take in
support of it, at ra.nea.org. The NEA has
used this new business item to root its
work in social justice and its approaches
to every conference that NEA plans.
UTLA embraces our collective responsibility to provide a quality public
education for all students. We know that
our schools can be safe havens for our
students. Most of our students are youth
of color, and we know that many unions
have long been part of movements challenging institutional racism.
We live in perilous times, and the need
UTLA April 21 Racial
Justice Rally
As this UT goes on press, UTLA
is holding a Racial Justice Rally at
Bethune Middle School. Teachers,
students, and parents are uniting
against police violence and institutional racism. Look for coverage in the
next UNITED TEACHER and check
out photos on our Facebook page.
for social justice, economic justice, and
racial justice can no longer be glossed
over. It must be what every union and
educator speaks about because it affects
our students, their parents, the communities we serve, and ourselves.
We stand up for our schools, communities, and neighborhoods. Why do
we stand up? Because we are a union
and our voice together brings collective
action. Let’s be unapologetic about speaking truth to power.
Shout-out to my
teaching partner
Garry Joseph, a middle school science
teacher from Millikan Middle School, has
won the coveted Fulbright Distinguished
Awards in Teaching grant. He will join
44 other educators teaching abroad in
2016-2017. He was given this prestigious
award because of his academic excellence
to students, professional achievement,
and leadership potential.
I am personally ecstatic because I worked
alongside Garry at Emerson Middle School
for nine years. He went above and beyond
for our students because he believes that
every student has the right to an outdoor education experience. His teaching has always
been innovative, and he encourages students
to think critically about the world and how
science shapes it. He took students on field
trips to Yosemite, Catalina Island, Temescal
Canyon, and the Getty and on numerous
field hikes. Students who had the experience of going on these excursions felt like
their lives changed because they overcame
an obstacle during the course of the trip.
I am personally grateful for the opportunity he provided me as my teaching
partner. I went on many of these trips as
well, and I too overcame many fears and
challenges, I tried doing new things, and
I learned to appreciate nature and all of
its beauty. I changed my view of thinking about science and outdoor education,
and I wouldn’t have done that without
Garry Joseph. I can’t wait to see what
he brings back from his year abroad in
India. Whatever it is, his students and his
teaching will be enriched by it.
April 22, 2016
From the elementary VP
L.A. students deserve an education for a global economy
November ballot measure would encourage multilingual education.
By UTLA Elementary Vice President
Juan Ramirez & UTLA Director of
Bilingual Education Cheryl Ortega
Every spring hundreds of parents spend
the night on the sidewalk outside Aldama
Elementary in the North Area, Grand View
Elementary in the West Area, and a host of
other schools across the city to enroll their
children in one of 71 LAUSD schools that
offer dual-immersion curriculum.
Why is this happening? All of these
parents are hoping to get their children
into classes that will empower them in
guaranteeing them access to instruction,
connect them with heritage languages, increase their ability to communicate with the
community, and increase cognitive development. They are also compelled by their
children’s long-term future: As Dr. Patricia
Gándara of the UCLA Civil Rights Project
states, “Employers increasingly prefer employees who can reach a wider client base
and work collaboratively with colleagues
across racial, ethnic and cultural lines.”
The demand is great for multilingual
education, and it has only grown as our
population has gotten more diverse. Fiftythree percent of the population of California
is Latino. Forty-three percent of children
five years and older speak a language other
than English at home. Twenty-eight percent
of California students are English learners.
Those English learners have been badly
underserved in California, largely due to
the passage in 1998 of Proposition 227, a
ballot measure that mandated English immersion for nearly all of the states’ English
learners. In passing that measure, 61% of
voters evidently agreed that students could
become fluent English speakers in one year,
moving up one ELD level every six weeks.
How has this been working out? There
is scant evidence that the move to more
English instruction supported better
results for ELs. Today, the majority of ELs
in secondary schools have been designated
as long-term English learners (LTELs)—
not because of failure to learn to speak
English, but because of the inability to pass
state-mandated tests at a proficient level,
largely due to content being delivered
almost entirely in English with no supporting instruction in the students’ language.
Prop. 227 has failed our students, while
the research continues to confirm the benefits of bilingual programs and that all
students do best when they’re taught both
in English and a target language. (Every
piece of longitudinal research—from
Colliers and Thomas in the 1980s-2000s
to Francis, Lesaux, & August, Greene,
McField, Rolstad, Mahoney & Glass, Slavin
& Cheung—reports a consistent overall
positive advantage for bilingual programs
for all students over all-English programs.)
In November, Californians will vote
on a new ballot initiative, Education
for a Global Economy (Ed.G.E.), which
would overhaul Prop. 227 by expanding
the availability of bilingual education
models for both English learners and
native English speakers (including the
popular dual-immersion programs). The
initiative is the result of a 2014 bill by State
Senator Ricardo Lara.
The Ed.G.E. initiative recognizes that
in the 21st century, it is not an advantage
to limit students in California by providing an opportunity to learn in only one
language, English. It is not an advantage to not be able to understand and
compete with other multilingual speakers
on multiple fronts, be they academic, economic, health, military/national security
or social, while others know and can understand English PLUS another language
or languages.
Ed.G.E. recognizes that strong English
proficiency is of primary importance and
essential to realize the full range of opportunities. Ed.G.E. will help parents and
schools use research-based programs that
advance English language development
as rapidly as possible. Ed.G.E. will give
parents and schools more choice and flex-
ibility to choose research-based programs
for their children’s education.
UTLA members can play a key role in
the passage of the Ed.G.E. initiative to
ensure that our students have access to language programs that they deserve. Some
action steps to take: Hold informational
forums with your colleagues, parents, and
communities; use both print and social
media for exposure to information; write
a letter to the editor of a newspaper; participate in phone banking and precinct
walking; and talk to your colleagues, families, friends, neighbors, churches, and civic
organizations about the measure.
Look for more information on advocacy
opportunities as the election gets closer,
and join us in supporting stronger schools
and a stronger California through multilingual education.
For more information about the Ed.G.E.
bill or dual-language education, please join
us at the Bilingual Education Committee
meeting on May 4 at 4 p.m. in Room 828
in the UTLA building.
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April 22, 2016
Human Resources Division
Peer Assistance and Review
Program Workshop Schedule
Institute for Standards, Curricula and Assessments Summer 2016 Unit Design Seminar—June 14–17, 20, 2016
WHO? ALL teachers K-‐12. ALL subjects, single subject or interdisciplinary. ALL instructional programs: General, English Language Learners, AP, GATE, Special Ed., dual language, P.E…. All LAUSD teachers are invited to take ANY of our
6-hour workshops that cover a variety of topics:
Using Graphic Organizers to Support the Writing Process
April 16, 2016
Classroom Management
May 14, 2016
Interactive Student Notebooks
June 14, 2016
Literacy Strategies in the Common Core
June 14, 2016
Classroom Management Plus
June 15, 2016
Using Graphic Organizers to Support the Writing Process
June 15, 2016
ABCs of Student Engagement
June 16, 2016
Writing Instructional Objectives
June 16, 2016
Classroom Management
June 17, 2016
Over the last 22 years, teachers have reported to us that they achieved or recertified for National Board Certification because of what they learned during ISCA’s Lesson Design Study. ISCA provides technical and technological support. Teachers and administrators have reported that a single team from one department changed the professional practice in that department and the entire school, improving student learning and engagement. Seminar Title Description • Dates • Place • Time Follow-‐up Sessions Unit Design for Common Core State Standards (CCSS) & Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Teams (formed by teachers), with ISCA technical and technological support, design: • CCSS or NGSS unit • Performance mastery assessment & rubric • Handouts 3 Required Follow-‐ups . . .TBS* 1) Debrief 1 videotaped lesson (after school) 2) Score student performance assessment (at UTLA)** 3) Redesign unit based on scoring results (at UTLA)** WHEN? 5-‐Day Seminar June 14,15,16,17, 20 2016 (Tu.,W.,Th.Fr.M.) ` TIME? WHERE? UTLA 3303 Wilshire Blvd. Free Parking 8:30 AM –3:30 PM Morning Refreshments & Lunch Provided *Scheduled with team during seminar *School will provide 2 substitutes for each teacher Application Requirements: •
•
•
Teachers must apply in teams of 2-‐4, and teach the same subject, or interdisciplinary to same students Teams must pre-‐select an agreed-‐upon topic Teachers must attend all days of the seminar, from 8:30AM to 3:30PM Per-‐Participant Costs to School: All workshops can be applied
toward Salary Point Credit!
*unless noted, all PAR classes are held at the
Beaudry Building
333 S Beaudry Ave, LA, CA 90017
Sign up through:
learningzone@ lz.lausd.net
1
Course Fees: $1,500 fee per participant Pay for attendance is at discretion of school. If paid, participants cannot earn salary point credit. 2 sub days per participant for 2 follow-‐up sessions at UTLA Funding (potential sources) in School Budget: • LCFF Funds, Title I incl. Program Improvement, EL funds, grants for curriculum development in specific disciplines such as science, math, history, technology, SIG funds for PD. Update LCAP to address data supported student needs by sending teams to ISCA’s summer seminar course. •
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17140-15
1617140.indd
1
8/27/15 9:49 AM
CO-LOCATION
(continued from page 6)
idea to have a charter school occupy the
“unused” classrooms at our daughter’s
campus. Besides the fact that most of the
space was utilized by Chinatown children
for music, art, science, and P.E., two schools
on one campus would be a logistical nightmare, as well as an unhealthy environment
in which the school and students on either
side would be in constant measurement
and competition against each other. And
how tragic would it be for Castelar to be
drained of kids and resources by Metro—
the pattern in co-location—weakening
Chinatown’s historically excellent neighborhood public school and trusted resource
for generations of immigrant families.
Neither Wendy nor I considered ourselves to be activists, possessing resumes
that have mutated from indie publishing
to organizing DIY punk rock matinee fundraisers, but our unique backgrounds turned
out to be useful in Castelar’s fight against
co-location. When a march to popularize
our struggle didn’t receive media coverage,
I wrote a blog about it that has garnered
nearly 2,200 views. And then I posted a
petition that has been passed around and
received more than 1,800 signatures from
family, alumni, community members,
and other supporters, complementing
600 physical signatures gathered in front
of the school and around the neighborhood. Wendy used her graphic design
skills to create bold, wall-sized posters
that communicated to parents exactly what
our children would lose and what events
they could attend in English, Spanish, and
Chinese. And then every morning she used
her limited Cantonese to get as many
Chinese parents to sign the petition and
attend the Metro board meeting as possible.
A handful of us parents joined forces and
rallied 50 family members to get into cars
and pack Metro Charter School’s tiny board
meeting room. We had at least two dozen
Cantonese speakers and numerous Spanish
speakers as well, and we spent about 30
minutes detailing why we didn’t want our
classrooms taken away and how important
Castelar is to the Chinatown community.
While our hosts were civil and repeatedly
emphasized that they never chose Castelar,
they never said they would not be accepting
the co-location offer either at the meeting or
when I followed up with a thank-you email.
Attending the Chinese American
Citizens Alliance lodge meeting with the
hopes of getting a letter of support was
both surreal and cinematic. While chatting
beforehand, the president frankly told me
that she would have to invite someone
from Metro Charter School to hear their
side of the story. Crap! But after I finally
gave my spiel, several members stood up
and said that the lodge had to support
Castelar, their kids’ and grandkids’ alma
mater. Members unanimously voted to
bypass the lodge’s protocol and promised
a letter of support for Castelar on the spot.
Before Castelar’s Open House, a small
group of parents attended an LAUSD committee meeting to present our case and
personally invite LAUSD Board members
to see the school we were trying to protect
and attend the assembly afterward, with
the intent of having a packed auditorium
voice dissent with co-location. The lion
dance opening the assembly was perfectly
cathartic, totally powerful, and could only
April 22, 2016
happen in Chinatown. And when Principal
Shum was given permission to announce
that Metro Charter would not be occupying our classrooms, everyone could really
feel the room brighten, lighten, and practically elevate.
One of the hardest-to-take moments
during our fight stemmed from one of the
most minor events. A Downtown-based
online news site ran a puff piece about Metro
Charter School having a tough time finding a
new location, and described resistance from
Castelar community as a “minor outcry.”
Since when does more than 2,400 signatures
on a petition and 50 Castelar family members
and supporters traveling across town to
voice disapproval to the Metro Charter
School board meeting qualify as minor?
And that’s why, even as this particular
struggle against co-location is wrapping
up, it’s important to talk about and document what has happened. Other charter
schools that might be considering to occupy
Castelar in the future need to know that the
Chinatown community will not give up its
neighborhood school without a fight. The
families in Chinatown and kids who attend
Castelar, as well as other schools that are
fighting against co-location, need to know
how families banded together and what
steps we took to protect our community.
—Martin Wong
Parent
Castelar Elementary
SPEAKING OUT
middle school has a schedule that includes
two days per week, in which the periods are
1 hour and 50 minutes! One of the school’s
teachers said they try not to be absent on
those two days because they know how difficult it becomes for the substitutes. Many
substitutes do not want to go to blockschedule schools because it is difficult to
maintain discipline with this amount of
time even with good classes.
A foreign language teacher said that
the block schedule does not work for his
students, saying, “They need to practice
speaking the foreign language every day.”
Other teachers also say that students need
the consistency and reinforcement of attending their subject every day.
I think that teachers who feel as I do
should speak up about this issue by letting
the union reps at these schools know that the
long periods are a problem and that the reps
should bring up the issue at UTLA meetings.
—Roger Garland
Contract pool teacher
For more on Prop 39 colocation: UTLA’s Prop. 39 committee gives support to
UTLA chapters fighting co-location at their
school. Go to www.utla.net/colocation for a
Prop. 39 Q&A, implementation regulations,
District memos, and more useful info.
JNQBDU
sara’s
future.
Graduate Campuses in
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with a Master of Arts in Education
from Pepperdine.
To start your transformation, get in touch today.
310.568.2366 or 866.503.5467
[email protected]
gsep.pepperdine.edu
17
April 22, 2016
Chapter leader elections
Time to choose your site’s chapter leadership
Members will vote to fill positions for the 2016-17 school year.
The election of a UTLA Chapter Chair,
and Vice Chairs and/or Co-chairs, is a
crucial part of maintaining the connection of UTLA members in a chapter and
within the cluster, area, and overall structure of organizing and representation
in our union. Besides helping organize
their chapter, Chapter Chairs also defend
professional rights, resolve conflicts with
administration, and keep their members
connected with UTLA.
Our union’s strength is built through
Chapter Chairs; without Chapter Chairs
in place, our strength is diminished.
Each UTLA chapter should make every
effort to complete the election process no
later than May 16, 2016, so that incoming
Chapter Chairs can attend the May 18
Area meetings. Invitations to the newly
elected chapter leadership for the 2016
UTLA Leadership Conference can only
be extended if the election is held and
the form returned to UTLA no later than
May 16, 2016.
UTLA Chapter Chair election
rules and duties The following are the rules for the election of UTLA Chapter Chair, Co-Chair,
and Vice Chair. In accordance with the
UTLA Constitution, each UTLA chapter
shall hold an election of chapter officers,
including Chapter Chair, each spring,
and shall notify UTLA of the results no
later than May 16. If a chapter has a local
constitution, which lists term of office as
two years, the chapter must still submit
the name of the Chapter Chair to UTLA
each spring, indicating that the Chapter
Chair is serving in the first or second year
of the term.
Chapters with more than 80 UTLA
members are also entitled to elect a CoChair. All Chapters may elect up to two
Vice Chairs who serve as assistants to the
chair and/or Co-Chair.
Qualifications for Office, Voting
and Challenged Ballots To be eligible to run for office, a person
shall have to have been a member of
UTLA and within the same Chapter for
at least two calendar months prior to
balloting. To be eligible to vote a person shall have
to have been a member of UTLA, within
the same Chapter, and spend the majority
of his/her work time within that Chapter,
for at least two calendar months prior to
balloting.
A member who spends an equal
amount of time at two schools shall
choose one of the schools and will be
entitled to one full vote. Local Chapter Constitutions may increase the qualifications for office after
a secret ballot vote of all site members
and approval by the Board of Directors. Magnet Schools, which share a site
and a principal, and wish to have a separate UTLA chapter, must hold a secret
ballot vote to do so before the beginning
of the nomination process for the election of the Chapter Chair at the regular
18
site begins. The secret ballot election shall
include all UTLA members of the proposed
chapter. Chapters that have been separated
through a vote shall annually notify UTLA,
through their Chapter Chair, of their desire
to remain a separate Chapter. In general,
UTLA recognizes chapters based on the
policy “one principal, one chapter chair,
one chapter.”
Any person who requests a ballot
but whose name does not appear on
the UTLA provided list, or whose code
indicates that that person is not a full
dues paying member of UTLA, or whose
eligibility is challenged for any other
reason, shall vote a Challenged Ballot.
Said ballot shall be placed in a sealed
envelope with the person’s name and
employee number on the outside of the
envelope. The election committee shall
call the UTLA Membership Department
to verify the status of any individual who
votes a challenged ballot. Only those
ballots cast by members who are verified
as eligible to vote shall be counted. No
ballot shall be counted until all ballots
have been verified. Election Responsibilities
of Current Chapter Chair The Chapter Chair shall appoint a threemember election committee, the members
of which must be UTLA members (not
fee payers) and must not be candidates
for office. If there is no current Chapter Chair
at the site, the election committee shall
consist of three volunteers who are UTLA
members (not fee payers) and not candidates for office. The Chapter Chair shall request of
UTLA the most current list of UTLA
members at the site. If there is no Chapter
Chair, a member of the election committee
shall make the request. The Chapter Chair shall give this list
of members to the election committee
for their use. If a site has six or fewer
UTLA members, the Chapter Chair shall
appoint an election committee of at least
one member. In the absence of a Chapter
Chair, the entire membership shall meet
and decide who shall conduct the election
(preferably at least two members). The Chapter Chair shall give a copy of
these rules to the election committee and
review all parts of it with them to make
certain they understand their responsibilities. That ends the Chapter Chair’s
involvement in the process. Duties of the Election Committee The election committee shall do the following: (a) Select a chairperson (b) Prepare a self-nominating form to
be distributed to all eligible active UTLA
members assigned to that site. The form
shall contain all positions to be voted for.
Members can self-nominate for more than
one position. (Mail to those on leave with
return rights.) Nominations by a second
party in writing or orally are not to be accepted. All nominations or withdrawals of
a submitted nomination must be in writing
by the nominee. (c) Publicize, in writing, to all members
the election timeline. The timeline shall
include the date and time upon which the
self-nominating forms must be returned,
the date, time, location of the election and
the procedures for counting the ballots.
The timeline shall be sufficient to allow
for mailed ballots. {See (i)} (d) Make the polling site accessible to all
eligible voters, and ensure that there is no
attempt to solicit votes in any form in the
immediate vicinity of the balloting area. (e) Verify membership status (03) of all
nominated candidates. (f) Prepare a written ballot for contested
elections, with the names of the self-nominated candidates. A candidate must win
by a majority of the votes cast. (This may
require a runoff between the top two vote
getters). If the election is not contested, the
self-nominated candidate shall be declared
elected. (g) Prepare a sealed secret ballot box to
receive voted ballots. (h) Indicate, on the UTLA-provided list
of members, those members, who received
a ballot, to insure that only one ballot is
given per member and only eligible active
UTLA members receive a ballot. (i) Permit voting for at least three assigned work days to insure ample opportunity for all members to vote. Ballots
shall be kept in the sealed secret ballot
box, which shall be secured each day by
the chair of the election committee. If all
eligible members vote in fewer days than
the number of days set aside for voting,
the committee may declare the election
completed and count the ballots, after notifying members of the time and location
where the count will take place. (j) Mail a ballot to the address of record
of any person who maintains active UTLA
membership and is regularly assigned
to the site in question, but who is absent
from the site during the balloting period.
(maternity leave, etc.). Those members
who are absent due to extended illness
must request an absentee ballot in sufficient time to be voted and received back at
the site by the last day of balloting. Adult
schools, with multiple sites, may conduct
the voting by mail using the secret ballot
double-envelope return procedure. (k) Count the ballots at the time and
place indicated in the election timeline.
Any active UTLA member may witness
the count. In case of a tie vote there shall
be a flip of a coin.
(l) Publish the results of the election and
notify UTLA immediately on the official
form provided by UTLA of those results
(no later than May 16). (m) If a candidate has self-nominated
for multiple positions, including Chapter
Chair, the election for Chapter Chair shall
be conducted first. After a Chapter Chair
election, the election committee repeats
steps a – j to elect a Co-Chair (Chapters
with more than 80 members) or Vice Chair
at any school. If the candidates for CoChair or Vice Chair are not also candidates
for Chapter Chair both elections may be
conducted at the same time. (n) Secure all election materials for six
months to insure their availability in case
of a challenge to the election. (o) In secondary schools—within ten
working days following the completion
of the Chapter Chair election, the chapter
shall vote on the Chapter Chair release
time as described in Article IV, Section
8.1b & c of the current contract, in order
to give the site an opportunity to adjust
the master schedule for the following
school year. (p) In elementary schools—the release
time election, pursuant to Article IV,
Section 8.1 a, b & c, shall take place within
ten working days after it is known which
specific teachers’ work load will be directly
affected by the operation of the plan. UTLA support for housed teachers
Under former superintendent John
Deasy, many educators were victims
of the “teacher jail” system. Caught off
guard and often falsely accused, they
were left to suffer alone, under house
arrest and unsure of what to do.
LAUSD’s abuse of “teacher jail” has
lessened since the departure of Deasy,
but we still need to be vigilant about
each and every case.
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 (213368-6237, [email protected]) or UTLA
Treasurer Arlene Inouye (213-368-6218,
[email protected]).
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 May 17 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.
Election Challenge Any active UTLA member at the site
who believes that any of these election
procedures has been violated shall have
15 working days after the election results
are known to send a written challenge by
US mail to the Chair of the UTLA Constitution Committee, c/o UTLA Headquarters. Challenges may also instead be
submitted via email if done so within 15
working days after the election results are
known. However, the member must first
present the challenge to the site election
committee within five calendar days. If
the rules were violated, the election committee should correct the errors, even if
that requires starting the election process
over from the beginning. Only those challenges that are not satisfactorily handled
at the work site should be forwarded to
the Constitution Committee. As a result of any challenge to the election of a Chapter Chair, the UTLA Constitution Committee may authorize the
election committee at the school site or the
Board of Directors’ members representing
the area in which the chapter is located, to
conduct a new election at the site. Special Categories Election of Chapter Chairs for special
categories pursuant to Article IV, Sec. 8.3
of the UTLA/LAUSD contract, and the
list of itinerant groups entitled to their
own Shared Decision Making councils,
shall be overseen by the UTLA Constitution Committee. Said Committee shall
notice the election and its timeline in an
article in the UNITED TEACHER. A selfnominating coupon shall be included with
the article. The election shall be conducted
by mailed ballot. All categories with more
than 80 UTLA members are entitled to
elect a Co-Chair to assist the Chair in his
or her duties. Citywide Itinerant groups
with Local District sub-divisions may elect
a Vice Chair for each sub-division. The selfnominating coupon for Chair shall include
Co-Chair and Vice Chair (if applicable).
The categories are: (Article IV 8.3) Adapted PE
Audiometrists
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Educational Audiologists
Elementary Counselors
Elementary Literacy Coaches Non-Public Schools
Occupational and Physical Therapy
PH/PHH/LRE Counselors Psychiatric Social Workers
PSA Counselors
School Nurses
School Psychologists
Secondary Counselors
Speech and Language
Substitutes Central (1,2,3), North
(1,2,3,4), and South (1,2,3) Calling Areas
Itinerant Arts Teachers
Visually Handicapped
Vocational Education Members of these special categories
who are assigned the majority of their
workweek to one site are also eligible to
be voters at that site. If they are assigned
full time they are also eligible to be candidates for office at that site. (See #1 line 3
for members who spend an equal amount
of time at two schools.) Term of Office Unless otherwise indicated in the chapter’s own constitution and by-laws, the
term of office of Chapter Chairs shall be
one school year and shall begin on July 1 or
when the election is completed, if after July 1. Recall The local chapter shall have the right
to conduct a recall election of the elected
Chapter Chair, Co-Chair, or Vice Chair, after
a petition for cause by 40% of the chapter
members (see #1 Qualifications for Office,
Voting and Challenged Ballots) has been
sent to the Constitution Committee and
verified. The petition needs to include:
Members’ printed names, employee
numbers and signatures. The petition must
state the reason for the recall, and be dated.
If a submitted petition does not contain
signatures of 40% of the chapter members,
any subsequent recall petition must be a
new petition, with new signatures.
The recall election itself will require
an affirmative vote of 50% plus one of
the members voting. If the Chapter Chair,
Co-Chair, or Vice Chair is recalled, a new
election would then be conducted. Both
elections will follow UTLA’s election rules.
The recall vote and the vote for a new
Chapter Chair, Co-Chair, or Vice Chair
may be conducted at the same time. The Chapter Chair, Co-Chair, or Vice
Chair who is the subject of the proposed
recall shall have the right to challenge the
sufficiency of the recall petition prior to the
conducting of any recall vote. The member
must exercise this right within five (5) school
days of his/her receipt of the petition. Duties & Responsibilities of
Elected Chair and Co-Chair As the local legal representative of
UTLA, the Chapter Chair shall be responsible for seeing to it that all UTLA business
at the local site is properly conducted according to the contract, the UTLA Constitution, official UTLA policy as determined
by the UTLA House of Representatives,
and any site-based management plans. The UTLA Co-Chair (large Chapters) takes
over all Chapter Chair duties only when the
elected Chapter Chair is absent for more than
two days, or at the request of the Chapter
Chair. UTLA encourages all schools to elect a
Vice Chair to help the Chapter Chair and/or
Co-Chair to carry out the numerous responsibilities assigned to them. This is an elected
office. We also encourage each chapter to
elect other chapter officers to assist the Chair
and/or Co-Chair such as Secretary, Treasurer,
Social Chair, PACE Chair, etc. Reserved UTLA Rights Inasmuch as the Chapter Chair is the
local legal representative of the union,
the UTLA Board of Directors retains the
right to remove Chapter Chairs for cause
or malfeasance in office (i.e., failure to
April 22, 2016
carry out their legal duties and responsibilities as outlined in the contract, the
UTLA Constitution, or any site- based
management plans). If UTLA removes
a Chapter Chair as outlined above, the
UTLA Board of Directors’ members representing the area in which the chapter
is located, shall assist the chapter in the
process of conducting a new election. Any
chair removed from office for cause, may
appeal the decision to the UTLA House
of Representatives subsequent to an investigation and recommendation by the
Constitution Committee. Revised March 2016. Special category chapter chair election
Nominations reopened for unfilled and uncontested positions
Article IV, Section 8.3 of the UTLA/LAUSD Agreement provides for a
Chapter Chair Districtwide for each major employment category that
is not school-site based (one each except Substitutes, which may
elect one per calling area for a total of three). These Chapter Chair
categories are as listed: Adapted P.E., Audiometrists, Deaf and Hard of
Hearing, Educational Audiologists, Elementary Counselors, Non-Public
Schools, Elementary Literacy Coaches, Occupational and Physical
Therapy, PH/PHH/LRE Counselors, Psychiatric Social Workers, Pupil
Service and Attendance Counselors, School Nurses, School Psychologists, Secondary Counselors, Speech and Language, Substitutes
Central Calling Area (1, 2, 3), Substitutes North Calling Area (1, 2, 3,
4), Substitutes South Calling Area (1, 2, 3), Traveling Elementary Arts
Teachers, Visually Handicapped, Vocational Education.
Candidates for these Chapter Chair positions must be a current
member of the non-school-based employment category listed and
must self-nominate with this form; otherwise the positions will go
unfilled. Self-nomination forms must be returned to Daniel Barnhart
@ UTLA, 3303 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010,
Attention: Constitution Committee, no later than May 16, 2016,
at 5 p.m. If more than one person is nominated for a category, the
election then will be carried out by ballot, mailed to the homes of all
members of that category. The ballots shall be mailed on May 27,
2016, and must be received no later than 5 p.m., June 10, 2016.
Anyone who is eligible to vote (i.e., a UTLA member of that category)
but has not received a ballot must call Daniel Barnhart at UTLA at
(213) 368-6244 by June 3, 2016, to request one. Please see UTLA
Chapter Chair Elections and Duties in this UNITED TEACHER for further
information regarding qualifications for this office, duties of the chapter
chair, term of office, etc. Groups of 80 or more members may elect a
Co-Chair to assist the Chair as needed. Citywide groups that have
Local District or similar sub-group meetings are encouraged to elect
a Vice Chair for each Local District or sub-group.
Name
Employee Number
Address
City
Zip
Home Phone
District Position
(Circle One) Candidate For:
Chair
Co-Chair
Vice Chair
Local District (if applicable):
Special category you would represent
Substitutes Only: Calling Area & Number
19
April 22, 2016
Practical matters
Your health benefits in retirement.
By Judith C. Bruner
Compensation and
Benefits Specialist
It may be that you have decided to retire
this year. You think you’re all set? Before you
have that party, be sure you’ve done what is
necessary to carry your health benefits into
retirement. Here is what you need to know.
Retirement benefit coverage: To have
medical, dental, and vision coverage in
retirement, you must:
1. receive a STRS retirement allowance;
2. have no lapse in coverage between
your last day of work and the first day of
retirement; and
3. meet the service requirements specified in the UTLA/LAUSD Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article XVI, Section 4.0.
For a retirement package, including the
LAUSD resignation and benefits continuation forms, contact LAUSD Human Resources at (213) 241-5100. It is very important that you also contact LAUSD Benefits
Administration at (213) 241-4262 at least
three months in advance of the planned
retirement date to confirm eligibility for
retiree health benefits.
STRS award letter: When you receive
your notification of STRS allowance or
“award” letter, send a copy to the LAUSD
Benefits Administration, P.O. Box 513307,
Los Angeles, CA 90051-1307.
Life insurance: Your basic life insurance
coverage terminates on the last day of the
month in which you are employed. If you
are enrolled in optional life insurance, you
have a one-time opportunity to convert to an
individual decreasing term policy. Contact
ReliaStar Life Insurance at (877) 236-6564
within 31 days of your retirement. Be aware
that your coverage will equal only 50% of
the coverage amount in force while you were
actively employed. This amount decreases
each year by 10% of your original coverage
amount. The minimum coverage amount is
never less than $5,000.
At age 65: When you and/or your spouse
or covered domestic partner reach age 65,
you/they must enroll and remain enrolled in
those parts of Medicare for which you/they
are eligible. This is a requirement of the collective bargaining agreement. If you participate
in Kaiser, you are required to enroll in Senior
Advantage and must have Medicare Parts
A and B. Secure Horizons (through UnitedHealth Group) also requires both Medicare
Parts A and B as does HealthNet HMO under
the Seniority Plus program. All of these plans
require that the participant fill out a Medicare
Assignment Form to enroll. Anthem Blue
Cross also requires Medicare A and B, but
you are not required to assign your Medicare
benefits to the plan. It is not a Medicare Advantage plan as are Kaiser Senior Advantage,
Secure Horizons, and Seniority Plus.
If you do not qualify for premium-free
Medicare Part A either through your own
employment or that of your spouse, you
may qualify for the CalSTRS Medicare
Milestones
Retirements
Bobbie Zwick will be retiring this
year after a 46-year career as an educator. Bobbie began as a teacher in the
Los Angeles Unified School District
at Farmdale Elementary in 1971. She
taught there for seven years before
working for two years as a tutor after
school for underprivileged children.
She then worked at a Jewish day school
as a teacher for seven years, before
returning to LAUSD at Erwin Street Elementary School, where she has taught
for the past 28 years.
She has been recognized by her
colleagues, administrators, and most
importantly her students and their
parents as an educator who loves
helping children see their full poten-
tial. She is always smiling, and her
students seem to follow her lead. She
challenges her students and helps them
go beyond what they knew was possible, inspiring each and every one
to pursue their dreams. Many former
students, now working adults, have
come back to tell her just what a difference she made in their lives.
To submit an item: Send news on
passings and retirements 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.
Benefits Program. The CalSTRS Medicare
Benefits Program may pay your Medicare Part A premium provided you meet
certain qualifications. Contact CalSTRS
at (800) 228-5453 or visit their website at
www.caltstrs.com for further information;
click on “Members” in the top banner,
and scroll down to Medicare Premium
Payment Program, and click. This gives
you access to the information you need.
There is a monthly cost to enroll in
Medicare Part B. The enrollee must pay
the fee; it is not paid by LAUSD. You can
make arrangements to have Medicare B
deducted from your CalSTRS retirement
allowance. Contact CalSTRS for information on how to activate this deduction.
A retiree who moves out of the service
area of their HMO plan can enroll in
Anthem Blue Cross EPO.
Spouse and domestic partner coverage:
LAUSD-paid health benefits are for the
lifetime of the retired employee only. If you
predecease your spouse, he or she will not
be eligible to continue to receive Districtpaid health benefits. However, he or she
may purchase COBRA continuation coverage through the District. Be aware that
your family must notify LAUSD Benefits
Administration of the death of a covered
employee/retiree within 60 days or the
surviving spouse will forfeit their right
to elect COBRA continuation coverage.
This is outlined in the Open Enrollment
materials that go out each year.
If you have questions about your retiree
health benefits or need further information, please call LAUSD Benefits Administration at (213) 241-4262.
Eligibility for retiree health benefits: For
those hired:
• Prior to March 11, 1984, you must
have five consecutive years of qualifying
service immediately prior to retirement.
• On or after March 11, 1984, but before
July 1, 1987, you must have ten consecutive
years of qualifying service immediately
prior to retirement.
• On or after July 1, 1987, but before
June 1, 1992, you must have 15 consecutive
years of qualifying service immediately
prior to retirement, or 10 consecutive years
immediately prior to retirement plus 10
nonconsecutive years.
• On or after June 1, 1992, your age
plus the number of consecutive years of
service when added together must equal
80. If there has been a break in service, this
must include at least 10 consecutive years
immediately prior to retirement.
• On or after March 2007, your age plus
the number of consecutive years of service
must equal 80, with at least 15 consecutive
years immediately prior to retirement.
• On or after April 1, 2009, your age plus
the number of consecutive years of service
must equal 85, with at least 25 consecutive
years immediately prior to retirement.
This information is outlined in detail, including info on breaks in service, in Article
XVI, Section 4.0 of the UTLA-LAUSD Collective Bargaining Agreement. There is a
lot of info in the LAUSD Benefits and Enrollment Guide, and I recommend that you
keep it for your records when it is issued.
FSA warning for
prospective retirees
If you have a flexible spending
account (FSA), be aware that FSAs
cease to receive funding when you
retire. Reimbursements after retirement
are issued only for services rendered
while you were active. Claims for services rendered after retirement will not
be processed. Retirees have 90 days
after the date of retirement to submit
claims for reimbursement for services
rendered while on active status.
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.
April 28 (Thursday)
Bobbie Zwick,
here in costume
to make learning fun at her
school, is retiring this year.
20
Broad Elementary
24815 Broad Ave.
Wilmington, CA 90744
May 12 (Thursday)
Noble Elementary
8329 Noble Ave.
North Hills, CA 91343
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.
PARADIGM SHIFT
burdened administrators and teachers and
created an atmosphere of distrust.
Another issue raised about the current
system is that the evaluation objectives
are based on 15 elements, which is far too
many to focus on realistic yearly growth.
San Fernando High teacher and EDS committee member Brian Muller likens it to a
restaurant with a too-long menu—if you try
to master too much, nothing turns out well.
In the Valley East forum, one teacher
told the story of getting criticized on
her evaluation for not providing timely
feedback to her students. Ironically, her
administrator shared this with her in
May—eight months after she has been
observed in her classroom.
“Feedback needs to be immediate to
be helpful,” says Madison Middle School
teacher and UTLA Board member Alex
Orozco, who led multiple EDS forums. “A
hard timeline respects the process and protects from administrators making decisions
late in the school year for arbitrary reasons.”
As part of the safeguards to avoid
misuse of evaluation by administrators,
UTLA is calling for a more orderly process
with firm contractual timelines, including
early notification if an educator is being
evaluated and deadlines for formal observation and post-observation conferences.
UTLA has proposed that post-observation
conferences must occur within five days
of formal observation.
UTLA’s proposals also include shifting evaluations from being based on the
Teaching Learning Framework (TLF)—a
relic of the Deasy era—to the California
Standards for the Teaching Profession
(CSTP). Among other problems, TLFs are
too rigid and not adaptable to different
job assignments, such as special education
and arts education.
“Teachers can easily switch back to
MAY 4
Day of Action
Resources at
utla.net/may4action
IMMUNIZATIONS
Travel and Wellness
• TB Testing
• Certified for Yellow Fever
• Country-specific travel counseling
• Vitamin B12
• Flu shots
ONSITE CLINICS
AVAILABLE
888-499-7277
www.passporthealthla.com
Multiple locations
CSTP because this is what they are wellversed in, through induction programs,
BTSA, the District Intern program,”
Orozco says. “TLF was a new batch
of standards from John Deasy and the
reform folks to try to ding teachers by
creating labels of ‘ineffective.’ ”
All of the concepts shared at the UTLA
EDS forums are subject to negotiations
with LAUSD. Some elements are on
the table this year, including the shift
from TLF to the California Standards for
the Teaching Profession and a reduced
number of evaluation elements so educators can focus on realistic yearly growth.
Achieving a fully overhauled system will
be a multiyear process, but educators are
committed to doing the work needed to
get an improved process.
“At the end of the day it is the students
who are suffering from an evaluation
system that does not support educators
and help them grow over the life of their
careers,” Orozco says.
The EDS Committee is Betty Forrester (UTLA-AFT VP), Ingrid Gunnell (LAUSD Salary
Point Dept., UTLA Board), Rodney Lusain
(Los Angeles HS, UTLA Board), Alex Orozco
(Madison MS, UTLA Board), Steve Seal (Eshelman ES, UTLA Board), Zulma Tobar (Harmony
ES, UTLA Board), Julie Van Winkle, NBCT
(Logan Span School, UTLA Board), Carmen
Esterman (Reed MS), Cassandra Grady (93rd
Street), Brian Muller, NBCT (San Fernando
SH), Brian Simily (Woodland Hills Academy),
Kim McLaughlin (UTLA staff), Susie Chow
(NBCT, former Support Network Director),
and Janet Davis (retired LAUSD PD expert).
April 22, 2016
UTLA meeting board
Upcoming meetings
MAY 4
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, AsianPacific 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.
MAY 17
Unjustly Housed Teachers Committee:
UTLA building, 4 p.m.
MAY 18
UTLA Area Meetings: See times and
locations at utla.net.
Early Childhood Education Committee: 7 p.m., UTLA building.
MAY 20
UTLA-Retired General Assembly
Meeting: UTLA building
MAY 23
UTLA/NEA Service Center Council
meeting: UTLA building.
MAY 25
Elementary Committee: 4 p.m.,
UTLA building.
Secondary Committee: 4 p.m.,
UTLA building.
African-American Education Committee: 4 p.m., UTLA building.
Capably Disabled Teachers Committee: 4 p.m., UTLA building.
PACE Committee: 6:30 p.m., UTLA
building.
Adult and Occupational Education:
Check time and updated meeting
info at www.aeutla.net.
The National Board Certified Teachers Standing Committee: For meeting
dates please check calendar at www.
utla.net.
District Intern Program
accepting applicants
Do you know any teachers or potential
teachers who may be interested in
earning a tuition-free Education
Specialist Instruction Credential?
If you have colleagues who hold
general education credential in a core
academic subject area (Mathematics,
Science, Social Science, English,
or Elementary), and are interested in
teaching Special Education, we would
appreciate the opportunity to speak with them
to provide additional information about the Credentialed
Educators Now Teaching Special Education (CENTSE) Program.
If you know of any classified staff members who already hold a Bachelor’s
Degree, we would appreciate the opportunity to provide them with
additional information about the LAUSD District Intern Program.
If you are interested in switching to Special Education, we would like
to talk to you as well to share with you the wonderful opportunities
available in Special Education.
Those who have an interest in the District Intern Program may learn
more by calling (213) 241-5581 or visiting the District Intern website at
http://achieve.lausd.net/districtinternprogram
The orientation is tentatively scheduled
to begin July 5, 2016.
21
April 22, 2016
UTLA CALENDAR
Friday, April 22
Saturday, May 14
MLK Scholarship Awards Dinner
CFT Committees & State Council (L.A.)
UNITED TEACHER Publishes
UTLA/NEA RA New Delegate Training
Saturday, April 23
Passover
Monday, April 25
NEA WHO Awards
Wednesday, April 27
Board of Directors Meeting
Wednesday, May 4
House of Representatives Meeting
Thursday, May 5
LAUSD Pay Day
Friday, May 6
Ruben Salazar Awards Dinner
Sunday, May 8
Mother’s Day
Thursday, May 12
Sue Embrey Scholarship Awards Dinner
Friday, May 13
CFT Division Councils (L.A.)
Tuesday, May 17
Unjustly Housed Teachers Committee
Meeting
Wednesday, May 18
UTLA Area Meetings (in the Eight UTLA Areas)
Friday, May 20
Platinum Apple Awards Dinner
UTLA-Retired General Assembly Meeting
Saturday, May 21
UTLA Retirement Dinner
Monday, May 23
UTLA/NEA/CTA Service Center Council
Meeting
Wednesday, May 25
PACE, Elementary, Secondary, African
American, and Capably Disabled
Committee Meetings
Thursday, May 26
Christa McAuliffe Scholarship Awards
Dinner
The Support Network Free Orientations
Are you interested in National Board Certification for 2016-17?
Monday, May 23, 2016, 3:30 pm–8:00 pm
Thursday, May 26, 2016, 3:30 pm–8:00 pm
Monday, June 6, 2016, 3:30 pm–8:00 pm
Thursday, June 9, 2016, 3:30 pm–8:00 pm
United Teachers Los Angeles
3303 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010
(Validated parking in rear of building, off Berendo Street)
Please sign up by going to www.thesupportnetwork.net and filling out the online survey. You
will receive an instant confirmation once you’ve submitted the survey. Signing up by phone
will not be accepted. Walk-ins and late comers will not be admitted. RSVP will only be accepted up to 48 hours prior to an orientation or once capacity has been reached, whichever
comes first. 75 participants is the maximum for each orientation. You must bring a valid
government issued ID to gain access to the building.
TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE SUPPORT NETWORK, CANDIDATES
MUST ATTEND AN ENTIRE ORIENTATION MEETING.
All information is tentative and subject to change.
You do not need to join TSN to pursue NBPTS certification.
Salary points can be earned for The Support Network program..
NBPTS info: www.nbpts.org or call 1-800-22-TEACH
TSN info: www.thesupportnetwork.net or call 213-251-1444
Michael de la Torre, NBCT, Coordinator, The Support Network
Friday, May 27
UNITED TEACHER Publishes
PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
they deserve. We are pushing for action to
collect fees and fines for this year, to collect
them retroactively for the last decade, and
to immediately review all policies associated with Prop. 39 co-location.
But, again, we must be long-distance
runners around the bigger issue: all publicly funded schools, District and charter,
must be held to consistent common-sense
standards. This will be a long fight, involving not only School Board action, not only
Prop. 39, and not only fees and fines. It will
involve taking action in legislative cycles
in 2017, 2018, and beyond and will involve
deep issues around equity, access, and a
host of other topics.
Opposing testing that is not
meaningful
Our long-distance running must continue into the realm of standardized testing.
It took more than 25 years for the current
obsession with standardized testing to
reach its crescendo, and we will turn it
back, but it will take some time.
We are already making progress. We
met several times formally with the District regarding excessive testing. As an
organizing union should always do, we
paired those talks with organizing on the
ground. More than 1,900 educators from 91
elementary schools organized themselves
to collectively, and formally in writing,
request adult assistance during one-on-one
standardized testing. This testing requires
an enormous amount of time, and if the
instruction our students deserve is to con-
22
tinue, additional adult support is needed.
When the District was slow to respond
concretely to our demands to give students and educators immediate relief
from the testing burden this academic
year, we called on our members on April
13 to discontinue giving SBAC interim
assessments, which many schools across
the District were continuing to administer,
and which LAUSD officials had acknowledged produced no useful data. On April
14, LAUSD announced that SBAC interim
assessments would no longer be required
to be given this year. This is an important
victory.
But we must do more. Led by the work
of the classroom teachers on our Testing
Committee, we have also called upon our
members to take action around DIBELS
(one of the one-on-one tests mentioned
above). Educators should give DIBELS
to those students who need it for reclassification, but, beyond that, educators
should use their professional judgment on
whether to test other students, considering
how useful it is, how much time it takes
from instruction, and more.
Let’s take this action in this moment, but
also understand that the fight is another in
which we must be long-distance runners.
We will continue the struggle to protect
instructional time, oppose tests that are not
meaningful, expand the curriculum, and
demand respect for our professional judgment and practice. For more information
on our fight against overtesting, see page 8
or go to www.utla.net/overtestingactions.
Next steps
At the bargaining table, we believe
there has been some modest progress on
class size, staffing, and evaluation. The
next bargaining session is April 28. We
are continuing to have conversations with
School Board members about Prop. 39,
and fees and fines associated with it. And
we are continuing to help our members
organize around DIBELS testing at the
sites. Your involvement on May 4 is key
to all of these.
Moreover, all of these issues have been
moved forward by our members, parents,
and students, who worked with us to meet
with all seven School Board members over
the past two weeks.
Dozens of people joined us, including
Jasmine Wang, a Castelar parent; Lilian
Ramos, a UCLA Community School
student; Mike Gonzales, a UTLA member
leader in the San Fernando Valley; Julieta
Venanzio, a Bushnell Way parent; Martha
Pedroza, a UTLA member leader from
Buchanan Street Elementary; Bianca
Padillo, an Eagle Rock High student;
Tyonna Hatchett, a Dorsey High student;
Lisa Dinwiddie, a UTLA member leader
from 54th Street Elementary; Jennifer
McAfee, a UTLA member leader from
Dodson Middle School; and Ivana Rivera,
a Hollywood STEM student. The real-life
stories, the tone, and the demands they
put forward were perfect.
That is how we build a social movement—the kind of movement that changed
the Rosenwald schools from a philanthropic effort to a network of community
schools—by sprinting together when we
need to, and running the long distance
together when we need to. Keep up the
great work!
Get
connected
to UTLA
Facebook:
facebook.com/UTLAnow
Twitter: @utlanow
YouTube:
youtube.com/UTLAnow
GRAPEVINE
which includes materials, breakfast, and
museum admissions. Enrollments will
be accepted until—and including—the
first day of class (May 7), or until the cap
is reached, whichever happens first. For
further information, email [email protected], visit www.en4ed.com, or call/text
Larry Carstens at (818) 645-4259.
Become a docent at the Skirball
The Skirball Cultural Center seeks
dynamic individuals to join its dedicated
corps of docents. Skirball docents facilitate
school programs, learn about history and
heritage, and experience exhibitions from
the inside. A perfect fit for lifelong learners,
especially retired teachers. The ideal candidate will have an interest in archaeology,
architecture, immigration, and Jewish and
American culture. New training classes
begin this summer. Application deadline:
June 1, 2016. To learn more, visit skirball.
org/about/docent-opportunities or email
[email protected].
Applications open for Contemporary
Art Start 2016-17
Engage the power of contemporary art:
Contemporary Art Start is a yearlong PD
program for third- through 12th-grade
classrooms with classroom curriculum and
family involvement components. Participating teachers receive thorough training in
Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), a transferable, standards-aligned inquiry method that
promotes critical thinking, communication
skills, and visual literacy. Third- through
fifth-grade teachers sign up in pairs; middle
and high school teachers sign up in interdisciplinary groups of two to five teachers that
include a visual art teacher. Deadline: May
20, 2016. Fee: $110 per teacher; schools pay
for fall museum trip; MOCA pays for spring
transportation. Two LAUSD salary point
credits for first-time participants. Applications: www.moca.org/education/teachers.
Info: (213) 621-1706 or [email protected].
2016 Summer Institute for
Teachers in Design-Based Learning
The Summer Institute for Teachers at
Art Center is an intensive, five-day interactive workshop based on a methodology
called Design-Based Learning (DBL). Design-Based Learning taps students’ natural
creativity to develop higher-level thinking
and enhance comprehension of the K-12
curriculum. No matter what grade level
or subject you teach, supplementing your
current methods with Design-Based Learning can make a difference in your classroom.
By motivating students to learn, this methodology can lead to improved attendance,
fewer discipline problems, and high scores
on standardized tests. The institute offers
three salary credits and is open to K-12 educators, principals, administrators, college
instructors, and after-school program directors and staff. Dates are July 20-22 and
July 25-26. Scholarships available. For more
information, please visit www.artcenter.
edu/teachers or contact Paula Goodman,
director of K-12 programs, at (626) 396-2347
or [email protected].
SCHOOL Kids Yoga teacher training
Learn calming methods of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness, designed specifically
for public school classrooms. Kelly Wood,
April 22, 2016
experienced yoga teacher for children
and adults, 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. The next session
is May 14, 15, 21, and 22, two Saturdays and
Sundays, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (last
Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.). One salary
point. Fee is $200. The workshop will take
place at VIP (1721 Griffin Ave., Los Angeles,
CA 90031). Please email Kelly Wood for
details: [email protected] or call (323)
240-8711. View details at www.school-yoga.
org/about-teacher-training.
Korea Academy for Educators in July
Explore Korean history, culture, contemporary issues, and Korean Americans
at the USC-KAFE Summer Seminar for
K-12 Teachers from July 17 to 22. This collaborative program of the Korea Academy
for Educators (KAFE) and USC Korean
Studies Institute is sponsored by the Korea
Foundation and held on the USC campus.
Successful applicants will demonstrate
interest in learning about Korean history
and culture and the ability to create lessons
based on what they learn. One or two
LAUSD salary points available. For more
information, visit the KAFE website or
email [email protected].
Free National Korean
Studies Seminar
The National Korean Studies Seminar
for K-12 educators will be held June 20 to
24, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Korean
Cultural Center (5505 Wilshire Blvd., Los
Angeles). The program is free ($50 refundable deposit required) and offers one
LAUSD salary point or three units of USC
Continuing Education credit. The seminar
will feature Korean cultural hands-on activities, such as cooking and craft classes and
dance performances. Lecture topics include
major contemporary issues in East Asia,
with a focus on Korea. Participants will
receive free books and resources and more
than 33 PowerPoint lectures. Free parking
and lunch each day. The seminar will align
with Common Core state standards and
AP History/Social Science lessons. Applications for local participants (online at
www.nationalkoreanstudies.com) are due
June 10. All applicants have to mail $50
(refundable deposit) to reserve the seat. The
check will be returned after the full five-day
attendance. For more info, contact Sung
Kim, director, at [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”).
Salary Advancement Courses
for Educators
Convenient | Relevant K-12 Applications | Practical Curriculum
Contact us for the latest schedule at nine Los Angeles Locations.
West Lost Angeles | Carson
310-745-1099
Monterey Park
1-800-664-6130
Downey | Downtown Los Angeles
310-874-4090
Santa Clarita | Burbank
323-496-3318
Sherman Oaks
805-559-3060
Los Alamitos
310-292-1039
$329 FOR THREE SEMESTER UNITS OF GRADUATE LEVEL EXTENSION CREDIT
Visit our website http://sandiego.edu/educatorsprograms
23
April 22, 2016
Retirees’ corner
Report from the March 18 General Assembly Meeting.
By Mignon Jackson
UTLA-R Secretary
President’s report: UTLA-Retired Vice
President Cecelia Boskin informed the
General Assembly that UTLA-R President
John Perez was unable to chair the meeting
because he was away on AFT business.
Minutes of the January 22 General Assembly will be available for approval at
the May 20 meeting. It was reported that
UTLA-Retired has 271 new members, following a mailing to newly retired UTLA
members late last year.
Treasurer’s report: UTLA-Retired Treasurer Mike Dreebin reported that $44,635
remains in the budget. He also reminded
UTLA-R members that they must obtain a
UTLA-R reimbursement form from him to
have expenses reimbursed if they attend
conferences. Those who are attending the
NEA-Retired Annual Meeting this summer
in Washington, D.C., as official UTLA-R
representatives need to get the reimbursement form from him.
Health benefits report: Loretta Toggenburger reviewed information from the
LAUSD Health Benefits Committee that
addressed adult immunizations and the
need to pay Medicare Part B premiums
after turning 65. See Toggenburger if you
have any questions.
PACE report: Vice President Cecelia
Boskin collected $700 by the end of the
General Assembly meeting for PACE,
UTLA’s political action fund. Everyone
is encouraged to contribute to PACE. Contributions may be mailed to Cecelia Boskin,
3547 Federal Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066.
Legislative report: Mary Rose Ortega,
our legislative reporter, reviewed the
January 3 updates prepared by CalSTRS
Governmental Relations.
As part of her report, Ortega invited
CTA/NEA-Retired District 3 Director
and CTA/NEA Retiree Advocate Editor
Bonnie Shatun to discuss the signaturegathering campaign to place the Children’s Education and Health Care Protection Act (CEHPA) Initiative on the
November 2016 General Election ballot.
The initiative would extend by 12 years
the temporary state personal tax increases
enacted in 2012 on California’s top income
earners, allocate the major portion of tax
revenues to K-12 schools and community colleges, bar the use of educational
revenues for administrative costs, and
allocate up to $2 billion per year in certain
years for health care programs. All UTLARetired members are urged to support
this campaign.
Guest speakers: Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Stacy E. Gerlich of the
Fire Prevention & Public Safety Bureau and
Community Risk Reduction Unit spoke
about the essentials of emergency preparation and the importance of individuals
having an emergency plan that includes
the necessary tools and supplies to make
it on their own for a period of time after
a natural disaster or emergency. She also
THROUGH THE ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR,
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Registration deadline is June 3, 2016/*Discount does not apply to VPSS courses
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Quality, research based content in the areas of California Content
Standards, ELA & Mathematics, and Student Mental Wellness
created and tailored for today’s K-12 instructors. All courses are
UTLA/LAUSD approved by the Salary Point Committee.
highlighted the fact that there has been
a significant decrease in the number of
deaths in Los Angeles city structure fires
in the past year as a result of LAFD outreach and public education efforts. MySafe:
LA Education Director Cameron Barrett,
instructor Chris Nevil, and EMT Bryan
Vardanian continued the community
safety presentation.
A question-and-answer session with
the guest speakers followed in response
to written questions from the General Assembly. Free smoke alarms and “go” bags
were distributed to all who attended.
New business: Dr. Sandy Keaton was
elected to attend the AFT Convention in
Minneapolis as a delegate. Bill Taxerman
is alternate one and Pat Stanyo is alternate two. The following UTLA-Retired
members were selected to attend the
NEA-Retired Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., in June: Francine Goldstein, Renee Wells, Cynthia Bellard, and
Nancy Brashears. Selected as alternates
were Jimmy Jones, Leona Davis, Jannette
Metcalfe, Grete Brinck, Shirley Morrison,
Carolyn Albritton, Rosalie F. Nuances, and
Janice Hiltunen.
Note from UTLA-R President
By John Perez
UTLA-Retired President
What’s going on with health benefits?
As we get closer to the 2017 renegotiation of our health benefits, rumors
are beginning to surface. At a recent
UTLA-R Steering Committee meeting,
I was asked if we were going to lose
our health benefits. The answer to that
question is no! History and the law are
on our side. In school districts that once
had lifetime benefits and “eliminated”
them, what was eliminated was the
ability of new employees to qualify for
lifetime benefits. Retired educators in
those districts still get their benefits.
UTLA has always said that our retiree
benefits are tied not to the benefits we
had on the day that we retired, but
to the benefits received by our active
colleagues. A case on lifetime benefits
in Fresno Unified said that “lifetime”
means for life and that retiree benefits are
tied to the benefits of active employees.
What’s at stake in the 2017 negotiations
is whether LAUSD will continue to allow
all new employees to qualify for lifetime
benefits and whether retirees and actives
will begin to help pay the premiums
for our benefits. Both my brother and
sister retired from districts that did not
have lifetime benefits, and they both
pay more than $200 per month for their
medical plans. The current yearly cost
of the LAUSD health plan is $1 billion.
UTLA and the other LAUSD unions are
beginning to prepare for these critical
negotiations.
Why we fought so hard against
Friedrichs: Last month, the anti-union
Supreme Court case Friedrichs v. CTA
went down to defeat. Friedrichs would
have imposed so-called “right to work”
laws on all public employee unions nationwide. Currently, 25 states have RTW
laws. These laws allow employees to
get the benefits of a union contract but
give them a “right” to not join the union
that represents them or pay a fee to the
union for all the collective bargaining
it does on their behalf. Studies have
shown that RTW laws don’t guarantee
anyone a “right to work.” In fact, studies
have shown that in RTW states, wages
are lower and fewer workers have employer-sponsored health care and employer-sponsored pensions. Unions are
weaker in RTW states and the multiplier
effect of non-union employers having to
meet union wages and benefits is also
weaker. Friedrichs was not about “free
speech”; it was about weakening and
destroying unions. The next president
may very well have as many as three
nominations to the Supreme Court. In
this year’s presidential election, vote
for the candidate you want to appoint
Supreme Court judges.
Will raising the minimum wage really
help? Today, the vast majority of people
earning the minimum wage are eligible for various government assistance
programs, such as food stamps. According to a study by the Economic
Policy Institute, if the minimum wage
were raised to $12 an hour by 2020,
not only would 35 million minimumwage workers earn more money, but
the federal government will save $17
billion annually on public assistance
programs for the working poor.
California and New York are the first
two states to mandate a minimum wage
of $15 per hour. More than half of American workers today make $15 per hour or
less. The annual increase in the wage gap
has grown, in favor of the rich, in 29 of
the past 42 years. In 2015, wages for men
in the 95th percentile (those who make
more than 95% of all male workers) increased by 9.9% while wages for men in
the 50th percentile (the average worker)
rose only 2.6%. Raising wages for the
working poor and workers in the shrinking middle class is important because
fully two-thirds of American workers
do not have college degrees.
Perez can be reached at [email protected].
REGISTER NOW@ teachstar.lacoe.edu
Powered by
Online Professional Development Courses brought to you by the Teachstar Online Academy,
powered by the Center for Distance & Online Learning at the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
24
Check out the Grapevine page:
Workshops, exhibits, and more
April 22, 2016
Study shows most educators better
served by pensions than 401(k)s
A study from University of California,
Berkeley shows that for the vast majority of
teachers, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System Defined Benefit pension
provides a higher, more secure retirement
income compared to a 401(k)-style plan.
The study shows that switching to an
account-based retirement system—such
as a 401(k) or cash balance plan—would
sharply reduce the retirement income security of teachers who account for a large
majority of the educational workforce in
California.
The study, “Are California Teachers
Better Off With a Pension or a 401(k)?,”
shows that overall, CalSTRS’s pension
structure, which is designed to benefit
teachers who stay until at least early retirement age, is better matched to meet
the needs of the active teaching workforce
than either 401(k) or cash balance plans.
The study’s findings include:
• For six out of seven teachers, or 86
percent of CalSTRS members, the defined
benefit pension provides a greater, more
secure retirement income compared to a
401(k)-style plan.
• A typical classroom teacher today
can expect to retire from their career at
approximately age 61, and nearly half of
teachers (49 percent) will retire with 30 or
more years of service.
• Three-quarters of classroom teaching
is performed by teachers who will have
been covered by CalSTRS for at least 20
years by the time they depart.
• The defined benefit pension becomes
more valuable than an idealized 401(k) at
age 51 for vested teachers hired before age
35 and earlier for those hired at older ages.
• Eighty-six percent of active teachers
in the state will stay in California schools
until at least age 51, when DB benefits
exceed a well-funded 401(k).
—Eric Young
UTLA Retirement Issues Committee
Read more at www.calstrs.com/2016news-releases.
Share your school’s good news!
Send details on awards, honors, special events, and
great schoolwide programs to [email protected].
AFT-UTLA are pleased to offer Regional PD Training at UTLA
Why:
• To deepen knowledge regarding instructional strategies.
• To build capacity to share knowledge among ourselves.
• If desired, certify as an AFT PD Local Trainer.
What: Free Three Strategies for Student Success (SSS) Classes
•
Tools for the Brain from Researchers
•
Beyond Classroom Management
•
Assessing Teaching and Learning
When: Wed., June 15, and Thurs., June 16
•
“Participants” attend the three-hour morning class only on June 15, 8:30-11:30 a.m.
•
“Trainers” must attend the entire two days on June 15-16, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
How: All attendees participate in class as learners. Trainers receive training strategies in class
content, complete homework and perform a walk through as if teaching it to other educators.
There will be informative and constructive feedback/evaluation using AFT’s rubric for effective
trainers.
Class descriptions:
Tools for Brain from Researchers Join this interactive session for tips from research that you
can use as you plan your lessons. The focus is on the brain‘s essential workings related to class
work, the learning link between the head and the heart, strategies for designing lessons so
that students can recall tomorrow what you taught today, and ways to maximize your own
mind/brain/ learning power to leave you with more energy and professional satisfaction.
Beyond Classroom Management places educators at the center of the debate of compliance
over motivation, autonomy, and how conventional structures are being used. Traditionally,
rewards, sanctions and punishments have been used primarily to keep order. Now let’s learn
classroom operations that can support student learning and personal growth while creating a
learning responsive environment. Learn about tools to move students from Growth Mindsets
to Grit and to infuse Restorative Practices in classroom management processes.
Assessing Teaching and Learning A lesson may be well constructed but the goal of every
educator should be ongoing assessments of the students’ depth of understanding. A
misconception gone unattended can make the entire learning experience an abject failure for
both teacher and student. Educators will develop assessments at critical junctures for a lesson
they have created.
Please sign up at www.utla.net/sssregister051616
Deadline: May 30, 2016 or ASAP for first choice of classes
Contact Susie Chow, NBCT, at [email protected] or Ingrid Gunnell, at [email protected]
United Teachers Los Angeles | 3303 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90010
1
25
April 22, 2016
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
one semester on/one off. Prefer lower grades. Be-
I’m looking for a job share partner for Spring Semes-
flexible and interested in creating life-long learners.
lieve would have to move to your school. BCLAD
ter or S.Y. 2016-2017 at your school, preferably South
Interested applicants please contact Tiffany Cullen
Secondary Teaching Techniques, Stories, Computer
Spanish/experienced. Live in Echo Park and would
or East local district. I have 17 years of teaching ex-
at Saturn Street (323) 931-1688.
Teacher Book, Quit Smoking: www.PaulRallion.com.
prefer something in UTLA North Area. Contact Elaine
perience in Elementary General Ed. (562) 291-8038.
Lawrence Gifted Magnet seeks a full-time English
at (323) 240-7004 or [email protected].
CARPOOL
Looking for carpool partners from South Orange
County to South (East) area. Call (714) 615-2258.
Job share partner wanted for the spring semester
teacher for the 2016-2017 school year. Must have
Job share partner needed for the 2016-2017 spring
and beyond. (The deadline is November 15.) We can
experience teaching gifted students and record of
semester to teach the ETK program at a small
possibly alternate semesters—either your school or
current gifted professional development hours. Sin-
neighborhood elementary school in the West Val-
mine, South. Twenty-plus years with LAUSD, en-
gle subject English and/or multiple subject credential
ley. Looking for a partner with approved RWL sta-
joyed previous job share experience. Contact Su-
considered. Please email cover letter, resume, and
tus. Pre-K experience preferred. Contact Silvana at
san: (310) 541-1472/[email protected].
letters of recommendation to [email protected].
(818) 523-4778/[email protected].
INCOME TAX
CPA Firm in Woodland Hills appreciates teachers
for their services. We’re making tax time STRESS
FREE. Offering tax filing starting at $75 per tax return and one hour complimentary consulting. (818)
703-8410 [email protected]
Federal and State back tax issues? Haven’t filed
your prior or current year tax returns? Salary garnishments? Call John, Enrolled Agent with Master’s
degree in taxation to assist you, (818) 741-5847.
Job share position wanted in the Northeast side of
Lawrence Gifted Magnet seeks a full-time Science
Have you ever wanted to job share? I’ve been job
the San Fernando Valley. Split week or mornings.
teacher for the 2016-2017 school year. Must have ex-
sharing for the past 5 years in SRLDP and now ETK,
Contact Mayra Nunez-Flores, (818) 203-7100.
perience teaching gifted students and record of cur-
and I love it! The best thing I ever did. My room part-
rent gifted professional development hours. Single
ner is moving to full-time, so now’s your chance!
Job share partner needed for spring semester
subject Science and/or multiple subject credential
I have 18 years’ experience mostly in the lower
2016-2017 at a fantastic elementary school in East
considered. Please email cover letter, resume, and
grades. NBCT Early Childhood Generalist in 2003.
L.A. I have 17 years’ experience, bilingual, flexible
letters of recommendation to [email protected].
My school, in Reseda 91335, or yours will be con-
and collaborative. Looking for a teacher with excel-
sidered. I am in it for the long haul. Please call Karyn,
lent qualifications and previous experience teach-
Patrick Henry Academy of Performing and Visual
(818) 326-6923, or email [email protected].
ing 4th or 5th grade and willing to work together
Arts Magnet (located in Granada Hills) is seeking
to give the students a great education. Please
highly qualified applicants with a P.E. Credential
Job share partner wanted for the 2016-2017 and
send resume (so I can present to my principal) to
who also have an extensive dance background.
beyond. (The deadline is April 15.) I have a special
[email protected]. Carmen Lopez, (818) 633-4165.
The expectation is that dance will be the vehicle
by which the P.E. content standards are delivered.
education preschool classroom (PALs) open to a
TIMESHARE
split schedule at my school or your school, pref-
Job share position wanted on the Westside. Gen.
Passionate, enthusiastic dancers who meet this cri-
erably South or West local district. I have 10 plus
ED., S.D.C. or RSP. Split week or afternoons. Con-
teria, please email a cover letter with your resume to
years of teaching special education/general edu-
tact: D @ (310) 505-5596.
Lucinda Burton at [email protected].
Timeshare to rent on Las Vegas strip, 07-22 to 07-
cation preschool Contact Leah: (310) 916-6229 or
29. Sleeps 4. (817) 789-8424.
[email protected].
Job share 3rd Grade, 2016-2017, Language Arts,
LAUSD POSITIONS
AVAILABLE
LAUSD EMPLOYMENT
5 days a week, 10:50-2:10, + meetings on Tuesdays. Please send resume to: Cindy Berger, 822 W.
Saturn Street Elementary is looking for a fifth-grade
Job share/employment
available ads in LAUSD
employment section are FREE.
32nd Street, USC Magnet, L.A. 90007 or email to
teacher who works well in a collaborative environ-
[email protected].
ment. Applicants should be willing to work as part of
Kindergarten P.M. job share position at my school in
Mission Hills for fall 2016. I have five years of job share
JOB SHARE
experience. Please contact Amy at (818) 269-7244.
Looking for a job share partner for 2016-2017 RSY;
Job share teacher needed at 32nd Street USC Per-
fantastic school in Tarzana (NW District); split week
forming Arts Magnet. MUST have less than 10 years
or afternoons; mild/moderate credential. Leave
of teaching experience in L.A. Unified (due to senior-
message at (818) 508-7343. Deadline for 2016-
ity issues). It’s for a third grade class from 10:50 to
2017 school year is approaching.
2:10, plus Tuesday meetings. You would be responsible for Language Arts curriculum only. Please call
My name is Brad Green and I have a Moderate to
me ASAP because we only have till the beginning
Severe Special Education Credential. I am also flu-
of May to hand in all paperwork. Call: Cindy Berger
ent in Sign Language. I am looking to share a job at
at (310) 612-5067, email [email protected].
someone’s site, preferably in the Valley or Hollywood.
The district has stop sending students to my Special
I am looking for a job share partner. I teach middle
Education Center so with over 20 years credentialed
school, the moderate to severe class. I am interest-
experience, I find myself with the lowest seniority and
ed in sharing the week. I work at a fantastic school
will have to find another position in August. I would
in the city of Bell. Looking to start 2016-2017 school
prefer one semester on, one off, but I am open to oth-
year. Contact: Claudia (626) 230-8258.
er possibilities. Please contact me at (818) 506-6453.
Job share partner wanted for spring semester
Job share position wanted in the NE or mountain
(2016-17 school year) at an award-winning elemen-
schools. Elementary, General Ed. Split week or af-
tary school for a kindergarten class. Must have per-
ternoons. Please contact Narineh at (818) 624-3421.
manent status with LAUSD. Looking for a teacher
with previous experience, excellent teaching skills,
My name is Farshid Yadegar. I’m interested in find-
and willing to work together to provide a great edu-
ing someone to share an assignment with. I’m a
cation for our diverse learners. Our beautiful school
special ed teacher: resource (IRST) and I work for
is located in the Valley north area. I have 22 years of
a community day school. Please contact Farshid at
teaching experience and have been at my current
[email protected].
school for 17 years. It takes a village and our school
community is the best! Please email your resume to
[email protected] (so I can submit it to my
principal). Sandra Bacal, (323) 382-1985.
Looking for someone to do a half-day, long-term
sub position from April 1 until the end of the year.
You work the afternoons. This is for an RSP position
at a great school in Eagle Rock. Great assistant,
Job share needed for the 2016-17 school year. I am
students, and job share partner! Please email me
open to different schedules, including half-day or
for more information. Thanks! [email protected]
26
Various positions are open and available for quali-
a team, creating a Common Core curriculum that is
filled with technology, differentiated instruction, and
project-based learning. As a member of the team,
applicants will engage in extra-curricular activities
for the fifth grade students. Applicants should be
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 [email protected] or fax to (310) 832-7914.
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.
U N I T E D
April 22, 2016
T E A C H E R
GRAPEVINE
Song of America teacher
workshop May 14
Explore the power of classic American
songs and poetry with the Hampsong
Foundation through the Song of America
teacher workshop on Saturday, May 14,
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. In conjunction with the LA
Opera, this workshop empowers teachers
to integrate American song and poetry into
curriculum to create rich arts-integrated
content. The writings and historical context
of American poets Walt Whitman and
Langston Hughes will be the focus of this
workshop. Language Arts, History, Social
Studies, and Performing Arts educators
are encouraged to register to learn how
classic song—poetry set to music—can
strengthen and intensify the subjects that
they already teach. Cost: $20 registration
fee (includes parking and light refreshments). Free tickets will be offered to all
May 14 participants for an optional second
part on June 25 during SongFest at Colburn
School, including a meet-and-greet with
Thomas Hampson. Educators currently
enrolled in LA Opera PD for LAUSD salary
points may use this workshop as five hours
of class or homework time toward their
required hours. More information can be
found at LAOpera.org/Teachers.
Free Strategies for Student
Success PD at UTLA
AFT and UTLA are pleased to offer
regional PD training at UTLA in June to
deepen knowledge regarding instructional
strategies, to build capacity to share knowledge among ourselves, and to support
members who wish to certify as an AFT PD
Local Trainer. Participants choose from three
Strategies for Student Success (SSS) classes:
• Tools for the Brain from Researchers
covers tips from research that you can
use as you plan your lessons. The focus is
on the brain‘s essential workings related to
class work, the learning link between the
head and the heart, strategies for designing
lessons so that students can recall tomorrow what you taught today, and ways to
maximize your own mind/brain/ learning
power to leave you with more energy and
professional satisfaction.
• Beyond Classroom Management places
educators at the center of the debate of
compliance over motivation, autonomy,
and how conventional structures are being
used. Traditionally, rewards, sanctions,
and punishments have been used primarily to keep order. Learn about tools
to move students from Growth Mindsets
to Grit and to infuse Restorative Practices
in classroom management processes.
• Assessing Teaching and Learning will
look at ongoing assessments of students’
depth of understanding. A misconception gone unattended can make the entire
learning experience an abject failure for
both teacher and student. Educators will
develop assessments at critical junctures
for a lesson they have created.
“Participants” attend the three-hour
morning class only on June 15, 8:30 a.m.
to 11:30 a.m. “Trainers” must attend the
entire two days on June 15-16, 8:30 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m. For more info, see the flyer on
page 25. Sign up at www.utla.net/sssregister051616. Deadline: May 30 or ASAP for
first choice of classes.
“Untold Stories” conference on
Asian American Pacific Islanders
Sponsored by the NEA Asian Pacific Islander Caucus and the CTA Pacific Asian
American Caucus, the “Untold Stories of
Asian American Pacific Islanders From
Then to Now” conference will begin in
L.A. and then travel for a two-night stay
in Bakersfield. Conference will include
a field trip to Delano to learn about the
Filipino Latino farmworker struggle.
Content is part of curriculum for fourth
grade, seventh grade, ninth grade, and
12th grade. Early registration before May
1 is $175; $200 until May 20. Dates: June
20 to 23. Registration includes bus to
Bakersfield and meals; hotel in Bakersfield not included. If interested please
contact UTLA Treasurer Arlene Inouye
at [email protected].
Ethnic studies PD series
The Association of Raza Educators
will be holding the “Sowing the Seeds of
Praxis” Ethnic Studies PD Series 2016. The
PD series is designed to provide teachers with the necessary knowledge base
and skill set to teach and develop ethnic
studies curriculum that responds to the
intersectionalities of culture, race, gender,
sexuality, and social class. The PD series
will consist of five class sessions: April 30,
(Queering Your Curriculum); May 21 (ARE
Ethnic Studies Conference), August 13
(Art in the Curriculum); August 20 (Ethnic
Studies 101), and August 27 (Relational
Organizing). The classes will be held at
the Xochitl/ARE Praxis Headquarters at
534 N. East Edgeware Rd., Los Angeles,
CA 90026. Cost: $85 for the entire series.
Payable in cash, check, money order or
cashier’s check on April 30. One or two
salary point option (pending LAUSD approval). Register online at http://goo.
gl/forms/R20MtqHQYZ. For more information contact Guadalupe Carrasco,
[email protected], or (915) 490-2868.
Salary point classes
on cultural competency
“Valuing Difference” is an interactive seminar on cultural diversity, family
history, media and societal impacts, and
effective communications. The salary
point workshop covers the important
role your own culture plays in day-today interactions and includes interactive
exercises in which participants review
various issues from a variety of viewpoints. The next session for “Valuing Difference” is June 19 and 26 (two Sundays)
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The fee is $95. Location: 8339 W. 3rd Street, L.A., CA 90048.
One multicultural salary point available.
For more information or to register, call
Kari Bower at (323) 653-3332 or email
[email protected].
Salary point class on
Southwestern resources
Teachers of all subjects and levels are
welcome to expand their knowledge of
our Southwestern heritage by enrolling
in “Southwestern Resources.” Participants
will visit the Southwestern Museum, the
Autry, and the Will Rogers Residence.
The District-approved class is worth two
salary points and will expose participants
to exciting resources that can supplement
their teaching in all content areas. Class
will meet at Francis Polytechnic High on
May 7, 14, 21, and June 4 (all Saturdays) at
8 a.m. From Poly HS, class will commute
to the three locations (one each class day,
except for the last day). The course fee is
$175, preregistered ($185 on the first day),
If you move, be sure to update
your contact info with UTLA.
Two options:
1
Call UTLA (213-487-5560) and ask to speak
to the Membership Department.
2
Request that Membership contact you by
emailing [email protected].
27
0.25% discount on the purchase of a primary residence only. Proof of employment at a California public or private school is required. Standard underwriting
guidelines apply. Discount for purchases only. Rates are subject to credit worthiness, credit score, property approval and loan purpose. Other conditions
and restrictions may apply. Loans subject to membership, credit and property qualifications.
1604-01 UTLA April Newsletter Ad | FINAL | 3-31-16
10” x 13.5” | Four Color | Non-Bleed

elementary garvanza

Transcription

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