“We Will Because We Can” is a Bad Motto

THE GLUE
Official Publication of the Kenosha Education Association
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“We Will Because We Can” is a Bad Motto
By Juan Jimenez, Acting Executive Director
It is the middle of May and everyone is starting to feel it – there’s a feeling of spring and the promise of summer just a few weeks away.
The KEA membership deserves a break, and that right soon, as the year has been a tumultuous one for us. We have struggled with the
KUSD administration all year long. From the Employee Handbook, to payroll deduction, to the negotiations of the Salary and Welfare
Agreements for all employee groups, to the WILL lawsuit, to the departure of Superintendent Hancock, to the Curriculum Audit (which
verified the concerns KEA members have been pointing out for years), the list keeps going. The KEA has been busy doing what is necessary to protect the interests of our membership, and we will continue to do so, vigorously. The office staff, including myself, however,
cannot do it alone.
It is YOU, the members, who make the
KEA strong. When situations arise, we cannot
sit back and hope for someone else to speak up.
Ask yourself this: if a student in our classroom
was having a concern, would we not encourage
and support that child in speaking up? If you
answer yes, then ask yourself why you hold
back from speaking up when an issue arises.
It is imperative for all of us to point out the
inconsistencies, the misrepresentations, the blatant attacks aimed at us as teachers, educational
assistants, hearing interpreters, substitutes, and
carpenters and painters. “Divide and conquer”
only works if we allow it. If we stand alone, we
are easy to push over. If we stand as a group,
we can become as immobile as a mountain.
There are those who claim that the KEA is
against anything that helps children in the
classroom. Imagine where this District would
be without the intervention of KEA over the
years. Think about the CDO debacle. Without
the intervention of Joe Kiriaki and Steve Urso,
this District would have lost millions of dollars
– dollars that are scarce and needed desperately
to help all students succeed.
Vol. 42, Issue 32
Think about the Curriculum Audit. KEA
members were at the forefront of pointing out
concerns with the Transformation Plan and
how it was not helping children learn. There
were those in administration, including Superintendent Hancock, who made the argument
that the KEA was just anti-administration and
anti-change. When the Curriculum Audit came
out, the findings echoed the concerns that the
KEA had been raising the entire time. It was
interesting to see how people switched from
pro-Transformation Plan to anti-Transformation Plan within seconds of the Audit being
made public.
The KEA is made up of educators – educators committed to the success of this District
and the students they serve. To say the District
can do it alone is a laughable suggestion. The
handbook gave a glimpse of what this District’s
motto will be if it is left to its own devices –
“We will because we can.” It is difficult to find
any forethought in their actions.
The District wanted to move away from
Arena Staffing, stating it was cumbersome,
too slow, and that, “No one liked it anyway.”
www.nea.org
www.keanow.com
During the negotiations of the 2013-2014 and
2014-2015 Salary and Welfare Agreements,
Arena Staffing was taken out of the contracts
and an “apply and interview” process was put
in its place. Many of you have already seen
the email sent by administration regarding this
new process. With Arena Staffing, the District
offered the open positions known at the time,
people were reviewed by their qualifications,
and seniority was the tiebreaker if more than
one person had the same or similar qualifications.
Once people are selected to fill the open
positions, they give up their previous position.
Now, there is a new grouping of open positions
for which internal candidates must be provided
an opportunity to apply and interview. The
District should not be moving to external candidates prior to allowing all internal candidates
the opportunity to transfer. Already, it is more
cumbersome and slower than Arena Staffing.
We tried to tell administration the pitfalls; now
they are seeing we were right.
www.dpi.state.wi.us
Continued on Page 2
May 16, 2014
How Bad Are Waste and Fraud at Charter Schools? This Bad.
“To understand why there are so many problems in the charter
industry, one must understand the original purpose of charter schools...”
Story on Page 3
Continued from Page 1
Educator Effectiveness is another area for
which the District is not using forethought. We
have been offering two sessions since the end
of April. The first is a general overview of the
Educator Effectiveness System. The second is
the opportunity for members to come together
and go through Module 2 of the DPI Training.
So far, the District has only focused on one part
of the Educator Effectiveness System and, as I
understand it, not even fully described it. The
attendees at the KEA’s first session have had
their eyes opened to what the System actually
is and the purpose behind it. Feedback has been
extremely positive with regard to the information garnered and, for members, the documents
provided on the flash drive.
The KEA had offered to partner with the
District on Educator Effectiveness, as we have
people in our membership who are extremely
knowledgeable about the System and can help
provide training in that regard. When the KEA
requested that the District forward an invitation
to all users for our sessions, with the dates and
website listed, the District claimed they could
not do it due to the lawsuit.
What was in the email that caused the
District to react that way?
The KEA, again, is at the forefront of pro-
the foundation of the Educator Effectiveness
System is “trusting relationships.” Even State
Superintendent Tony Evers focused on the
importance of trusting relationships between
administration and staff to the success of this
program. Yet again, without forethought, the
District pushes away a key partner to the success of this program. So much for “trusting
relationships,” I guess.
The more you share information about all
aspects of District operations, the more you
raise concerns when issues arise – the more we
stick together – the stronger the KEA is to ensure you are working in a place where you are
respected and valued. Just as you respect and
value the contributions of every single child in
your classroom, so should you be respected and
valued by the administration and the Board of
Education for all your contributions.
I have mentioned the things our members do in their interactions with children for
a reason – children look to us to see how to
behave. We must lead by example. We must
stand strong and be ready to stand side by side
with our colleagues. We all sacrifice and work
towards the betterment of this District because
we are investing our lives every day to make
this District shine in the face of adversity. We
know it’s teamwork and trusting relationships
fessional development for its members. It was
which will bring this District back to the days
willing to partner with the District. The District
when it was hailed as a model school district in
thinks, however, that it can do it alone, again
the state.
showing their motto to be, “We will because
How long before the administration will
we can.” It’s a poor motto for an educational
recognize that we are right on this point as
institution to have. It is especially poor when
well?
The Glue
Page 2
Calendar of Events
KEA Elections
Fri., May 16 - Mon., May 19
Memorial Day
Mon., May 26
Joe’s Retirement Party
Fri., May 30
(5:00 p.m., Roma Lodge)
Regular School Board Meeting
Tues., May 27
(7:00 p.m., ESC Board Room)
KEA Proposed Budget Approval Meeting
Thurs., June 5
(4:30 p.m., KEA Office)
KUSD Standing Committee Meetings
Tues., June 10
(5:30 p.m., ESC Board Room)
End of Year for Students
Thurs., June 12
Teacher Workday
Fri., June 13
Regular School Board Meeting
Tues., June 24
(7:00 p.m., ESC Board Room)
NEA Representative Assembly
July 1 - 6
(Denver, Colorado)
May 16, 2014
This article appeared on the NEA website and
WEAC encouraged its contents being shared.
Please note that this critique is targeted
toward non-instrumentality charter schools –
not those of the type we have in KUSD. S.F.
By Edward Graham, Guest Writer
Lax oversight and limited accountability
have led to a shocking misuse of taxpayer
funds by charter schools nationwide, according to a new report from the Center for Popular
Democracy and Integrity in Education.
“We expected to find a fair amount of
fraud when we began this project, but we did
not expect to find over $100 million in taxpayer
dollars lost,” said Kyle Serrette, the Director
of Education Justice at the Center for Popular
Democracy. “That’s just in 15 states. And that
figure fails to capture the real harm to children.
Clearly, we should hit the pause button on charter expansion until there is a better oversight
system in place to protect our children and our
communities.”
While many of the instances of fraud and
abuse noted in the report resulted from charter
suggests? For starters, establishing an office
school administrators pilfering funds and mis-
dedicated to managing and overseeing charters
representing their successes—a comparatively
on the state level will help maintain perfor-
small number when compared to the national
mance standards and temper instances of fraud
total of charter schools—it should be pointed
and abuse. Greater transparency on the part of
out that limited oversight has helped foster an
charters, including independent audits available
atmosphere where these kinds of problems are
to the public and easy access to the charter
more commonplace. And much of this hands-
agreements and other pertinent documents,
off practice stems from the way charter schools
have evolved over the ensuing years since their
initial conception.
“To understand why there are so many
problems in the charter industry, one must
understand the original purpose of charter
schools,” the report says. “Lawmakers created
charter schools to allow educators to explore
new methods and models of teaching. To allow
this to happen, they exempted the schools from
the vast majority of regulations governing the
traditional public school system.”
So even as the number of charter schools
increases, along with the funding that they re-
The report, “Charter School Vulnerabilities
to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse,” examined representative charter school data from 15 states
ceive, accountability measures have been slow
to keep pace.
“Despite rapid growth in the charter school
and found instances of charter operators using
industry, no agency, federal or state, has been
charter funds for personal use; school revenues
given the resources to properly oversee it,” the
being used to illegally support charter operator
report noted in its introduction. “Given this in-
businesses; mismanagement that put children
adequate oversight, we worry that the fraud and
in potential danger; charter executives illegally
mismanagement that has been uncovered thus
inflating enrollment to boost revenues; and
far might be just the tip of the iceberg.”
charter operators mismanaging their schools.
laws and oversight methods that the report
So what are some of the common-sense
will create a sustainably open atmosphere. And
expanding many of the requirements for public
schools to charter schools, including nondiscrimination and transparency requirements,
will narrow the divide in terms of oversight.
“Our school system exists to serve students
and enrich communities,” says Sabrina Stevens,
Executive Director of Integrity in Education.
“We need to have rules in place that can systematically weed out incompetent or unscrupulous charter operators before they pose a risk to
students and taxpayers.”
If so-called reformers are so determined to
tout charter schools as a panacea for traditional
public schools, then at the very least they can
be held to the same standards of accountability,
oversight, and scrutiny that public schools must
take for granted.
“School funding is too scarce as it is; we
can hardly afford to waste the resources we do
have on people who would prioritize exotic
vacations over school supplies or food for children,” Stevens adds. “We also can’t continue to
rely on the media or isolated whistleblowers to
identify these problems.”
Three KEA Scholarships Awarded
The KEA Scholarship Committee received over 40 applications this year for their annual scholarships. The applications
submitted were from students of very high caliber, and the selection process was very competitive.
Three student applicants, who are planning to attend four-year degree programs, were awarded $1,500 scholarships:
Kaeli Hanssen, Indian Trail – University of Florida; Biological Sciences
Melissa Mutchler, Tremper – University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; Biomedical Science
Melissa Weyand, Indian Trail – Alverno College; Nursing
Thank you to this year’s readers: Roberta Akalin, Melinda Duford, Scott Farnsworth, Jill Riddile, and Julie Kerkman (chair).
The Glue
Page 3
May 16, 2014
ANNOUNCEMENTS
VOTE TODAY, MAY 16, THROUGH MONDAY, MAY 19 – ELECT KEA LEADERS
All Active members will receive a ballot delivered by your AR. After marking your ballot place it
in the ballot box immediately.
ARs are asked to return the ballot box to the KEA office by 5 p.m. on Monday, May 19, so
tabulation may be completed. ARs are asked to carefully follow all procedures for balloting and
assist in tabulation at the KEA office.
KEA GLUE Editor and Webmaster Positions Posting
The KEA pays a modest stipend for individuals serving as our GLUE Editor and Webmaster. The duties of
these positions are outlined in the KEA Policies, 4100 - Communication Guidelines, Sections B and C. The
guidelines also require the posting of these positions in the GLUE on an annual basis.
From the KEA Policies: The GLUE Editor serves a one-year annual appointment, July 1 through June 30.
The GLUE Editor is responsible for formatting the newsletter and making grammatical and punctuation corrections when necessary. The GLUE Editor will submit the layout in an appropriate editable format for printing. The GLUE Editor will submit a weekly editorial for each issue of the GLUE during the regular school
year.
From the KEA Policies: The Webmaster serves a one-year annual appointment, July 1 through June 30.
The Webmaster is responsible for designing, maintaining, and archiving the website at the direction of the
Executive Director and President. The Webmaster will maintain an online calendar of Association events.
The Webmaster will post the position and opinion of the KEA Officers, the Board of Directors, the Association Representatives, and the members concerning specific issues or problems faced by education and
educators at the local, state, and/or national level. The Webmaster will post all KEA press releases online.
The Webmaster will submit a monthly report to the Board of Directors and the Association Representative
Assembly, including usage statistics and monthly update information.
Persons interested in serving as the GLUE Editor or Webmaster should contact the KEA office, 262-6542127, or apply to KEA President Anne Knapp at [email protected]. Questions may be directed to the KEA
office or KEA President Anne Knapp, 262-654-2127, ext. 13.
The GLUE is published weekly (except during Thanksgiving, winter, spring and summer recesses) by the Kenosha Education Association (KEA),
5610-55th St., Kenosha, WI 53144; Ph. 262-654-2127; email [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]. GLUE submissions must be received in the KEA office by Monday, 5:00 p.m., the week
of publication. All submissions are subject to editing policies established by the KEA. Ads now appear on the KEA web page; submit your
ad by visiting www.keanow.com. Executive Director: Joe Kiriaki * Assistant Executive Director: Juan Jimenez * President: Anne Knapp *
Vice-President: Scott Farnsworth * Treasurer: Rebecca Velvikis * Staff: Scott Farnsworth (Editor), Kathy Lusiak (Webmaster), Jan Studey and
Marge Wennerholm (Staff Assistants), Kendra Koeppen (Communications Specialist Intern)
The Glue
Page 4
May 16, 2014